One the primary functions of Kenyon's network is to store your files. You already know how to save your files on your personal computer's hard drive or on a diskette using the A: drive. A personal computer connected to the network treats files on network drives as if the files were stored on one of its local disk drives, making it very easy to save and move your files from one drive or directory to another, whether they are local or on the network. There are two important differences, however, in the way files on a network drive are stored and accessed:

1. The files are not actually stored on a drive directly attached to your computer. Instead they are "served" to your computer on demand from another computer called a fileserver, which is a computer with a very large hard drive, able to store much more information than can otherwise be stored on your personal computer. They can also serve you software applications (programs) from the network so that you don't have to install the programs on your local computer, which has limited space and memory. Since all computers on the network are connected to the fileserver, it is possible to share files and programs among computers.
2. A second critical difference is that each user has access to only certain storage areas on the network drives. Your access permissions are generally determined by your particular user category (student, faculty or staff). For example, departmental folders (P:\(dept) are accessible only to the members of that department. Class (or course) folders (P:\class\dept... and P:\data\dept...) are accessible only to the faculty members and enrolled students. Personal folders (H:) are accessible only to the individual user.

Network drives are typically labeled with letters of the alphabet starting with G: (to prevent duplication of a personal computer's A:,B:,C:,D:,E: or F: drive).

There are two important advantages to storing your files on one of the network fileservers instead of on your local hard drive.

1. Network drives are backed up nightly. If you lose or accidentally delete a file, it can be restored as long as it existed intact on the network before the last nightly backup. To recover your file. you can place a file restore request by calling the HelpLine at x5700.
2. The network drives are available from any networked computer on campus. If your personal computer develops operational problems, you can still access your files on the network drives from another networked computer, such as a public lab computer.

Note: If you attempt to transfer a virus-infected file to a network drive (H: or P:), it will automatically be deleted by the anti-virus software that is installed on all network drives. So remember to always keep a backup copy of whatever you transfer to the network. The system will not notify you that it has deleted the virus-infected file.

H: Drive - Personal Accounts

Each individual user has a personal storage area (folder) on an H: drive, which may reside on one of three file servers. Students are on rhine.kenyon.edu; faculty and staff are now on tiber.kenyon.edu.

H: drives are secure storage areas to which an individual alone has access. When you log into the network, you are automatically placed in your H: drive. All personal files should be saved on your H: drive where your files are backed up nightly. Other subfolders can be created to organize your files. You can access your files on your H: drive from any networked computer on campus, including public labs and student residential network connections.

The identification of a particular user's personal account might look something like this to the user:
username$ on ‘Tiber'(H) if you are staff or faculty
OR
\\rhine.kenyon.edu\username$ on 'Rhine'(H) if you are a student

G: Drive - Network Software on potomac.kenyon.edu\software\

This drive holds many kinds of software, many of which are available only in public or departmental labs and are used by departments for their courses. As mentioned earlier, these applications are not stored locally on your personal computer's C: drive but are served to your computer on demand from a fileserver.

Note: Many of the standard network applications, such as MS-Office, have been installed locally on most College computers for better performance.

O: Drive - Shared Departmental Storage Areas on vistula.kenyon.edu

Each department on the O: drive has its own folder (example: dept on 'Vistula' (O:)\...) where dept represents the name of the department, such as Biology on 'Vistula' (O:). This allows for a space in which files that need to be accessed by all in a department (but none outside it) can be kept.

It is also possible to set up a folder that allows certain individuals to regularly share files (but not necessarily an entire department). This type of folder (called a workgroup folder) can be used to share files with students or with members of several departments involved in special projects. Workgroup folders can be requested by calling the HelpLine at x5700.

P: Drive - Public Storage on potomac.kenyon.edu

The P: drive is available for public sharing of files. It is also used for academic course groups who share files with each other. There are also academic class or course folders: (P:\class\dept\coursename\ and P:\data\dept\coursename....) that are available for use by faculty and course-enrolled students. The P: drive also contains student organization accounts, which are accessible to the officers of each student group.

P:\Temp\ folder - Public Temporary Storage
The P:\Temp\ folder is a public temporary storage space available to any Kenyon user for the purpose of sharing or exchanging files on a one-time basis.

The P:\Temp folder is NOT secure space! Anyone with a network account has full access to every file in the P:\Temp\ folder and all subfolders within it, with privileges to edit or delete any files at any time. Any user can create a subfolder under P:\Temp in which to temporarily store files to be exchanged. To maintain available disk space on P:\Temp\, files are deleted by the system one week after being moved there, so your files are always at risk.

Note: If you attempt to transfer a virus-infected file to a P: or H: network drive folder, it will be deleted by anti-virus software that is set up on all network drives. The system will not notify you that it has deleted the virus-infected file. So remember to always keep a backup copy of whatever you transfer to P:\Temp\.