Synopsis:
Windows: How to manually save your H: drive files when you leave Princeton

Solution:
When you graduate and leave campus, you should make sure to download to your personal computer files which you have stored on OIT servers. This includes the documents that you have stored on your H: drive as well as your e-mail. OIT provides an online suite of tools called the Digital Student Suitcase that can pack up your personal intellectual property automatically for you to take with you. If you would like to manually download your documents and e-mail, use the links below.

Your H: drive may contain up to 5GB of files and folders. Before your account at Princeton is closed, be sure to copy your files and data to your own computer and download them from the server. To find out when your OIT accounts will be terminated after leaving the University, see Solution 5855.

VPN to the campus network
If you have already left Princeton and cannot access the Princeton network, you will need to use VPN (Virtual Private Networking) to connect to your H: drive. If you are still on campus, skip this step. To establish a VPN connection on your Windows computer, see: www.princeton.edu/vpn.

How to connect to your Central File Server files (H: drive)

1. If you see a Network Drive with your University netID on 'files' (H:) you are already connected to the Central File Server with your H: drive mapped. To check, double-click on the My Computer icon on your Desktop. If your H: drive is already mapped to the Central File Server properly, it will look like this:
   

2. Important! If you see your H: drive mapped to 'smbserve' (as in the graphic below) you are using Samba technology to connect, and this is not correct. OIT recommends that you disconnect this mapped drive and re-connect again to your H: drive using a different path, in order to utilize the NAS Central File Server to its fullest capabilities. Right-click on the 'smbserve' (H:) drive and select Disconnect.
   

3. Next, click on the Start button and pull up to Run... (In Windows Vista, just begin typing in the Start Search field)
   

4. In the Run dialog box , type \\files\yourNetID in the Open... field and then click OK. Your Central File Server directory will appear as a window on your desktop.
   

5. The window that appears contains all the files that exist in your Central File Server directory. (If it prompts you for your username, password, and domain, type in your netID for the username, your Windows logon password for password, and princeton for the domain.)

6. If you are logged on to Windows as a different user, or if you are not logged into the Princeton domain, you may see a Enter Network Password window (as in the graphic below). Type princeton\yourNetID in the Connect As: field (make sure to use your own University netID), and ensure that you are using the correct password.
   

Copying files to your local computer

1. Create a folder on the desktop of your computer. Right-click anywhere on your desktop and select New and pull over to Folder.
   

2. Title the folder something identifiable, such as My Princeton Files.
   

3. Try to consolidate your personal files on your H: drive by moving them all into one or two folders; in the example below all documents have been moved into a folder called My Documents.

4. Move your windows around so that you see both your H: drive folders and the new folder on your desktop. Drag your H: drive folders one at a time onto the desktop folder. In the image below, My Documents is being dragged and dropped onto the folder called My Princeton files.
   

5. An alternate method is to click on your H: drive folders, select Copy this folder from the File and Folder Tasks pane, and then navigate to the folder you created on your desktop.
   

6. Depending on the slowness of your Internet connection or the number of files you are copying, this may a long time. Be patient. If you are off campus and made a VPN connection to copy your files, you should disconnect that VPN connection now. Right-click on the VPN connection icon in the bottom right corner of your screen and select Disconnect from the menu that appears.

7. Having copied all your files, you can disconnect from your VPN connection by right-clicking on its icon in the bottom right corner of your screen and selecting Disconnect from the menu that appears.
   

Alternatives:
Sometimes there are situations where students do not have access to their own personal computers and need to use an alternate solution for downloading their files from OIT servers before their accounts are closed. For example, perhaps you are traveling out of the country and do not have your own computer. You might want to consider a strategy of connecting from a friend's computer and copying your data to an alternate device such as a portable USB key, an MP3 player, an iPod, a Jump Drive, a Zip Drive, or any other portable device that has storage space. If you need help with this type of situation, contact the OIT Help Desk at 8-4357 (option 1) for suggestions.