Personal Data Storage (NAS)
- What is my personal storage space, or Windows home directory?
- How do I access my storage space?
- Who is eligible to receive personal storage space from CAEN?
- Which password should I use when logging in to access my storage space?
- Can I get more personal storage space?
- How do I check the quota usage in my personal storage space?
- Why can't I save anything to the Desktop or Documents folder on a CAEN PC?
- Why can't I copy a particular file to my storage space?
- When I connect to the Internet from home, I cannot access my NAS space or mount it as a network drive. Why is this, and how can I get around it?
What is my personal storage space, or Windows home directory?
For general information on CAEN's network-attached storage service and Windows home directories, please refer to the following web page:
How do I access my storage space?
Accessing Your Storage Space
Accessing Your Storage Space on CAEN Computers
Windows
When using Windows machines in CAEN computer labs, your storage space will be mounted to the N: network drive under My Computer. This is similar to how ITCS AFS home directories are mounted to the H: network drive:
Linux
From any CAEN Linux machine, you can connect to your storage space using the smbclient program. Simply type the following command:
smbclient //storage.engin.umich.edu/home -U UMROOT/uniqname
where uniqname is your U-M uniqname. Enter your ITCS Active Directory UMROOT password when prompted. This will give you a text-based interface to the files in your storage space, similar to a DOS command window. For more information, type man smbclient at the prompt
Accessing Your Storage Space on a Personal Computer
Note: If you are attempting to access your CAEN storage space from off-campus, and you connect to the Internet via a commercial service provider (ISP) such as Comcast, you may not be able to access your space directly. For security reasons, many ISPs block this kind of "Windows-based" file/network traffic, preventing the space from being directly accessible.
To circumvent this, CAEN recommends using an SFTP or SCP program to access this space. See the Accessing your NAS space via SFTP & SCP section below. You can also bypass this block by establishing a remote virtual private network (VPN) connection.
Windows
There are a few ways to access your CAEN storage space from your personal Windows computer. When off-campus, you should use SFTP or SCP. When on-campus, the easiest way would be set up your computer to automatically mount the drive, similar to how it is done on CAEN PCs. Open My Computer. In the resulting window, from the Tools menu, select Map Network Drive. You will see the following window:
Select the letter you would like to use for the Drive, and for the Folder enter \\storage.engin.umich.edu\home. Make sure to put a check in the box labeled Reconnect at logon. You may also accomplish this by opening a Command Prompt, and typing the following:
net use n: \\storage.engin.umich.edu\home
If you are on your personal computer, or a computer that does not offer a UMICH.EDU login option, you will be prompted to log in with your ITCS Active Directory UMROOT password. Enter your password as follows:
Remember to put UMROOT\ before your uniqname. Your storage space will appear under My Computer as a network drive N:.
Another way to access your storage space from your on-campus, personal computer is to open the Run dialog box from the Start menu, or open Windows Explorer. Enter the following to open your home directory, and click OK:
Once you have logged in (as previously described), your home directory will appear:
Mac OS
On your personal Mac computer, select Connect to Server from the Go menu:
For the Server Address type smb://storage.engin.umich.edu/home and click the Connect button. You will be prompted for your ITCS password in the UMROOT domain:
Enter your password and click OK. Your home directory will open and be mounted as a drive on the desktop.
Accessing Your Storage Space via SFTP & SCP
CAEN account holders may access their storage space using their favorite Secure FTP (SFTP) client from home, or on campus. Simply open the client and connect to vs3.engin.umich.edu. For your User Name use UMROOT\uniqname, where uniqname is your U-M uniqname:
After logging in with your UMROOT password, you should see a view similar to what is shown below (depending on what SFTP/SCP client you use):
This will give you access to everything stored in your home directory. Special linked folders are also available for access to course files, and filed redirected from the Desktop and My Documents folders of a CAEN PC. See information about the windat folder below for more information on this redirection.
Accessing Your Storage Space via WebDAV
WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a technology used by some applications to provide secure access to files over the web. Some programs and operating systems have WebDAV access built-in. Below are a few common examples:
Windows
Note: In order to access your NAS space over the web using the Windows Explorer-type view, your browser must support WebDAV. Currently, Internet Explorer is the only browser that supports this.
