TechInfo

From a PC using Windows XP:

* Start Menu -> Run
* Type \\studentshares.cortland.edu\home$\Cnumber(ie. \\studentshares.cortland.edu\home$\C00369745)
* Logon with your Net-ID in this format: cortland\username (ie. cortland\james.stewart)

From a PC using Windows Vista:

* Windows Key + R (Windows key is between the Alt and Ctrl on your keyboard)
* Type \\studentshares.cortland.edu\home$\Cnumber(ie. \\studentshares.cortland.edu\home$\C00369745)
* Logon with your Net-ID in this format: cortland\username (ie. cortland\james.stewart)

From a Mac

* Go Menu -> Connect to Server
* Type smb://studentshares.cortland.edu/home$/Cnumber (ie. smb://studentshares.cortland.edu/home$/C00369745)
* Logon with your Net-ID in this format: cortland\username (ie. cortland\james.stewart)

Open your U: drive. Usually this will be found under your My Computer icon labeled as U: (“username” on shares\home$). If it does not appear there you should be able to access it by clicking on the Start button, then on Run. In the box that appears type in the following:

\\shares\home$\username

For example, I would type in \\shares\home$\durrj

Regardless of how you accessed the U: drive a window should open displaying files that are currently stored there. Now you can simply drag the files you want to move to the U: drive into that window.  You may be dragging files from your Desktop or your My Documents folder.

Technology Help Center
SUNY Cortland
Winchell Hall
P: 607.753.2500
F: 607.753.5599
helpdesk@cortland.edu
Hours: M-Th, 8:00-6:00
F, 8:00-4:30
Summer Hours: M-F, 8:00-4:30

For Faculty who have students working on media production projects in their class and their drive space is not large enough to store these projects, Faculty will be able to request an increase in their student’s storage space.

The request should be made to the Technology Help Center (THC), helpdesk@cortland.edu , and contain the CRN-term code of the class (i.e. HLH 250 Fall ’08). Information Resources staff will process the request, which may take several days. Once the storage space has been increased the Faculty member will be notified when it’s completed. Please note that at the end of the semester, the student’s storage space will be reset back to 200 mg.

Are you a faculty member tired of burning presentations to CD or saving them on a flash drive for use in a lab or classroom? Did you know that you can access your U: from any on-campus computer that you log in to? That’s right, simply move your presentation to your U: drive (it should automatically appear under your My Computer icon, or on your Dock in the case of MAC users). Now log in to a lab computer and check under the My Computer (Windows) or Dock (MAC) for your U: drive. You should see your presentation/document; simply double click to open the document and your are on your way.

For Windows users that do not see the U: drive automatically, try the following: Click Start, then click Run. In the text box that appears type in the following: \\shares\home$\username (the username in this case is the same username that you use to log on to your computer). Click the OK button and your U: drive should open.

For MAC users that don’t see the Network drive on their desktop or in the Dock try this: Click Go in the Finder, then click Connect to Server. In the text box that appears type in the following: smb://shares/home$/username (the username in this case is the same username that you use to log on to your computer). Click the Connect button and your U: should open.

For more information, please contact:

Technology Help Center
SUNY Cortland
Winchell Hall
P: 607.753.2500
F: 607.753.5599
helpdesk@cortland.edu
Hours: M-Th, 8:00-6:00
F, 8:00-4:30
Summer Hours: M-F, 8:00-4:30

Just another reminder that users should NOT launch iMovie or Garageband projects from the Network drive (aka – “U Drive”, “Share Drive”). While you are encouraged to put a COPY of your iMovie or Garageband project on the network drive for storage purposes, you can not open the project from there or the file will become corrupted. This problem is compounded by the network problems that we’ve been having this week.

Users should work on their files locally (on the machine), save the project, close iMovie, then put a copy of the project on the network drive. When you are ready to work on the project again, you would then drag the file out of the network drive and onto the desktop (or onto the drive called ‘Storage’). Then you can double click the file to launch iMovie or Garageband.

