---
title: "Working with files"
date: "2024-02-14T06:18:38+00:00"
summary: "Discover how to efficiently manage files in Drupal on a network filesystem. Learn about directory structures, symlinks, and step-by-step instructions for importing user-uploaded files to your hosted application."
image:
type: "page"
url: "/service-offerings/working-files"
id: "6bcc54fa-5eb8-4fdc-8e7d-c93bde1311c9"
---

Filesystem
----------

User-uploaded files through the Drupal application (the `/files` directory) are stored on a network filesystem shared across web nodes. The network filesystem for your application is accessible as `/mnt/efs/files/[SITE]`, where `[SITE]` is the name of your application. The same pattern of path is used for non-Production and Production environments.

The Drupal sites settings file is accessible as `/mnt/efs/settings/[SITE]`.

If you have deployed Drupal docroot, which is on the local disk for performance, symbolic links are created from the `/files` directory to the actual `/files` directory in the network filesystem. This symlink allows Drupal to access the files in the location it expects. For example, `[docroot]/sites/default/files` is set up to be a symbolic link to `/mnt/efs/files/[site]/files`. Symbolic links are also created in any subdirectory of `docroot/sites` containing a file named `settings.ach-cloud.php` with platform settings.

To import your user-uploaded files to your hosted application:

1.  Enable [SSH access](/service-offerings/china-managed-services/environments) to your server.
    
2.  Upload your files to the user-uploaded files directory using the `sftp`, `scp`, or `rsync` command.
    
    This directory is `/mnt/efs/files/[SITE]/sites/default/files` or, for multisite installations, `/mnt/efs/files/[SITE]/sites/[sitedir]/files`. For examples of using `rsync`, see [rsyncing files on Cloud Platform](/acquia-cloud-platform/manage-apps/files/transfer-files/rsync).