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Using rsync to download from the FTP site

If you require large amounts of data or are having problems with network connectivity, you may find it more convenient to use rsync for your downloads.

You will need to visit the Ensembl FTP site in your web browser to locate the files you need, then alter the FTP URL as follows:

  • Change the protocol from http: to rsync:
  • Insert ensembl into the path after the domain name before you paste. Note for downloading from ensemblgenomes sites use ensemblgenomes rather than ensembl (see example below).

before you paste it into the command line.

Examples

  • The following command will download all the human EMBL files from https://ftp.ensembl.org/pub/current_embl/homo_sapiens to the current directory:

    rsync -Lav rsync://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/ensemblorg/pub/current_embl/homo_sapiens .
  • The following command will download all the Actinidia chinensis FASTA files from https://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/ensemblgenomes/pub/plants/current/fasta/actinidia_chinensis to the current directory:

    rsync -Lav rsync://ftp.ebi.ac.uk/ensemblgenomes/pub/plants/current/fasta/actinidia_chinensis/ .