About Your VIU U: Drive & How to Access It
Topics
- What is a U: drive?
- Why should I use the U: drive?
- Why not save to a C: drive on-campus?
- Locating your U: drive
- Creating a desktop shortcut to your U: drive
What is a U: drive?
The U: drive is a virtual storage space attached to your Discovery or Capitan server account. It differs from a physical drive in that a physical drive (e.g. a "flash" drive or the drive in your laptop or PC tower) contains a place that exists in time and space that you can touch. Your U: drive is a virtual electronic storage space staked out for you on the VIU servers. It exists as part of a much larger storage system.
Why should I use the U: drive?
Many people carry flash drives today and may think that the U: drive isn't useful. The U: drive is very useful any time you are working at or from the VIU campus, and any time you need some virtual space to back up important files. Firstly, the C drive--likely the one you use on your own personal computer--is not a good option for storing data while using campus computers. (See "Why not save to a C: drive on campus?")Your flash drive can be easily lost, but your data may not be easily replaced. The information on your U: drive is backed up periodically by the VIU IT Department. The U: drive is accessible virtually any time, date or place you need it. Off-campus, or remote access is possible but requires some set-up. For more on remote access, students using PCs click here; students using Macs click here. (Faculty follow similar processes but should contact the IT Helpdesk for support). Your U: drive provides a very safe location for file storage that can be accessed both on and off campus
Why not save to a C: drive on campus?
Do not--I repeat--DO NOT store data on the C: drive of a campus computer. The way that campus computers are configured means that data stored on a C drive can--and will often--be erased. Imagine the numbers of people using a campus computer like people sharing an office. If each person deposited files and papers in the office, who cleans up? In the case of campus computers, this cleaning is done virtually when you logout. Your sure, low-fuss, efficient storage bet is your U: drive. Once you have your VIU server account, your U: drive is easily accessible from any campus computer and can also be accessed while off-campus. (For more on accessing your U: drive off-campus, click here.)
Locating Your U: Drive
Login to your VIU server account. This will usually be a Discovery account in the case of students and a Capitan account in the case of employees. (Click here to find out more about Discovery student accounts. Click here to find out more about Capitan employee accounts.)
Once logged in, locate the My Computer icon on your desktop:
Double click on it to open a list of available drives.
You will now see a list. It should look 
something like this:
You should see at least 3 rows of information. Under the 3rd row, "Network Drives," you will find your "U:" drive. Students' U: drives are generally labeled with their student number, while faculty U: drives are labeled with their usernames.This is an image of my U:drive.
Double click on the U: drive to open it, and you're free to add files and folders.
Creating a Desktop Short-Cut to Your U: Drive
Login to the server. Open My Computer. Right-click on your U: drive. Select "Create Shortcut". You will likely get a pop-up window like this:
Click on "Yes".
If you do not see this pop-up window, drag the new shortcut onto your desktop.