Storage & Servers

Network drive space is a resource provided for the sole purpose of storing current work-related data. All employees are responsible for managing their own space, which includes deleting non-essential or old files to keep space utilization at a minimum. Personal files, such as music, photos or video clips are not to be stored on network drives.

Many of these inappropriate file types can be identified by such extensions as: mp3, avi, exe, dll, jpg, mpg, wav, wmv, gif, bmp and sys. There are more, but these are the most common. While these are deemed inappropriate for personal storage, they are considered acceptable if they are used for department-related work such as the design of web pages, presentations and documentation.

Our initial space allocation on the SAS Novell servers is 100MB in each user’s home directory (H:\ drive). Disk space on this drive is to be used to store your work-related information (word processing documents, Excel spreadsheets or presentations) that is personal in nature, such as performance appraisals. In addition, many users also have an L:\ drive, used to store html and graphic files for use in publishing a web page. Only web-related materials should be stored here. Note that the amount of space you have on your H: \ drive is shared with the L:\ drive. For the vast majority of users, 100MB is sufficient, but upon receipt of a request, the drive space will be reviewed for compliance with the data storage policy and additional space may be allocated based upon need and availability of resources.

Users should, on a regular basis, review the contents of their drives and delete any files that are unnecessary or do not comply with the policy. Another misuse of your personal storage space is using it as a backup for your personal computer. An external hard drive should be used for this purpose. For detailed instruction on how to clean up your home directory, please review theViewing Files in Windows Explorer documentation.

The workgroup drive (W:\ drive) is departmental space for sharing work-related files with multiple users or space for individuals to store their work-related documents. We encourage departmental administrators to use this space to store data even if they are the only ones with access. If you need to have a directory created on the W: drive, submit a confidential REQUEST and provide the name of the directory you would like created, the list of users who should have access to that directory, and the type of access they should have (read or read\write). Documents that are being worked on by several individuals should be stored in the W: drive rather than being emailed back and forth. Not only is this method more efficient, it helps to save resources on the mail server. The W: drive can be accessed using several methods:

NetStorage - allows faculty and staff to securely access their network drives anywhere on campus or at home, using only a web browser. For detailed instructions on how to connect to your network drives through NetStorage, please go to Netstorage documentation and review the NetStorage documentation.
NetDrive -drive mapping utility which allows you to access your network drives. For detailed instructions on how to connect to your network drives through NetDrive, please review the NetDrive documentation.
VPN and Novell Client -uses the internet to provide remote access to network data with the use of the Cisco VPN and Novell Clients. For detailed instructions on how to connect to your network drives using VPN and the Novell Client, please review the Accessing Network drives through VPN Client documentation.

The initial space allocation on the SAS e-mail servers is 100MB per user. As with home directories, additional space will be granted upon request; however, the same policy applies to email as it does to personal space. It is the responsibility of the user to maintain their mailbox by deleting non-essential emails and attachments in an effort to conserve space. For detailed instruction on how to clean up your mailbox, please review theCleaning up Thunderbird and Zimbra Mailbox documentation.

The system administrators periodically run scripts to identify files on the server that appear to fall outside of our usage guidelines. Any users flagged by that software will be contacted by system administrators to make a final determination regarding the appropriateness of the data being stored.

What is the difference between my H: drive and my W: drive, and which should I use?

Your H: drive is your "home" drive. The W: drive is the "workgroup" area, typically (though not always) used for file sharing with others in your department. H: is considered your private space. Only you have access to it. There you can store work-related data that only you need. For instance, faculty members can store research-related documents, materials that are their "intellectual property" or works in progress that are for "their eyes only." Faculty and staff members may find that we store some types of program settings and information in their H: drive -- e.g., Thunderbird profiles, application configuration files, etc.

A good rule of thumb is that any data that is "departmental" in nature should be stored on W:. Even if you are the only person who works on a particular set of files at the moment, they should be stored on W: if they are important to the functioning of the department and could potentially be needed by others. This helps facilitate the efficient sharing of information through hiring transitions, a leave of abscence and other situations when others may need access to departmental files. If existing folders do not meet your needs, we can create and appropriately secure/restrict access to new folders on W: -- e.g., giving access only to you if necessary.

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Storage & Servers

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What is the difference between my H: drive and my W: drive, and which should I use?

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