You have access to network storage space on the University's computer system and your University Google account gives you access to Google Drive for storing your files.
For safety we recommend that you store important files / documents in at least two places.
If you are using a University device always store a backup copy of any work in Google Drive.
Google Drive
You can use Google Drive to store and access files from any device. Sign in to Google Drive with your University account.
Any shared drives you have access to will show in the Shared drives section in the menu on the left. You can find Google Drive from the app cube located in the top right of the page in Chrome.
N Drive
The N Drive is your personal network storage area. It has a 7GB storage capacity.
Please note your N Drive does contains vital system configuration files without which you won't be able to use the computer systems – please ensure you don't delete any of these files.
K Drive
University staff may use the K Drive to share documents with you. Students do not use the K Drive to save files.
See how much space you have left
You can view your quota from a University PC by double-clicking This PC on the desktop, then right-clicking your N drive from the list of network drives, then select Properties.
The General tab will show you the amount of space you are currently using and the amount of space you have left.
You can view your quota from a University Mac by selecting your N drive (home directory) from the sidebar and choose 'i'. After a few moments, the size of your N drive is shown in the information window.
Please note that the Macs do not give a warning message if the capacity of N drive is reached. You will receive an email stating that you should clean your N drive before that.
Remote access to N and K Drives
You can access your personal N drive and public K drive when studying away from campus.
You must connect to the VPN before connecting to the network drives when off-campus.
Connecting to the N Drive
1. Find your N drive location using Find my N Drive tool. Copy the full path under the N DRIVE (WINDOWS) e.g. \\SU2.uni.ds.port.ac.uk\UP\up874069 to the clipboard.
2. Open Windows Explorer and select This PC in the navigator pane on the left.
3. Select Map network drive from the top menu bar.
4. Enter the following information then select Finish:
- Drive: N: (if available - otherwise select an available drive letter of your choice)
- Folder: your N drive location found earlier.
- Tick Reconnect at logon.
- Tick Connect using different credentials.
5. You will be prompted to enter your University username and password. You must prefix your University username with uni\ e.g uni\up123456. Tick Remember my credentials if you wish to remember your credentials and select OK
6. Your N drive will open in an Explorer Window. You can find your mapped network drive under Network locations in Windows Explorer.
1. From the Finder menu, choose Go then Connect to Server...
2. Find your N drive location using the Find my N Drive tool. Copy the full path under the N DRIVE (MAC) heading, e.g. smb://SU1.uni.ds.port.ac.uk/U4/BloggsJ to the clipboard.
3. Paste the N: drive path into the input box. You can use the button to add the path to your favourite servers. Then click Connect
4. You may be presented with a connection warning, click Connect
5. Enter your University username and password when prompted, if you would like to remember the login details, select the Remember this password in my keychain
6. Your N: drive will appear in a Finder window once connected
1. Connect to the VPN.
2. Visit the Find my N drive tool and look up your account. Copy the server path under N DRIVE > LINUX e.g. //su1.uni.ds.port.ac.uk/uh/up123456
3. Open a terminal (ensure you are a superuser e.g. root, or use the sudo prefix).
4. Create a mount point, substituting $username
with your computer account username:
mkdir /mnt/$username
e.g.
mkdir /mnt/up123456
5. Mount the N drive to the mount point you just created. Ensure you use lowercase, replace $username
with your username and $server
with the server path found earlier.
mount -t cifs $server -o username=$username,rw,sec=ntlmssp,vers=3.0 /mnt/$username
e.g.
mount -t cifs //su1.uni.ds.port.ac.uk/uh/up123456 -o username=up668466,rw,sec=ntlmssp,vers=3.0 /mnt/up668466
6. Enter your computer account password when prompted.
7. Your N drive will now be connected. If you prefer to browse your N drive from the GUI navigate to the mnt folder.
Disconnect from N drive
umount /mnt/$username
e.g.
umount /mnt/up123456
Connecting to the K Drive
1. To map the K drive, open Windows Explorer.
2. Select This PC in the navigator pane on the left.
3. Select Map network drive from the top menu bar.
4. Enter the following information then select Finish:
- Drive: K: (if available - otherwise select an available drive letter of your choice)
- Folder: \\sp1\public.
- Tick Reconnect at logon.
- Tick Connect using different credentials.
5. You will be prompted to enter your University username and password. You must prefix your University username with uni\ e.g uni\up874068. Tick Remember my credentials if you wish to remember your credentials and select OK
6. Your N drive opens in an Explorer Window. You can find your mapped network drive under Network locations in Windows Explorer.
1. From the Finder menu, choose Go then Connect to Server...
2. Enter the path smb://sp1.uni.ds.port.ac.uk/Public
3. You can use the plus button to add the path to your favourite servers. Then click Connect
4. You may be presented with a connection warning, click Connect
5. Enter your University username and password when prompted, if you would like to remember the login details, select the Remember this password in my keychain
6. The K: drive will appear in a Finder window once connected
Search domains on MacOS
There should be no need to configure search domains but if you are experiencing an issue connecting to your drives on a Mac, you can check the search domains have been detected and add them manually if not.
Manually add search domains
Step 1
Choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then choose Network.
Step 2
Choose the connection you use to access your N: or K: drive (normally Automatic), if the Search Domains is populated with uni.ds.port.ac.uk you do not need to do anything further.
Step 3
If the Search Domains is empty, click the Advanced button then choose the DNS tab.
Step 4
Enter the search domain uni.ds.port.ac.uk in the panel on the right-hand side using the button, then click OK to save the settings – you may be prompted to enter your admin password.
Step 5
Once you have returned to the Network pane, the Search Domain should now be populated. Press Apply and close System Preferences.
Restoring deleted files from N and K Drives
- Open File Explorer by clicking on the yellow folder Icon on your task bar
- Double click This PC. The contents of the PC will be displayed, showing the K and N drives.
- Click on either the N or K drive to select it
- Right click and select Properties
- Click the Previous Versions Tab. This will display folders that contain backups.
- Select a time just before the file and folder was deleted and select Open
- The folder will open and you should be able to find a copy of the file
- Locate the file you which to restore
- Click and drag the file to your N Drive
- Alternatively right click on the file and select Copy, navigate to where you want to store the file, right click and select Paste