If you have any questions, or need more information, please contact:

Tera Doty-Blance
Software Training and Support Specialist
Memorial Library B113
(607)753-4056
dotyblancet@cortland.edu
http://library.cortland.edu/ttc/training_center.asp

When you log into a networked computer on campus, and then double click on ‘My Computer’ you will see a list of available of storage drives including the ‘U Drive’. (It’s the one labeled with your username ‘on shares’)

This drive is actually 4 gigabytes of network storage that is available to all faculty and staff members.  Because it is on the network, you can access this drive from any networked machine anywhere on campus.  For example, if I work on a powerpoint presentation in my office and then save it to the U drive, I can then access it from a machine in Dowd, or Old Main, or anywhere else on campus as long as I’ve authenticated (logged in) with my username and password. All without having to remember to save it to a flash key or CD. (Which I’d probably forget to take with me anyways.)

Another nice thing about storing your files on the U drive is that the U drive is backed up on a nightly basis. Creating backups of your files is critical. If your hard drive fails, and you haven’t made a recent backup, there’s a good chance that your files can not be recovered. But, if you save them to the network drive, the files can be recovered from the nightly server backups.

So, instead of saving your files to your ‘local machine’, you can redirect your files to be saved to the U drive. More specifically, you can change where ‘My Documents’ is targeted so that anytime you save to ‘My Documents’ the files are automatically saved to the U drive instead of to the hard drive of your desktop.

Here’s how you target ‘My Documents’ to the U Drive:
1. On your desktop, right click on ‘My Documents’ and click on properties.
2. On the target tab, click on the Move button.
3. From the browse window that appears, select the U drive (It’s under  the + sign for ‘My Computer’.)
4. Click apply and Click Ok.

Now, anytime that you choose to save to ‘My Documents’, your files will be saved on the U Drive.

Keep in mind, if you have more than one machine that you use on a regular basis, you would have to retarget ‘My Documents’ on each of them.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Tera Doty-Blance
Software Training and Support Specialist
Memorial Library B113
(607)753-4056
dotyblancet@cortland.edu
http://library.cortland.edu/ttc/training_center.asp

Some Mac users have been experiencing problems when they create media content (podcasts, vodcasts and videos) and attempt to work with those files while they are stored in their Network storage space. The files will typically become corrupt and will either be partially or totally unplayable, causing the creator to have to scrap them and start all over. The problem is probably a result of insufficient transfer rate (or volume) from the network storage. Some media applications, like Final Cut Pro for example, suggest that you never work with media files from network storage. You may have successfully worked on a file in your Network space, but as that file grows in complexity, chances are, you are going to eventually have a problem.There is a simple work around to avoid any problems. If you are working in a public Mac lab, when you first create your file, save it to the Storage container. Continue working on the file on that local partition. (The Storage container is a local drive or drive partition and will be able to safely handle the transfer rate of the software.) You may safely overwrite the file any time you make a modification to it. At the end of your session, quit the application, then drag a copy of your media file(s) to your network storage. If you are leaving the lab for the day, be a good Public Lab Citizen and delete your project files from the Storage drive. (It will only take a few minutes or seconds to copy it back when you return and you’re freeing up valuable space for others to use.) The next time you log in, your file will be safely stored on your network drive. Copy the file back to the Storage container of the workstation you are logged into and open the local copy to make your modifications. When you are finished, copy your saved local copy from the Storage container back to your Network space, overwriting your original if you wish. If you follow this workflow, you will not have difficulty with corrupted files.

Users of the MultiMedia Computer Labs in the Library have been experiencing an error message when they attempt to select, Export Podcast to Disk… from the Share menu. In most instances, the error message does not occur on the first attempt to export. But, it will occur with any subsequent attempt to export or overwrite the podcast. This error is repeatable and appears to be unrelated to the location that the user is attempting to export to. We have not discovered any knowledge base documentation relating to this issue and have opened a posting in response.There are a couple of ways to work around this problem. Perhaps the easiest is to select the command, Send Podcast to iTunes, under the Share menu. This will create the same .m4a file that the export function would create and places it in your Music folder. The path to the file is User Home Directory/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/. An easier way to locate the file is to do a Spotlight search. Click on the blue magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner of the menu bar. In the search field, type the name of your podcast file. It will appear in a list that you can open. After locating the file, you should be able to drag it to any location you choose.Remember, when you log out of the computer, your home directory will be deleted along with any files you’ve stored there. So, it’s important to either burn a disk copy of your file, or put a copy on the Storage drive.We will track any updates on this problem and report them here after we’ve verified their accuracy. We appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this issue.Macintosh Technical Support Staff