Information about storing files on a network drive

 

Before You Begin

There are many advantages to storing files on network drives. Network drives are backed up every night; this means that files saved on the previous day can be recovered if something happens. For example, if a file is accidently deleted yesterday’s existence of the file can be recovered. Files on your local computer are not backed up, so if your computer hard drive dies, you may lose your files with no chance of recovery. Network drives also have the advantage of accessibility; they can be accessed and shared by different people on different computers.


Accessing Files on Network Drives

Depending on your permissions, you have access to various network drives. To view the drives available to you, double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop. There are three types of drives that may be displayed; Local, Network, and Removable.


Local Drive(s)

C: drive - This is the local machine storage. This drive is not backed up. This drive should be used to store non-University data, music, and videos.


Network Drives

H: drive – Each user has their own private storage area that can only be accessed by themselves. University policy prevents your H: drive from being accessed by anyone but you.

P: drive – This drive is for your umbrella department, for example all users in AIS would be able to access the P: drive belonging to AIS.

Q: drive – This is a drive for sub departments of larger divisions so that information can be restricted to a smaller group of users. For example, Systems Support is a sub department of AIS, and only members of Systems Support can access their own Q:.

R: drive – This is a service drive for Systems Support to access useful tools when assisting customers. This is also a storage area for University logos. However, information can only be accessed from this drive; information cannot be saved here.

Removable Drive(s)

These are external drives connected to your local computer. An example would be a USB drive. Removable drives will take the first available letter in the alphabet, typically this is E: or F:.

 

Troubleshooting a Missing Drive

If one of your network drives is not present, for example your P:, log off the computer and then log back on.

  1. Click Start then click Shut Down
  2. Choose Log off from the drop-down menu. Click OK.
  3. The computer will bring you back to the Windows log on screen.
  4. Type your username and password. Click OK.
  5. Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop to view your drives.

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