Must break into two legs: $ scp jidanni.org:Mail/backup/new/1239723846.31418_0.hoffa jidanni.org:MAILMESS Host key verification failed. lost connection $ scp jidanni.org:Mail/backup/new/1239723846.31418_0.hoffa /tmp/x; scp /tmp/x jidanni.org:MAILMESS 1239723846.31418_0.hoffa 100% 5760 5.6KB/s 00:00 x 100% 5760 5.6KB/s 00:00