Shared Network Drive
When you open or save documents in your applications, you will notice that there is now an "S" drive in addition to your other network drives (Another such network drive is your "H" drive). The "S" drive is a shared area on the network that faculty members and their assigned secretaries now have in common.
Faculty members can create a document on their PC, save it to a shared drive, pick up the telephone or send an email to request their secretary retrieve and revise the document. The finished product can then be picked up without ever leaving their office. Data laden floppy diskettes or cd-roms need never be hand carried back and forth between offices wasting valuable time copying and recopying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why a shared drive?
A: A shared network drive eliminates the need for faculty members and secretaries to hand carry diskettes between their offices. Copying files to and from hard and floppy drives becomes almost unnecessary. The possibility of data loss due to files saved on overused and corrupt diskettes will also be eliminated. Accessing files on a shared drive is much faster than hand carrying or accessing data on diskettes.
Q: How should one use this new "S" drive?
A: Whenever you would normally save a file that is to be shared with your secretary, save it to "S". Telephone or E-mail your secretary and let her know that the file is now in the "S" drive and ready to be worked on. Minutes later your secretary can then call you back and ask you to review the document without either of you leaving your offices. You are also encouraged to create a directory structure on the "S" drive that will better organize your files.
Q: Is there anything special I need to do when using the "S" drive?
A: One thing to remember is that in some cases if you have saved a file to a shared drive and you still have that file open in your application, no one else can use it until you release the file by closing it in your application.
Q: Are there any limitations to the shared drive?
A: There is a 200MB space limit on the shared drive that can be increased on an "as needed" basis.
Q: Is there any special training required in using the "S" drive?
A: No special training is required, although help accessing the "S" drive and transferring files will be conducted on an individual basis when requested. If you would like a demonstration on how you should be using the shared drive please call the Law School Computing Dept. at 02571 or email the Help Desk.
How to Access the S: drive through Windows:
- Double click the "My Computer" icon on your desktop.
- In the window you will see a list of all available network drives. Double click the one that has (S:) next to it.
- The contents of the S drive will appear in the window. Any file saved to this directory or dragged into this window will be shared.
How to access the S: drive through WordPerfect or Microsoft Word:
To open a file that is saved in the S: drive or to save a file to the S: drive, follow the following instructions.
- Click File >> Open or File >> Save (depending on the action you wish to take)
- You will be presented with a directory window:
- Click on the drop-down menu next to the label "Look in:"
- Select the drive with (S:) next to it (you may need to scroll down to find it).
- The contents of your S: drive will appear in the right hand side of the dialog box.
Please note: the contents of the S: drives are shared and can be viewed by both the secretary and faculty member. Each faculty member's H: drive remains a private drive. Faculty members cannot view and do not have access to other Faculty member's or secretary's H: drives.
Connecting to the S: drive from home:
See the online tutorial for Working Remotely if you wish to access all files on your computer from home.
If you wish to access only your shared S: drive from home, follow these steps:
- Download WS_FTP from ISD and install it on your computer.
- Double click the WS_FTP icon to launch the program.
- You will see a screen that looks similar to this:
- Click "New" to create a new FTP profile.
- In the Profile Name: field, type in
law-files. - In the Host Name/Address: field, type in
law-files.usc.edu - Type in your login name in the User ID: field
- Finally, type in your password in the Password field
- Press OK when you are done.
- You will then see something like this:
The left hand side of the screen shows the contents of your home computer and the right hand side shows the contents of your Network drive.
Please note: When you log in, you will see, on the right hand side of your screen, the contents of your H: drive, not your shared drive. To access your S: or N: drive, please see the section on Accessing Your S: or N: drive below. - Using your mouse, select the file you want to transfer. If the directory showing (either on your home computer or your network drive) is not correct, use the green arrow
the two periods in the top left corner of each column to find the directory in which your file is located. Use the green arrow to move upwards in your directory structure. Also use the green arrow to change into the directory you want to transfer files to. - Once you've located your file (or files), highlight them (use the CTRL key and click multiple files if you need to select more than one file), then click the proper arrow located between the two columns and your files will be transferred! For example, if you are transferring files from your H: drive to your home computer, you would click the arrow pointing to the left.
To access your S: or N: drive follow these instructions once you've completed Step 9.
- When you first login, the path shown in the Remote System (right hand portion of the screen) reflects your H: drive and should look like this:
- Double click the green arrow with the two periods.
- You will notice that the path of the Remote System is now
- Again, double click the green arrow with the two periods and you will see that the path has changed to /VOL1
- Double click the Shared folder
- Next, double click the Faculty Folder.
- You will see a folder with your username. Double-click that folder
