Question Regarding Accessing HCP S1200 Dataset Programmatically

[Amir Zarie]

Hi,

I am writing to request specific instructions on how to access the HCP S1200 dataset programmatically. I have already signed all the necessary agreement documents and currently have access to both the restricted and unrestricted datasets.

I am looking for a more efficient way to download specific files from the dataset, as I would like to avoid the manual process of downloading them in small batches from the BALSA website. If there are API credentials, command-line tools, or script-based methods you recommend for targeted downloads, please let me know.

Thank you for your assistance.

Best regards,

Amir Zarie

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Amir Zarie • PhD Candidate, Department of Psychology

Cognition and Aging Neuroscience Laboratory at York University

1006 Sherman Health Science Research Centre

Centre for Vision Research • 4700 Keele Street • Toronto, Ontario • M3J 1P3

[Elam, Jennifer]

Hi Amir,

We are working on getting a REST-like interface implemented for HCP-YA on BALSA right now and hope to have that up in the next several weeks. In the meantime, you can access individual files from the HCP-YA AWS S3 bucket. 

To get access, you will need to register on balsa.wustl.edu. After registration, click on ConnectomeDB>HCP-Young Adult 2025 and agree to the Terms. Then click on Set/Reset AWS Credentials to get an AWS access key for the HCP bucket. You can find instructions for using the access key under the heading "Connecting to AWS Data Using These Credentials" on https://wiki.humanconnectome.org/docs/How%20To%20Connect%20to%20Connectome%20Data%20via%20AWS.html

Once you are in S3 go to hcp-openaccess>HCP_Resources>GroupAvg and select the file you want to download.

A user posted this about using command line to access the S3 bucket. I haven't tried it myself but he appears to have been successful.

Best,

Jenn

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From: Amir Zarie <zari...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2026 10:09 AM
To: hcp-...@humanconnectome.org <hcp-...@humanconnectome.org>
Subject: [hcp-users] Question Regarding Accessing HCP S1200 Dataset Programmatically

 

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[Harms, Michael]

Just an aside, once we have a REST-like interface operational, it will be intended for small(ish) downloads of specific-files (without needing to download an entire package).

 

It will not be intended as an alternative mechanism to download large amounts of data, and may be throttled to prevent that.

 

Cheers,

-MH

 

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Michael Harms, Ph.D.

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Professor of Psychiatry

Washington University School of Medicine

Department of Psychiatry, Box 8134

660 South Euclid Ave.

St. Louis, MO  63110

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/humanconnectome.org/d/msgid/hcp-users/LV0PR02MB1129849CA23B610D9BD74A333CC072%40LV0PR02MB11298.namprd02.prod.outlook.com.

[Elam, Jennifer]

Also, there is this way another user posted to use AWS CLI:

https://groups.google.com/a/humanconnectome.org/g/hcp-users/c/wiEDvYl1bwQ/m/YF3q6IdMAAAJ

Jenn

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From: 'Harms, Michael' via HCP-Users <hcp-...@humanconnectome.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2026 11:10 AM

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