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Staff only - Where should I store my files?

As a member of staff at WBS, you will have a choice of locations for saving your files. The table below explains the drives you will see when logged into your computer and whether or not you should store your files there.

Drive

Description

Central back up?

Privacy

Space limit

Accessibility

Should I use this for storing my files?

C: On the hard drive of your computer. Used for the Windows operating system and the programs installed Not backed up Visible to anyone logged into your computer Depends on the size of your hard drive, usually around 100 GB On your computer only. No, do not store any files here.
D: On the hard drive of your computer Not backed up Visible to anyone logged into your computer Depends on the size of your hard drive, usually over100 GB On your computer only. Yes, but make sure you back these up yourself (see below)
H: On the network, this is used for storing your profile settings, including your Desktop, My Documents and My Pictures folders Backed up centrally Private to you Quota per person: 5GB Can be accessed when logged in to the network on any WBS computer Yes, but note your quota
I: Your group's shared drive. Backed up centrally Access limited to all members of your group Quota calculated on the basis of the number of staff in a group. Can be accessed when logged in to the network on any WBS computer Yes, but all files will be accessible to your group


There are several ways you can back up your files:

  • We recommend all laptop users to use OneDrive for business for storing any important data which is accessible to all staff and students through your University ITS account. See here for more info on OneDrive https://warwick.ac.uk/services/its/servicessupport/office365/onedrive. For Apple users, Time machine backup solution is available to you. Please see our page here on this. You can find more information on the University's data classifications at https://warwick.ac.uk/services/idc/informationsecurity/handling/classifications.
  • Copy files to an external hard drive. This is generally not recommended. Are you sure you will always do this and might the hard drive get lost/stolen along with your computer?
  • Copy files to a USB flash drive. This is not recommended. Such flash drives are easy to break and lose. Any such drive plugged into a WBS PC will be encrypted but that is unlikely to be the case if you are using exclusively with a personal device. No university data must ever be stored on a flash drive that is not encrypted.