Where to store your files
There are a number of locations to store your files which meet different needs across the University.
Where to save your documents
If you select Start > Computer you can see all the different drives available for storing your files.
- Personal Z: Drive
- Shared departmental X: drive
- Research R: drive
- Removable disks
- C: drive
- D: drive
- Saving to the Desktop
Personal Z: Drive
This is the most common area to save files and includes your My Documents folder.
| Secure | Backed up automatically | Off-campus access | Designed for sharing |
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- Secure: only you have access to your files
- Backed up: IT Services backup these files so they can be restored if you accidently lose or delete them
- Off-campus access: you can access these files from home or from outside the University
How much can I store in my Personal Z: Drive?
- Staff can store 10GB
- Student can store 500MB
You can request more space by contacting the IT Service Desk.
Shared departmental X: drive
The shared departmental X: drive contains Departmental data essential to the running of the University.
| Secure | Backed up automatically | Off-campus access | Designed for sharing |
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- Secure: only people in your department can access these files
- Backed up: IT Services backup these files so they can be restored if lost
- Off-campus access: Your department can create a web access folder to allow you to access these files from home. Web access to University file storage.
- Designed for sharing: a number of people can access these files
Research R: drive
An area for research data to be stored.
| Secure | Backed up automatically | Off-campus access | Designed for sharing |
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- Secure: only specified people can access these files
- Backed up: IT Services backup these files so they can be restored if lost
- Off-campus access: You can give access to these files to other people who you work with
- Designed for sharing: a number of people can access these files
- Large storage space: research data is typically many gigabytes in size
Removable disks
For transferring files and creating backups.
| Secure | Backed up automatically | Off-campus access | Designed for sharing |
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- How to use removable disks
- Off-campus access: Removable disks can be removed from your computer, providing you with portable storage for transferring your files.
Using removable storage
C: drive
The C: drive is part of your PC’s hard disk drive. Student PCs do not have access to the hard drive but some Staff PCs do have access to the C: drive. We advise you to not save files on the C: drive.
Saving to your desktop
Your desktop is the blue screen you first see when you start a PC at the University. It shows the Recycle bin and other icons.
Files saved on the PC’s desktop can cause profile problems.