- In Internet Explorer, from the File menu, select Open...
- In the Open window, enter https://vs3.engin.umich.edu, and make sure to check the box next to Open as Web Folder:
- Click the OK button, and you will be prompted to log in. For User name, enter UMROOT\uniqname, and use your ITCS UMROOT Password:
- After you log in, you will be presented with an Explorer window in which you can access your files, similar to below:
This will give you access to everything stored in your space, including files redirected from the Desktop and My Documents folders of a CAEN PC. See information about the windat folder below for more information on this redirection.
Mac OS X
- From the Mac OS X Go menu, select Connect to Server...
- In the resulting window, enter https://vs3.engin.umich.edu as the Server Address, and click Connect:
- You will be prompted to log in. For your Name, enter UMROOT\uniqname, and use your ITCS UMROOT Password:
- After you log in, your space will be mounted to a drive on your Desktop called Home, and you will be presented with window in which you can copy, paste and edit your files, similar to below:
Note: If you don't have access to any applications or operating systems that use WebDAV, your best option may be to use your favorite SFTP or SCP client, as described immediately before this section.
Who is eligible to receive personal storage space from CAEN?
Anyone who is eligible for a full CAEN computing account, as described at:
Which password should I use when logging in to access my storage space?
Authentication to CAEN's storage server uses your ITCS Active Directory (UMROOT) password; your user name is UMROOT\uniqname, where uniqname is your U-M uniqname. This password is different from your ITCS Kerberos (UMICH.EDU) password.
If you have never set your UMROOT password before and/or you are having trouble logging in, you may set it here:
Can I get more personal storage space?
No, CAEN cannot increase individual storage quotas. However, eligible students, faculty and staff do have access to additional AFS file space provided by ITCS.
How do I check the quota usage in my personal storage space?
There are a few ways to check the quota of your storage space. If you are on a CAEN Windows computer, simply open up My Computer. You will see a listing of network drives. Find the N: drive, and look at the Total Size and Free Space values for your quota and usage (Note: If you do not see these values listed, select Details from the View menu of the Explorer window).
Otherwise, in order to check your quota from a non-CAEN computer, you must first locate your folder in the root of the file system. Go to \\storage.engin.umich.edu\. You will then see the file system volumes listed for every users' NAS space, categorized by the first letter of their U-M uniqname (Note: If you do not see the comments listed, select Details from the View menu of your Explorer window). Locate your folder, right-click on your folder, and select Properties. You will then see the total space usage of your NAS space. For example, joeuser is currently using 38.1 MB:
Why can't I save anything to the Desktop or Documents folder on a CAEN PC?
When saving/storing files to the Desktop or Documents folders on a CAEN Windows computer, one should remember that these folders are stored in your space, in a folder called windat.V2, and will have an impact on their space usage. So, CAEN users need to be careful about the number and size of files they store in these folders, as they may go over their quota.
If you do go over your quota, you will not be able to save files to the Desktop or Documents folders, and you may have trouble logging into CAEN PCs. If this happens, please contact the CAEN Hotline at (734) 764-CAEN.
Why can't I copy a particular file to my storage space?
If you are unable to copy a particular file to your storage space, the cause is usually one of two issues:
- The file in question is large enough such that you will exceed your quota. In this case, there is not enough room in your storage space to copy the file, and you will need to clear out some files from your space in order to continue. If you have verified that this is not the case, then...
- The file may be infected with a known computer virus. The storage server is complimented with frequently updated anti-virus software, and all files are scanned as they are copied to the server. If a file is infected, it will not allow you to copy the file.
If you have verified that the two scenarios listed above are not affecting you, and you still have trouble copying the file, please feel free to Contact CAEN for assistance.
When I connect to the Internet from home, I cannot access my NAS space or mount it as a network drive. Why is this, and how can I get around it?
Broadband Internet service providers (Cable and DSL) often block Windows file-sharing traffic on their networks. This is done to prevent the spread of viruses that take advantage of vulnerabilities in unpatched or outdated Windows operating systems. Due to this blocking, CAEN users may not be able to access their storage space directly from their home computers (i.e. \\storage.engin.umich.edu\home\).
As a way around this issue, CAEN recommends that users connect to their storage space using SFTP. See the SFTP section of the following page for more information:
