How do I share files between Windows and the Linux SeaDAS VA environment?

There is a shared folder mechanism built into SeaDAS VA that provides a simple method for sharing files between Windows and the Linux SeaDAS VA environment. A default shared folder is preconfigured in SeaDAS VA (see item 1 below) and custom folders can also be specified.

However, processing satellite data files within a shared folder will take approximately twice as long due to overhead. It is therefore highly recommended to download data files directly within the Linux environment using a Linux web browser or an FTP client (e.g. Firefox, gFTP graphical client, ftp command, _wget_ command). If data files are instead downloaded using Windows, to avoid this slowdown they should be copied (within Linux) from the Windows shared directory into a native Linux directory before processing. Long story short, it is more efficient to download data files directly within Linux, and processing will also be about twice as fast.

Of course there may be times when it's useful to share files between Windows and Linux, and here are some tips for using the built-in VMware shared folder mechanism:

1) To use the preconfigured shared folder, create within Windows a C:\seadas_shared directory. Then in the VMware Player window use the VMware Player->Shared Folders pull-down menu and select 'Always enabled'. Now files can be moved into the Windows C:\seadas_shared directory and they will automatically appear in the Linux /home/seadas/shared/ directory (this is actually a symbolic link created specifically for SeaDAS VA). SeaDAS will now have access to any files residing in C:\seadas_shared.

2) Though the preconfigured shared Windows directory has been set to C:\seadas_shared, custom shared folders can be added (on any drive or partition) using the VMware Player->Shared Folders pull-down menu. A Help button in this menu provides information on how to use Shared Folders. If you add your own custom Windows shared directory, it will show up in Linux under the /mnt/hgfs/ directory. So if, for example, you use the menu to share your entire C:\ hard disk, you could then create a symbolic link to make this directory more easily accessible:

  ln -s /mnt/hgfs/directory_name_you_specified /home/seadas/shared_c