Not gonna lie, I just map a network share and copy and paste through the gui.

People have already covered most of the tools I typically use, but one I haven't seen listed yet that is sometimes convenient is python3 -m http.server which runs a small web server that shares whatever is in the directory you launched it from. I've used that to download files onto my phone before when I didn't have the right USB cables/adapters handy as well as for getting data out of VMs when I didn't want to bother setting up something more complex.

What's wrong with rsync? If you don't like IP addresses, use a domain name. If you use certificate authentication, you can tab complete the folders. It's a really nice UX IMO.

If you'll do this a lot, just mount the target directory with sshfs or NFS. Then use rsync or a GUI file manager.

scp

Rsync and NFS for me.

Syncthing

sftp

All my machines have my keys, nothing to set up, nothing to tear down.

smb share if its desktop to desktop. If its from phone to PC, I throw it on nextcloud on the phone, then grab it from the web ui on pc.

Smb is the way to go if you have identity set up, since your PC auth will carry over for the connection to the smb share. Nextcloud will be less typing if not since you can just have persistent auth on the app / web.

rclone. I have a few helper functions;

fn mount { rclone mount http: X: --network-mode }
fn kdrama {|x| rclone --multi-thread-streams=8 --checkers=2 --transfers=2 --ignore-existing --progress copy http:$x nas:Media/KDrama/$x --filter-from
~/.config/filter.txt }
fn tv {|x| rclone --multi-thread-streams=8 --checkers=2 --transfers=2 --ignore-existing --progress copy http:$x nas:Media/TV/$x --filter-from ~/.config/filter.txt }
fn downloads {|x| rclone --multi-thread-streams=8 --checkers=2 --transfers=2 --ignore-existing --progress copy http:$x nas:Media/Downloads/$x --filter-from ~/.config/filter.txt }

So I download something to my seedbox, then use rclone lsd http: to get the exact name of the folder/files, and run tv "filename" and it runs my function. Pulls all the files (based on filter.txt) using multiple threads to the correct folder on my NAS. Works great, and maxes out my connection.

• sftp for quick shit like config files off a random server because its easy and is on by default with sshd in most distros
• rsync for big one-time moves
• smb for client-facing network shares
• NFS for SAN usage (mostly storage for virtual machines)

rsync is indeed fiddly. Consider SFTP in your GUI of choice. I mount the folder I need in my file browser and grab the files I need. No terminal needed and I can put the folders as favorites in the side bar.

Magic wormhole is pretty dead simple https://magic-wormhole.readthedocs.io/en/latest/welcome.html#installation

I use this a lot at work for moving stuff between different test vms, as you don't need to check IPs/hostnames

WinSCP for editing server config

Rsync for manual transfers over slow connections

ZFS send/receive for what it was meant for

Samba for everything else that involves mounting on clients or other servers.

As a lazy person, I just prefer sftp on thunar.

By "homelab", do you mean your local network? I tend to use shared folders, kdeconnect, or WebDAV.

I like WebDAV, which i can activate on Android with DavX5 and Material Files, and i use it for Joplin.

Nice thing about this setup is that i also have a certificate secured OpenVPN, so in a pinch i can access it all remotely when necessary by activating that vpn, then disconnecting.

What do you mean by specifying IP address?

Depends on what I'm transferring and to/from where:

• scp is my go-to since I'm a Linux household and have SSH keys setup and LDAP SSO as a fallback
• sshfs if I'm too lazy to connect via SMB/NFS (or I don't feel like installing the tools for them) or I'm traversing a WAN
• rsync for bulk transfer and backups
• Snapdrop/Pairdrop for one-off file/text shares between devices with GUIs (mostly phone <--> PC)
• SMB if I'm on a client PC and need to work with the files directly from the fileserver
• NFS between servers
• To get bulk data to my phone (e.g. updating my music library), I connect via USB in MTP mode and copy from the server via SMB or sshfs.

SFTP! 😃

rsync if it's a from/to I don't need very often

More common transfer locations are done via NFS

I'd say use something like zeroconf(?) for local computer names. Or give them names in either your dns forwarder (router), hosts file or ssh config. Along with shell autocompletion, that might do the job. I use scp, rsync and I have a NFS share on the NAS and some bookmarks in Gnome's file manager, so i just click on that or type in scp or rsync with the target computer's name.

Syncthing and/or ftp.

Ye old samba share.

But I do like using Nextcloud. I use it for syncing my video projects so I can pick up where I left off on another computer.