Saving Files to the SJC Network taking advantage of the file space on our network servers

If you've ever worked on a computer, then you've undoubtedly saved a file. The concept is simple... when you save a file you are storing information on some sort of physical media, whether it be a floppy disk, a ZIP disk, your computer's hard drive or a network file server such as your SJC Network drive.

However, sometimes saving a file can be confusing, especially if you've never saved information to a network file server before. This page will try to break your computer's file system down to the individual drives that are available to you, focusing specifically on the SJC Network file servers and how they are made available to you on your computer and the computers in the labs. (note: this page specifically deals with saving files from a Microsoft Windows machine... other platforms should come to the computer center for help.)

Viewing your computer's file system

You can start Windows Explorer by clicking on the Start button and going into the Programs menu. If you do not find it here, it may simply be at the top of your screen on the Microsoft Office shortcut bar. note: this is a snapshot of my computer screen, yours may vary slightly.

When you first open Windows Explorer, it may look something like this...

a snapshot of Windows Explorer on my machine when I first started it

Notice that all you can see right now (in the above snapshot) is the C: drive. Also notice, on the left hand side of this Explorer window, in the All Folders portion, there is a minus sign '-' next to the C: drive and a plus sign '+' next to some of the folders under the C: drive. Anytime you see a minus sign or a plus sign next to a folder in Windows Explorer, you may click on the sign. If the sign is a minus, clicking on it will close the adjoining folder. If the sign is a plus, the folder will open when you click on it. If you're following along, click on the minus sign next to your C: drive now. We want to close the C: drive folder. Your Windows Explorer may now look something like this....

a snapshot of Windows Explorer on my machine after closing my C: drive folder

Now, you may notice that the All Folders portion of the Explorer window contains several different things in it, rather than just the C: drive. But, you may also notice that the C: drive is still in the right hand portion of the window. That is because we have not selected a new drive or folder to view. Notice that the C: drive, in the All Folders portion of the window, is highlighted in Yellow. Whatever you have highlighted in the All Folders portion of the window will be displayed in the right-hand portion of the window.

The things we are most concerned with, for now, are the things under the My Computer folder (in the All Folders portion of the snapshot above). This includes: 3 1/2" Floppy (A:), (C:), (D:), (E:) and Removable Disk (S:). For those of you who are somewhat familiar with Microsoft Windows, you may recognize some of this stuff. For instance, you may recognize the A: drive as the floppy drive; the C: drive is your computer's hard drive; the D: drive is a cd-rom; the E: drive is a cd recorder and the S: drive is a ZIP drive.

This is how Microsoft Windows handles the various devices attached to your computer, it assigns a letter of the alphabet to each device. Then, if you want to access that device, you must refer to it with the appropriate letter. This is also the way that Microsoft Windows handles your SJC Network drive. The above snapshot was taken when I was not logged into the SJC Network. Now, look at the snapshot of my Windows Explorer once I've logged myself into the SJC Network...

a snapshot of Windows Explorer on my machine while logged into the SJC Network

If you look closely, you'll notice that there are now two new devices under My Computer. These devices are Common on 'Empsrv'(I:) and Bobd on 'Admsrv'(N:). They are SJC Network drives and they are available to me whenever I login to a computer on campus.

When I login to the SJC Network from my computer, the I: drive connects my computer to a 'Common' network drive. This is a set of files on one of our file servers that all SJC Community members have access to. It contains SJC pictures and fonts, as well as Netscape install files and other helpful software. I cannot save files to this drive, and neither can other SJC Community members. This drive is "read-only".

The N: drive connects my computer to my SJC Network drive. This is my own, personal file storage space on one of our file servers. My username is "Bobd" on the SJC Network and my network drive is located on the file server named "Admsrv". Hence, Bobd on 'Admsrv'(N:). This is where I store all of the files that I want to be able to access from anywhere on campus, when I login to a computer.

And, just as I have my own SJC Network drive, every member of the SJC Community has their own SJC Network drive. And, to access your SJC Network drive, all you need to do is login to a computer on campus. When you login, you will be able to access your personal SJC Network drive with the drive letter 'N:'.

Saving files to your SJC Network drive

Hopefully, you now understand what your SJC Network drive is. It is your personal storage space on our file servers. There are several reasons to take advantage of this storage space. One of the primary reasons is that you can access this storage space from any computer on campus. This means that you don't have to work on your assignments from the same computer every time, and that you don't have to carry all of your assignments around with you (on floppy disks or ZIP disks or whatever). You can simply save your assignments to your SJC Network drive and then access them whenever and wherever you login.

To save files to your SJC Network drive, you do much of the same thing that you would do if you were saving files to your hard drive or to a floppy disk or whatever. For instance, let's say you are working in Microsoft Word. You've just started a new paper for your Core class. You've been working on it for an hour. You're not finished, and you have to go to class, so you'll have to come back and finish it later. To save this paper to your SJC Network drive you would simply click the save button in Word, or you could go to the File menu and select Save.

When you do this, the standard Microsoft Windows Save As window will pop-up...

a snapshot of a Microsoft Windows Save As window on my machine

When the Save As window first pops up, it may not be setup for you to save to your SJC Network drive. The above snapshot shows that my Save As window was setup to save my file to the My Documents folder. The snapshot below shows you how to select your SJC Network drive...

to save to a different location with your Save As window, click the down arrow next to the Save in: box to reveal your choices.

Once you've selected your SJC Network drive, you must simply make sure that you give your file an appropriate name. Then, click the Save button...

this one's ready to be saved!!

Basically, that's it. If you can do all of the above successfully, then you are ready to save files to your SJC Network drive. Now, you may want to check out our Guidlines for File Safety or you can simply return to the SJC Network File Storage homepage by clicking here.