Folder Redirection Folder Redirection Griffith has implemented a "Folder Redirection" data management solution for all standard staff Windows 10 personal computers. What does it do? "Folder Redirection" is a feature available within corporate Windows versions that enables standard data folders (see list below) to be automatically redirected to network storage. You continue to use and save data files just the same as if they are located on the local hard drive. However, behind the scenes these files are securely stored on network storage. Most people shouldn t notice any difference. The Y: drive is provided as an additional method of navigating & interacting with your files hosted on the network. How will it benefit me? This feature provides a number of benefits to staff: Your data is immediately available when you logon to any standard staff Windows 10 computer. Improved data security and protection for your data (e.g. it is automatically backed up and previous versions and/or deleted files can be easily restored) What data folders are redirected? The following data folders are automatically redirected to the network on a standard staff Windows 10 computer. Anything you place within these standard data locations will be stored on network storage. Contacts Desktop Documents Favorites Links Music Pictures Saved Games Videos Will it work with disconnected laptop computers? Yes, if you use a laptop computer the system will keep a cached copy of your files on the local hard drive. When your laptop detects that it is disconnected from the network, it will automatically switch to using the local copy of data files (even if some of these files are currently open). The next time your laptop is reconnected to the network it will automatically synchronise changes to the network storage. How much network storage capacity is available? The default storage quota is 30GB. This is expected to be sufficient for almost all Griffith staff. However, additional storage capacity is available for people that have a requirement by contacting the IT Service Centre. Griffith University 2017 Apart from fair dealing as permitted by the copyright law of your country, this work may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-profit educational use, provided correct attribution is given. Abstracting with credit is permitted. Other uses should be discussed with the copyright owner. Information Services 11 April 2017-1 - CRICOS No. 00233E
How do I access my redirected data? You continue to access your data files in the same way as before, most people shouldn t notice any difference. However, if you prefer to use a drive letter to navigate, your personal network storage location is also presented as Y: drive (RoamingData) Your data files will be immediately available on any standard staff Windows 10 computer you use. Figure 1: Windows File Explorer Can I access my data files from a different non-windows 10 computer? Yes, it is possible for you to manually connect to your network storage location from another computer that is connected directly to the Griffith Network or when external via Griffith VPN. You must have logged onto a standard staff Windows 10 computer at least once on campus to establish your network storage location. Windows Devices 1. Open File Explorer and enter the following location: \\staff.ad.griffith.edu.au\ud\fr\logon Name (e.g. \\staff.ad.griffith.edu.au\ud\fr\s12345678) 2. When prompted for a username and password, please append staff\ before your usual username. macos Devices 1. From Finder menu select GO, then CONNECT TO SERVER 2. Enter the following location: smb://staff.ad.griffith.edu.au/ud/fr/logon Name (e.g. smb://staff.ad.griffith.edu.au/ud/fr/s12345678) 3. When prompted for a username and password, please append staff\ before your usual username (e.g. staff\s12345678).
How to apply itunes - Storage Quota Usage Fix If itunes is used on a computer its Media folder will be saved within the redirected Music folder by default. The itunes media content will consume a lot of storage and may unnecessarily use up your quota. For this reason we recommend that it should be moved from the default location. The following procedure will move the itunes media folder 1. In File Explorer create a new folder outside of the redirected folders. Recommend location is C:\Users\your_username\MyLocalData\iTunes (e.g. C:\users\s12345678\MyLocalData\iTunes) 2. Open itunes. From the itunes menu select EDIT then PREFERENCES 3. Select ADVANCED (A). Click the CHANGE button (B) and select the folder you created. 4. Tick the Copy files to itunes media folder when adding to the library (C) 5. Click OK button to complete the change. Figure 2: itunes Media Location Settings How to apply Outlook PST File (Archive) Incompatibility Fix Microsoft recommend that Outlook.PST (Archive) files not be used from a redirected folder location due to potential compatibility problems (particularly in a disconnected laptop scenario). The recommended solution is to move Outlook.PST files from the default location (within the redirected DOCUMENTS folder) to an alternative location. As a result, in our environment when you use Outlook 2016 it will expect PST files to exist in the following recommended location: C:\Users\Your_Username\MyLocalData\Outlook (e.g. C:\Users\s12345678\MyLocalData\Outlook) We recommend you move any.pst files you may have into this recommended folder using File Explorer. Please Note: The use of Microsoft Outlook is not officially recommended or supported at Griffith.
How to Recover a File or Folder from Backup One of the benefits of using Folder Redirection is that you have the ability to recover previous versions and/or deleted files. 1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the relevant file or folder. Right click and select RESTORE PREVIOUS VERSIONS from the menu. Figure 3: Select Restore Previous Versions from File Explorer 2. A list of available previous versions of the relevant file or folder will be listed. Identify and select the version of the file or folder you require. Figure 4: Select version to restore from those available 3. At this point there are two recover options available a. OPEN Will open a new instance of File Explorer. You can then navigate through the contents of the folder that existed at the time the backup was made. You can then manually copy the files & folders you are interested in restoring. b. RESTORE Will immediately replace the selected file, or the entire contents of the folder with the state that existed at the time the selected backup was made. The OPEN option is the safest and recommended approach for most situations.
Folder Redirection incomplete message In rare situations, the computer may encounter a problem automatically redirecting all content from the local drive to the network. This situation is most likely to occur the first time you logon to a new staff Windows 10 computer that is replacing a previous staff Windows 7 computer. The most common reason for this message is that some files or folders within the relevant location have extremely long folder and/or filenames. It may also occur on laptop computers when a blocked file exists (please refer to section - Laptop Users Offline Files and Incompatible Files) The maximum possible length of a combined filename and location (known as a path) in Windows is 256 characters. Because the path must now include a network address, the available number of characters available for the path is shorter than for content stored on the local drive. To resolve this problem 1. Using File Explorer navigate to the folder(s) listed in the popup notification message. 2. Rename any subfolders and/or filenames with a shorter name as required. 3. Attempt to move renamed subfolders/files into the relevant subfolder location on Y: drive Figure 5: Folder Redirection Incomplete Message Additional information Staff Windows 10 IT Support Webpage https://intranet.secure.griffith.edu.au/computing/desktop-support/windows10 Related Document Folder Redirection (Additional Info for Laptops) Prepared by: Personal Tech Development Team Last modified: 11/4/2017