There are several options that you can use to save your work on the computers in the Information Commons:

Read the Saving Your Work FAQs

To access your files from an off-campus computer, please see the AFS - Student File Storage page.

Option 1: Information Commons disk space
All students using a computer in the Kate Edger Information Commons will have access to an Information Commons drive. The amount of storage space available to each student is 250MB. Whenever you first save a file at the IC it automatically defaults to this drive.

For example, to save an MS Word document:

1. In the menu click File > Save As
2. Click on the Save in pull down menu arrow
3. Click My Computer
4. Double-click the appropiate drive
5. Type the name of the document in the File name bar
6. Click Save

You can access a saved file under the IC Home Drive by double-clicking either the My Documents, the IC Home Drive, or the My Computer desktop icon. If you've opened the My Documents or IC Home Drive icon, double-click on the file to open it. If you're using the My Computer icon the you need to first double-click the network drive associated with your NetID to find your saved files.

Option 2: Faculty or departmental disk space
You can save your work on your faculty or departmental disk space. Access to file storage will be supported for the following faculties:

Students might have their departmental drive icons on their desktop when they log on. Not all departmental drives act the same way. For example, you cannot save directly to the Architecture drive, even if you have the icon on your desktop. You must first save the file to somewhere like the IC Home Drive then copy and paste it to the appropriate folder in the Architecture icon. By contrast, you can save your work directly to some of the Business and Economics drives (there are several). Availability of departmental drives depends entirely on the department itself.

Many departments don't offer access to their drives from the IC. Some, like Architecture, don't provide access automatically and require you to apply to your department for access rights. Even if you do have an icon that can link to your departmental drive it may not always workdue to technical problems with your department's servers. Contact your department's computer lab if you have problems accessing its drives.

Off site access is not provided unless already provided by specific faculties or academic departments to their students.

Option 3: Scratch Space
In addition to the IC Home Drive, everyone using an IC computer can save to a network drive called Scratch Space. This drive is also known as the G-drive.

Since the IC Home Drive is limited to 50MB, Scratch Space can be used to temporarily store large files, such as, scanned images. Each person is limited to 600MB on Scratch Space. Only you have access to your files and other users cannot open your files or delete your files.

Be aware that all files in this drive are automatically deleted daily at 1am. Once they are deleted they are permanently gone and cannot be retrieved so make sure you copy them to another place before the 1am deadline.

For example, to save an MS Word document:

1. In the menu click File > Save As
2. Click on the Save in pull down menu arrow
3. Click Scratch on 'Fs-c' (G:)
4. Type the name of the document in the File name bar
5. Click Save

Files saved to Scratch Space can be accessed by double-clicking its desktop icon. You can also access Scratch Space by first double-clicking the My Computer desktop icon and then double-clicking the Scratch on 'Fs-c' (G:) network drive.

Option 4: CDs
Many computers have a CDR-DVD drive, which is also known as the D-drive. You can use the D-drive to save files to a CD.

For example, to save an MS Word document:

1. Right click on the file that you want to write to the CD or DVD.
2. In the sub menu click on Send to
3. Click on DVD/CD-RW Drive
4. Double click on My Computer
5. Right click on the CD Drive and in the submenu select Write these files to CD

When the file is finished being written to the disc, the disc tray will pop open and then you click Finish.

Option 5: DVDs
Many computers have a CDR-DVD drive, which is also known as the D-drive. You can use the D-drive to save files to a DVD. The IC Helpdesk on Level 2 sells blank DVDs.

1. Make sure the file is saved in My Documents (H: drive).
2. Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Creator home. This will start up the Roxio Creator software used for writing data to DVDs.
3. On the left hand side menu, click Data > Data disc.
4. Click the Add data button and select the files or folders you wish to add to the disc. You can repeat this process as required.
5. When you have added all the files you want to save onto the disk, click the red button on the lower right hand side of the program window to start burning data onto the disc.

Option 6: USB pen drives
USB pen drives act similarly to floppy disks when saving but they are far more reliable and they can store considerably more data (e.g. 128MB or 256MB). Two USB ports are found towards the bottom left of the IC computers. Once you insert your drive into a USB port, it only takes a few moments for the computer to recognize your USB drive as the D-drive or E-drive (depending whether you are at a computer with a floppy drive or CD/DVD drive).

For example, to save an MS Word document:

1. In the menu click File > Save As
2. Click on the Save in pull down menu arrow
3. Click Removable Drive (D:) or Removable Drive (E:)
4. Type the name of the document in the File name bar
5. Click Save

Please make sure you remove your USB drive when you are finished with the computer.

Option 7: E-mail attachment
To continue work on your file from either home or remote access you can send the files from the faculty file storage to yourself as an e-mail attachment.

To send an MS Word document to your University EC Mail account, for example, first save it to the IC Home Drive as explained in the earlier section, then:

1. Use your NetID and UoA password to logon to EC Mail.
2. Click Compose Mail.
3. Type your email address in the To bar
4. Click Attach a file.
5. Double-click My Documents or IC Home drive
6. Double-click your file
7. Click Send.

You can later retrieve your file from any computer with an Internet connection:

1. Use your NetID and UoA password to logon to WebMail at https://webmail.ec.auckland.ac.nz/
2. Click the message addressed from your email address.
3. Under Attachments, choose the Open or Download.