Network Drives

About the Network drives

Network drives are actually just folders shared on ua-net file servers. The three main categories of shared folders are departmental, user, and labs.

All files and folders on ua-net file servers are backed up daily so if you accidentally delete something you should be able to recover your files from a saved network backup.

Common Network Drives

Departmental Drive ("T" Drive)
All CoE faculty and staff have access to \\share\coe. This is normally mapped to the letter T and hence referred to as the "T drive".
All departmental data should be stored here.

User Drive
All ua-net user accounts have access to \\home\{first letter of username}\{username} (example: if username is jsmith, then path is \\home\j\jsmith). This is used for storage of personal user data and is normally mapped to the letter U and referred to as the "U drive".
Departmental data should not be stored here.

Lab/Project Folders
Faculty and students can access lab or project folders on \\labfs.ua-net.ua.edu\share\{project}
The faculty member in charge of the lab or project can request access by emailing support@eng.ua.edu and including the myBama User ID's (mybama username) of users requiring access.

Mapping Network Drives

Windows 10

1. Make sure the computer is connected to the campus network (wired or wifi) or via VPN.
2. Open file explorer and click on "This PC" on the left.
3. Select the tab at the top labelled "Computer".
4. Select "Map Network Drive".
5. Select the drive letter. This is personal preference but normally we use T, U, L, or P.
6. Enter the shared folder path (example: \\share.ua-net.ua.edu\coe).
7. Check the box labeled "Reconnect at sign-in" and click "Finish".
8. The network drive should be mapped now and show up in file explorer.

Windows 11

1. Make sure the computer is connected to the campus network (wired or wifi) or via VPN (if off campus).
2. Open file explorer and click on "This PC" on the left.
3. Click the "..." at the top of file explorer above the filepath field
4. Click "Map Network Drive"
5. Select the drive letter. This is personal preference but normally we use T, U, L, or P.
6. Enter the shared folder path (example: \\share.ua-net.ua.edu\coe).
7. Check the box labeled "Reconnect at sign-in" and click "Finish".
8. The network drive should be mapped now and show up in file explorer.

Mac

1. Make sure the computer is connected to the campus network (wired or wifi) or via VPN.
2. Select "Go" in the finder menu bar at the top center of the screen
3. Select "Connect to Server"
4. Enter the name of your server as smb://{your drive name} (example: smb://share.ua-net.ua.edu/coe)
5. Select "Connect"
6. Enter the domain as ua-net, your ua-net userid and password (normally the same as your myBama credentials).
7. Select "OK"
8. The share will appear on the desktop.