# "dvc add -external S3://mybucket/data.csv" is failing with access error even after giving correct remote cache configurations

**URL:** <https://discuss.dvc.org/t/dvc-add-external-s3-mybucket-data-csv-is-failing-with-access-error-even-after-giving-correct-remote-cache-configurations/726>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Created:** [April 15, 2021, 7:59am UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/dvc-add-external-s3-mybucket-data-csv-is-failing-with-access-error-even-after-giving-correct-remote-cache-configurations/726 "2021-04-15T07:59:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 9

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**Author:** ![jorgeorpinel](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex035/user_avatar/discuss.dvc.org/jorgeorpinel/32/46_2.png) [@jorgeorpinel](https://discuss.dvc.org/u/jorgeorpinel)\
**Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 3:05am UTC](https://discuss.dvc.org/t/dvc-add-external-s3-mybucket-data-csv-is-failing-with-access-error-even-after-giving-correct-remote-cache-configurations/726/9 "2021-04-16T03:05:24Z")

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> [@veeresh](#):
>
> The use case am trying to implement is to track the external data store (s3) remotely by dvc without storing/downloading datasets locally.

The other option is [add](https://dvc.org/doc/command-reference/add#example-transfer-to-remote-storage) as you discovered (also available with [`import-url`](https://dvc.org/doc/command-reference/import-url#example-transfer-to-remote-storage)). This is a form of bootstrapping your repo with some external data that you don’t want locally now, but that some other system with a clone of the project will be able to actually download and process on that environment.

I think that `add --external` (using an external cache) is the only method currently available that ensures the data never gets to the “local” environment (on any machine with a repo clone). Note that still a copy of the data may be created in the external cache, if the Minio/S3 file system doesn’t support reflinks. And if it supports symlinks or hardlinks instead, those need to be configured explicitly in the project before using `add --external` (see [Large Dataset Optimization](https://dvc.org/doc/user-guide/large-dataset-optimization)).

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