How to copy files across computers using SSH and MAC OS X Terminal [closed]

Answer 1

You can do this with the scp command, which uses the ssh protocol to copy files across machines. It extends the syntax of cp to allow references to other systems:

scp username1@hostname1:/path/to/file username2@hostname2:/path/to/other/file

Copy something from this machine to some other machine:

scp /path/to/local/file username@hostname:/path/to/remote/file

Copy something from another machine to this machine:

scp username@hostname:/path/to/remote/file /path/to/local/file

Copy with a port number specified:

scp -P 1234 username@hostname:/path/to/remote/file /path/to/local/file

Answer 2

First zip or gzip the folders:
Use the following command:

zip -r NameYouWantForZipFile.zip foldertozip/

or

tar -pvczf BackUpDirectory.tar.gz /path/to/directory

for gzip compression use SCP:

scp username@yourserver.com:~/serverpath/public_html ~/Desktop

Answer 3

You may also want to look at rsync if you're doing a lot of files.

If you're going to making a lot of changes and want to keep your directories and files in sync, you may want to use a version control system like Subversion or Git. See http://xoa.petdance.com/How_to:_Keep_your_home_directory_in_Subversion