Achieving Resumable File Transfers with SCP Using Rsync, Split, and Tmux

SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) is a SSH‑based tool for transferring files between local and remote Linux systems, but it lacks built‑in resumable transfer support.

The article first reviews basic SCP usage with example commands:

scp [options] source_file destination_path

scp file.txt user@remote_ip:/home/user/

scp user@remote_ip:/home/user/file.txt /local/path/

To overcome this limitation, rsync is introduced as an alternative that supports resumable transfers. Its basic syntax and common options are shown:

rsync [options] source_file destination_path

rsync -avz --partial file.txt user@remote_ip:/home/user/

Key options include -a (archive mode), -v (verbose), -z (compression), and --partial (keep partially transferred files). The article explains how --partial allows rsync to continue from the interruption point.

Additional rsync options such as --progress (show transfer progress), --bwlimit (limit bandwidth), and -e ssh (explicitly use SSH) are demonstrated:

rsync -avz --partial --progress --bwlimit=1000 file.txt user@remote_ip:/home/user/

The guide also offers two supplementary methods for achieving resumable SCP transfers. First, the split command can divide a large file into smaller chunks, which are then transferred individually with SCP and reassembled on the remote host using cat:

split -b 100M largefile.tar.gz part_

scp part_* user@remote_ip:/home/user/

cat part_* > largefile.tar.gz

Second, the tmux terminal multiplexer can keep the session alive, preventing SCP from being terminated when the client disconnects. Commands to start, attach, and list tmux sessions are provided:

tmux new -s file_transfer

scp largefile.tar.gz user@remote:/home/user/

tmux attach -t file_transfer

tmux ls

By using rsync, file splitting, or tmux, users can achieve reliable, resumable large‑file transfers in Linux environments.