When you use the School of Computing & Mathematics' PC computer laboratories
there are two areas in which your data can be stored:
- Your Unix home directory (also known as your U: drive)
- Your profile (also known as your desktop or roaming profile).
Each of these has a set limit on the amount of data you can store in them -
normally 50Mb on Unix, and 5Mb on your profile. When saving important files,
you must use your U: drive instead of your profile as your profile may
be subject to deletion at any time.
What is my Unix home directory ?
Your Unix home directory (your "U:" drive) is your storage space on the
School's Unix servers (usually 50Mb) that can be accessed from any SCM
laboratory via Windows XP, Linux or a direct connection to one of the
School's Unix hosts (such as Kay or Morgana). You should use this directory
to store all your important data such as assignments.
What is my Windows profile ?
Your profile is used to store your Windows XP profile, which
controls settings such as your Internet Explorer "Favourites", your
desktop colours and background image etc etc. Profiles are saved
when you log out, however, if your Windows XP profile
exceeds 5Mb, it is deleted overnight, and hence you will lose anything you
had on your desktop and your Windows XP settings will be reset to the SCM
default values. The School deletes profiles larger than 5Mb (a typical
Windows XP profile is approximatley 3Mb) as there is no reliable way of
placing quotas on the profiles (as Windows XP does not save information
to the profile area in a consistent manner, so any attempts to quota the
profile directory ultimately result in lots of people having corrupted
profiles as Windows merely saves up to the quota limit and then gives up -
with obviously disastrous results!). Please note that the School's technical
staff may have to reset all user profiles to the SCM default from time to
time (for example, when making global changes to the way Internet Explorer
interacts with the School's proxy servers). This is a further reason why
saving anything to your desktop is a bad idea - your desktop maybe
trashed without warning at any time!
Summary
Do not save anything to your desktop - use your U: drive instead.