UCT hosts several network drives – such as an individual F: drive (personal storage space for each student) and the G: drive (which contains storage space for each department).

NOTE:
For shared areas – such as the folders on your department’s G: drive – you’ll need access to the department’s common drive.

How to access the drives

  • Students:
    Either access these drives by logging on to the network in a student lab on campus, or if you want to use your own computer, access the drives via NetStorage.
  • Staff members and third parties:
    If you don’t want a permanent connection to the network drives, use NetStorage.
    If you will be accessing network drives often, follow the instructions below to install the Novell client.

Connect to the UCT file services cluster

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following:

  • a network connection
  • a valid UCT username and password
  • the file path of the server you want to connect to – for example: //srvnvscfs000//datstf000 (you can get this information from your IT Liaison or the IT Helpdesk)
  1. On the Finder utility, select Go > Connect to Server.
  2. In the Connect to Server dialog box, in the Server Address field, enter the DNS or IP address of your server, e.g. smb://srvnvscfs000.uct.ac.za/ (Note: You must prefix the server name with smb://)
  3. Click 
    Add the server address to save the server as a favourite.
  4. Click Connect.
  5. Authenticate using your UCT username and password, then click Connect.
  6. A Finder window opens, from which you can access the server.

To access the server in future, open any folder in Finder, then select the server from the Shared section of the left hand panel.

Manual re-connection may be necessary

In the unlikely event that a Novell server fails, you will no longer be able to connect as described in step 6 above. In such a case, simply repeat the procedure to manually remake the connection.

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