SSHFS: mounting remote files as a local folder

FTP, rsync, SCP — there are many ways to access remote files. SSHFS is the most transparent: you mount a folder on a remote server as a local drive. You simply work with it via the Finder, your editor or the terminal, as if the files were stored locally. No extra ports, no separate protocol — just SSH.

Installation

macOS

brew install sshfs

On newer versions of macOS, you’ll also need macFUSE. Install it first via the website or using brew install --cask macfuse.

Ubuntu / Debian

sudo apt install sshfs

Arch Linux

yay -S sshfs

Fedora / Red Hat

sudo dnf install sshfs

Mounting a remote folder

Step 1 — Create a local mount point:

mkdir -p ~/shares/server

Step 2 — Mount the remote drive:

sshfs gebruiker@server.nl:/pad/naar/map ~/shares/server

Replace:

• user → your username on the remote server
• server.nl → IP address or hostname
• /path/to/folder → the path on the server that you want to mount

Step 3 — Navigate through it as you would a normal folder:

cd ~/shares/server
ls -la

Or open it in Finder on macOS:

open ~/shares/server

Useful options

# Use a different SSH port
sshfs -p 2222 gebruiker@server.nl:/pad ~/shares/server

# Automatically reconnect if the connection is lost
sshfs -o reconnect gebruiker@server.nl:/pad ~/shares/server

# Specify the SSH key explicitly
sshfs -o IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_ed25519 gebruiker@server.nl:/pad ~/shares/server

# Combination
sshfs -p 2222 -o reconnect,IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_ed25519 gebruiker@server.nl:/pad ~/shares/server

Unmount

# macOS
umount ~/shares/server

# Linux
fusermount -u ~/shares/server

Mount automatically on login

If you want to make the mount persistent, add it to /etc/fstab (Linux):

gebruiker@server.nl:/pad /home/you/shares/server fuse.sshfs defaults,_netdev,IdentityFile=/home/you/.ssh/id_ed25519 0 0

On macOS, you can create a login item or launchd plist that runs the sshfs command when you log in.

Safety

• Use SSH keys instead of passwords — faster and more secure
• Restrict SSH access via the firewall to trusted IP addresses
• Run SSH on a non-standard port to automatically reduce scanning traffic
• Use AllowUsers in /etc/ssh/sshd_config to restrict access to specific users