uFiles: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is uFiles, and how can I use it?
uFiles is a simple file sharing service provided by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It is intended for on-campus use only.
What uFiles is for:
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a way to share files with off-campus users
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accessible from off-campus
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web accessible
What uFiles is:
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fast, reliable storage for Windows, Mac, and Linux users
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group-accessible storage for schools, colleges, departments, and research groups to share
Frequently Asked Questions
- I run Mac OSX. Is it supported?
- Mac OSX 10.7 (Lion) and later works. To access uFiles, open Finder, open location, then \\uFiles.ad.uwm.edu\
- Mac OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and earlier do not fully support some advanced features of uFiles, and will act differently. Please contact your local support for assistance with using 10.6 or earlier.
- I run Linux. Is it supported?
- Yes. uFiles is available via the resource locator: SMB:\\ufiles.ad.uwm.edu\
- I run Windows. Is it supported?
- Yes. Your drive U: should already be mapped to uFiles. If it is not, you can map a drive yourself to \\uFiles.ad.uwm.edu\uwm
- I have an iPhone or iPad. Is it supported?
- No.
- I have an Android phone or Nexus table. Is it supported?
- No
- Why aren't mobile devices supported?
- uFiles uses DFS namespace redirection. IOS and Android do not support this natively. Most applications written for IOS and Android support SMB and CIFS shares, but do not understand DFS redirection.
- I want to share a file or directory with someone off-campus. How do I do this?
- This can be accomplished using OneDrive. uFiles does not support off-campus access at present.
- Who can access uFiles?
- Anyone with a valid ePanther ID can access uFiles.
- Can I use uFiles from a web browser?
- uFiles does not support web browsers.
- Can I be notified when someone accesses or modifies a file the same way pantherFILE notifies me?
- No. uFiles does not support notifications like this.
- How do I send a link to someone so they know where the file is? The same way I could share a file with people in pantherFILE?
- uFiles does not support this. You will need to copy the directory path into an email, and send it manually.
- Is uFiles backed up?
- Volumes on the server use Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) to snapshot changes at 7am and noon every day. This allows users and group administrators the power to restore older versions of files.
- Volumes on SAN storage are snapshotted once per day, and that snapshot is retained for 3 days. This allows for a catastrophic recovery of an entire volume.
- All SAN storage is mirrored in between two datacenters, protecting the data from loss due to fire, flood, or other building disaster.
- All files on uFiles are backed up to tape. Files that were changed during the day are backed up each night, and all files (changed or unchanged) are backed up each weekend.