[support] Private files upload / download on D7

[Shérab]

Dear all,

Two private files related quesitons.

1. Is it mandatory to use the web interface to upload them?
Does drupal record them in a database table?
I'd prefere to be able to copy them at the right place through, say,
ssh, because they are very large. Is that possible somehow?

2. About downloading: as I understand the way access conrol works, a
file is accessible to anybody who can see the link to it. That does
not match my requirements. What I'd like to have is that the link can be
visible by anybody, but only when one follows it does the access
restriction apply: if the user is not logged either he receives a
message or he is directed to a loginpage, and then ifhelogs in it is
checked that he belongs to a given role that has access to these files.
Can that be implemented somehow? I had a look to the content access
module but it seems it works above all at the content type or node
level, but not for files.

Many thanks for any help on these two points!

Best wishes,
Shérab.