Transfer a huge file over a flaky SCP connection

transfer_huge_file.rb

# On the server side split the core file into 50M chunks naming them core.0000000000 etc.
# $ split -a 10 -b 50M -d core core. 
# reassamble on the other side via
# $ cat core.* > core

chunk_count = 538
root_name = "core." # name on server is 'core.00001 etc'

host = "myhost.com"
path = "/tmp"

target = "put-this-here"

(0..chunk_count).map do |n|
  fname = sprintf "#{root_name}%010d", n   # in my infinite wisdom I used 10 element long numeric chunks

  begin
    puts "downloading #{fname}"
    `scp #{host}:#{path}/#{fname} ./#{target}/`
    fail "download failed" unless $?.success? # SCP why are you dying on me?!
  rescue
    puts "retrying #{fname}"
    retry
  end
end