Storage on the Network

Local Storage

If you are using local storage (your hard drive), please visit our Backup Service page to make sure your data is being backed up.

PASS Space, W, X, U, & V Drives -- for Everyone

The PASS Space (aka the W & X Drives) and the U & V Drives are available to EVERYONE and are provided by ITS @ UP. When you receive your Penn State Access Account, you automatically receive PASS space and a U & V Drive. The PASS Space is the most popular storage in the Penn State system; the U & V Drives are older, smaller, and mainly maintained for people who have always used them.

How are these things used? On your main computer, follow the directions in the next two paragraphs then make sure you save all your files to either X or V, as you prefer. They will then automatically be backed up every night. You will also be able to access your files from classrooms and public computers on campus, and potentially from your home computer if you have patience enough to work through the three links in the next paragraph.

Is there an easy way for students and laptop users to connect? No. You will need to read this description of PASS, instructions for connecting to PASS, and information on the U & V Drives. Connecting is not a trivial task, but the instructions are good and once you have it figured out, you have a SAFE place to store information, so there are advantages.

Is there an easy way for faculty and staff to connect? Yes. If you are on a public PC, the PASS space and U & V Drives show up automatically. If you are in your office, click your Start Menu, then All Programs, then Internet Applications, then Communications, then Map U Drive and PASS, then Map U Drive and PASS one more time. You'll need to fill in your Access username and password to connect, not your PSH LAN username and password. After connecting, you'll see the four drives show up as drives on your computer.

H and S Drives -- for Faculty and Staff @ PSH

Similar to the PASS Space, the H and S Drives are specific to Penn State Harrisburg and will therefore give you better response time than the drives listed above. These drives are hosted by ITS @ PSH and space on these drives is automatically allocated to all faculty and staff at PSH. If you are a laptop user, connecting to these drives is not trivial; please contact ITS. If you are faculty or staff on your office computer, these drives will appear automatically. If you are using a public computer, you will need to map them as follows: click your Start Menu, then All Programs, then Internet Applications, then Communications, then Map PSH Admin Drives, then Map PSH Admin Drives one more time. You'll need to fill in your PSH LAN username and password to connect, not your Access Thumbrpint username and password. After connecting, you'll see the three drives show up as drives on your computer.

How are these things used? On your main computer, follow the directions in the paragraph immediately above then make sure you save all your files to your H Drive (S to share with your department). They will then automatically be backed up every night. You will also be able to access them from classrooms and public computers on campus.