Data and file storage
The university offers a range of file storage solutions for students, staff and researchers
Please note, the legacy file store website (files.nottingham.ac.uk) has been decommissioned.
Users can continue to access the file store, Shared (S:) and Research (R:) drives by the following methods:
- From a university managed Windows device
- Or via the Windows Virtual Desktop service
What storage is available?
Students, staff and researchers all have access to Microsoft 365 OneDrive storage
On-site shared drives
Students, staff and researchers all have access to:
Microsoft 365 OneDrive (personal and collaborative)
Microsoft Office 365 is the University's key digital collaborative platform.
5TB of OneDrive storage, which is included with your Microsoft Office license, should be used for personal files.
When collaborating with others we recommend the use of Teams. Each Team is supported by 1TB of dedicated storage.
You can also use SharePoint to create communication sites (think blogs, and shop-fronts) for projects and other unique ways of storing and sharing your data.
All Office 365 data is secure, encrypted and accessible via the Internet using a web browser. You do not need to be on a University network to work, study and collaborate.
Staff, researchers and PGRs all have access to:
Shared / Research drives
There are on-site storage systems - S: for Shared and R: for Research.
On-site, these can be accessed via a university provided Windows machine.
If you need access to those drives when off-site, you can do this when connected to the Virtual Private Network from a university provided Windows machine.
For Mac and other non-Windows users, we recommend access via the Windows Virtual Desktop service. Alternatively these networked drives can be mapped.
Accessing your data
Office 365 OneDrive
- You can access your storage by signing in with your University credentials at https://portal.office.com/.
- It is recommended to use Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera or Edge. Avoid using Internet Explorer.
- Connect using a trusted Wi-Fi connection.
On-Site
- To store any new data we recommend using Office 365 OneDrive.
- Storage systems are mapped as drive letters for Windows computers and laptops provided by the university.
- For non-Windows users (eg Linux and Macintosh) - files can be accessed via the Windows Virtual Desktop.
- For staff, Linux and Macintosh users may arrange to have access the data via SMB/CIFS (subject to valid security configuration).
Off-Site
All of the mentioned On-Site storage systems may be accessed off-site:
- From a university provided Windows machine when connected to the VPN
- Within a remotely hosted desktop via the Windows Virtual Desktop
- Researchers may request access to Research data via SFTP
- Office 365 OneDrive can be accessed from anywhere on any device by logging into https://portal.office.com/
Your responsibilities
It is the responsibility of individuals to ensure that they understand privacy issues, the sensitivity of their data, and ensure retention/deletion takes place in line with regulations and laws.
Campus IT support should be advised of any specific protection requirements so they can ensure the data security is compliant.
Further information and advice on retention schedules, data protection and records management is available in university policies.
It is important that university storage is not used for data, files and images that have copyright elsewhere, are of a purely personal nature (such as personal music collections) or are likely to be considered inappropriate.
Filestore security
All on-site file stores are backed up and users can request the restoration of lost data
Access storage for UNIX specific systems via your Campus IT support team
Additional storage space
Microsoft Office 365 OneDrive offers 5TB of individual storage.
You can also create Teams within Office 365 that will provide an additional 1TB of storage - more can be requested if required.
For Research (R: drive), please review the Digital Research SharePoint for storage guidance.
For Shared (S: drive), we are no longer able to increase storage space.
Office 365 - particularly a Team with its own storage - is the recommended route for shared storage.
Research
Researchers may request storage on the University’s Research file service, which provides a basic capacity of 1TB and is available by contacting Campus IT support.
Additional Research storage can be awarded up to 5TB, however, beyond that amount, further approval is required.
We strongly advise Researchers to use OneDrive and Teams, both for data security and to guarantee access to help should something go wrong.
We do not recommend the use of Google Drive, DropBox, or other free or 'pay to use storage' systems for storage of your University data. This is because we cannot help you should there be a problem, and the security of that data cannot be guaranteed by the University. This may also be in breach of the University's information security policy.
Self Service requests
Related services