# Transferring Data with Azure Storage Accounts

> Source: https://parallelworks.com/docs/storage/transferring-data/azure-storage-account

# Transferring Data with Azure Storage Accounts

This page explains how to transfer data to/from your Azure storage account with a terminal. You can use the methods on this page for all Azure storage accounts, whether you created them on the ACTIVATE platform or outside the platform.

## Working With azcopy

To transfer data to/from an Azure storage account, you’ll use Azure's command-line tool, azcopy.

Azcopy is pre-installed on cloud clusters provisioned by ACTIVATE, so you can enter commands directly into the IDE after [logging in to the controller](/docs/compute/logging-in-controller) of an active Azure cluster.

If you’re transferring data between Azure storage and your local machine or an on-premises cluster, you will need to install azcopy first.

## Check for azcopy

Open a terminal and enter `which azcopy`.

If azcopy is installed, you’ll see a message that shows its location, such as `/usr/local/bin/azcopy`. Otherwise, you’ll see a message such as `/usr/bin/which: no azcopy` or `azcopy not found`.

## Install azcopy

If you need to install azcopy, we recommend following [the Azure installation guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-use-azcopy-v10), which includes OS-specific instructions for Linux, macOS, and Windows as well as troubleshooting tips.

## Export Your Azure Credentials
You can see our page [**Obtaining Credentials**](/docs/storage/transferring-data/obtaining-credentials) for information on finding your Azure credentials.

In your terminal, enter the following commands with your own Azure credentials substituted:

```bash

azcopy login —service-principal —application-id $AZURE_CLIENT_ID —tenant-id $AZURE_TENANT_ID
```

## List Files in an Azure Storage Account

In your terminal, enter `azcopy ls $AZCOPY_BUCKET_URL` to display the files in your bucket. For this guide, we used a small text file named `test.txt`, so our command returned this message:

```bash
demo@pw-user-demo:~/pw/cloud-data-transfer$ azcopy ls $AZCOPY_BUCKET_URL
2023-02-08 16:37:56         28 test.txt
```

## Transfer a File To/From an Azure Storage Account

The `azcopy` command mimics the Linux `cp` command for transferring files. To transfer a file, enter `azcopy cp SOURCE DESTINATION` in your terminal.

Below is an example of the `azcopy cp` command.

In your terminal, enter `azcopy cp $AZCOPY_BUCKET_URL/file/in/bucket.txt fileName` to download a file from Blob storage to your current directory. You’ll see this message:

```bash
demo@pw-user-demo:~/pw/cloud-data-transfer$ azcopy cp $AZCOPY_BUCKET_URL/test.txt test_download.txt
download: https://test-storage.blob.core.windows.net/test-bucket/test.txt to test_download.txt
```

To upload a file to your Azure storage account, simply reverse the order of `SOURCE` and `DESTINATION` in the `azcopy cp` command.

## Delete a File From an Azure Storage Account

In your terminal, enter `azcopy rm $AZCOPY_BUCKET_URL/file/in/bucket.txt` to delete a file. You’ll see this message:

```bash
demo@pw-user-demo:~/pw/cloud-data-transfer$ azcopy rm $AZCOPY_BUCKET_URL/test_upload.txt
delete: https://test-storage.blob.core.windows.net/test-bucket/test_upload.txt
```

## Further Reading

For the full list of azcopy commands, please see [this reference guide](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-use-azcopy-v10#list-of-commands).