File store

All users are provided with allocated space on one of the School's fileservers.

How much file space do I get?

User file space has a quota applied to it. This is to help ensure sufficient space is provided to enable all users to continue to work. Information on the default quotas for users is given in the Disk Usage and Quotas policy.

Help! I'm over my disk quota!

If you go over your quota, you will not be able to save further files. Your Unix account will also be automatically barred if you remain over quota for more than seven days. We have a page on helping you deal with being at or near your quota.

I accidentally deleted a file!

You have backed up your work haven't you? We generally reccomend that users keep their own backups of work. We do take system backups, however these are intended for disaster recovery purposes and it can take a while for us to retrieve data for you. Our most recent file-server uses SnapShot technology which effectively gives an online backup of files. Note that the life-span of these is quite short, but you may be able to retreive files yourself.

What is this .snapshot / ~snapshot directory?

The snapshot directory is a special read-only part of the filesystem which mirrors the status of your directories. The snapshots are essentialy a point-in-time representation of the filesystem and are provided to enable you to recover deleted files more quickly. The snapshots are taken periodically. It doesn't count towards your disk quota, and you can't delete it. Snapshotting is only available on some of our file-servers. More infomation on snapshots is available.

How do I access my files from home?

First connect to the VPN and then under Windows connect to
\\socs-smb.cs.bham.ac.uk\