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Although I can make the /scratch/spacocha folder, I can't scp to it. Instead, I can scp big files, like fastq files, to /data/spacocha/ just fine.
Notes
I have been having trouble getting and interactive node using qsub for a few days. I'm not sure if it's a clogged cluster or a technical problem.
Summary
In summary, this cluster might be good for a few specific tasks, but it's not good for long term storage, and it's geared towards the earth science crowd and modeling ocean circulation etc. It might have some functional capabilities that you could use (i.e. Matlab), but be careful not to leave data on their scratch because it will be deleted.