There are many reasons to embrace network file sharing. Sharing economizes on the number of file copies. It also simplifies the management process of file copies. Finally, it allows labs to benefit from disaster recovery options at both the department level (L:\) sharing and the lab level (R:\) sharing.

Every FWHOME user has access to at least two network drives. The R:\ drive and the L:\ drive located under My Computer in Windows. Faculty members also have an additional M:\ drive for their use. In addition, within each L:\ drive is potentially a folder that all lab teammates can access to share and develop web sites.

Below is a brief explanation of the different share locations.

M:\ - My drive

• This is a smaller drive located on the FWHOME server.
• Used to provide enterprise space that is secured to each faculty. Mail is a good dataset to backup to your M:\ drive
• Provides area to copy important locally stored files (on your computer
• Each night all files are backed up to the archive
• M:\ drive is located off site. Should any accident occur in your office(fire, flood, smoke, surge) these files will be safe.

L:\ - Lab Drive

• This is a file server drive located on the FWHOME server.
• Used to share files between lab users including those in other buildings.
• Each night all files are backed up to the archive.
• L:\ drive is located off site. Should any accident occur in the lab(fire, flood, smoke, surge) these files will be safe.

R:\ - Research Drive

• This is a drive located on a server in each lab, administered by the lab.
• Large storage capacity for research work.
• Remember that your R: drive is setup on a machine within your lab. They can be as large as the lab has budget and equipment to provide.
• Hosting machine allows direct connections of external drives for further copying ease.

Web Folder

• Located on the L:\ drive.
• Used as a working folder for lab website development.
• Multiple users can access and update with FWHOME credentials.
• Websites can be previewed from anywhere on the department network.
• Web sites are published from this common location to the web server.

Issues to Consider:

Do you know how to use your shared folders?

They are easy to use. Find them under “My Computer” as a normal drive letter.

Does your lab have an R:\ drive? With enough space? How much is enough?

• An R:\ drive can be created with one of your old machines and a newly purchased hard drive (internal) that can range from 160 Gbytes to 400 Gbytes. Enough space is the amount needed to provide a full copy of all of your students' critical projects and data. The duration of these backups is also an important factor to determine how long to keep copies and potentially archive copies.

Does your lab use the L:\ drive?

• All labs have an L:\ drive, as provided by the department. Your lab can use up to 15 Gbytes of space on the L:\ drive. The department's server disk space can be increased through a cost-sharing process that is being initiated right now. This would allow for larger enterprise space while if increase the value of the R:\ drive is still as a locally accessible mass storage device.

Have your lab teammates been using the L:\ drive?

• Your lab teammates may be attaching documents to each other when they could be simply placing these on the server. Consider this as a first and next best use of the L:\ drive. Again, if more space is desired on the L:\ drive, the department cost-sharing model will be the time to add additional space.

Has your website been edited on the L:\ drive as of yet?

• If your lab's website has not been placed on your L:\ drive, please contact tech support to have this done.

To hook up your computer to the domain read more here.