Do you need to download a lot of genomic data? Maybe you need all primate reference genomes or maybe you need just a few really big genomes? Prior to the advent of NCBI Datasets, downloading such a large amount of data could be a frustrating and time consuming experience involving failed downloads and writing custom scripts.
NCBI Datasets makes large genome downloads simpler, faster, and more reliable. You don’t have to write a script. You can be sure you get all the data requested. And sharing the data is easier than ever. Figure 1 shows an example data download process using Datasets.
Figure 1. Downloading and processing genomic data using NCBI Datasets. The example shows downloading the set of RefSeq primate assemblies through the Datasets web interface. Since the downloaded files would exceed 15GB, the file comes as a “dehydrated bag” — a small, easily downloaded, zipped file with metadata and links to download the data. You can “rehydrate” the unzipped dehydrated files — fill them with the corresponding data — using the datasets command-line tool.
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