Note: DO NOT leave your work on the local hard drive of the VCL environments. After the reservations have ended, the machines are reloaded with another image which destroys any data left on the drive.
Where should I save my files when connecting to WVD?
WVD does not provide a way to directly map your computers drives to the remote system. Files can be transferred to and from the WVD computer using Google Drive.
1) Google Drive
The Google Drive File Stream client is installed in most of the WVD resources. Double click on the Drive File Stream icon on the desktop to map your Google Drive space as the G: drive. Alternatively, using Google Drive from a web browser is also an option.
2) NCSU B: Drive
All NCSU users get storage allocated to them that is mapped to WVD resources as the B: drive. Anything saved to the B: drive is persistent. However, there is not currently a way to map the B: drive to your own computer. So, while you can save files to the B: drive for later use, you will still need to use something like Google Drive to transfer files to and from your own computer.
Where should I save my files when connecting to Windows?
1) Local Hard Drive tunneled through the Remote Desktop session
If using Windows OS:
Before you connect to a Windows computer, click the ‘Options’ button in the Remote Desktop Connection window. Go to the ‘Local Resources’ tab, and check ‘Disk drives’ under the ‘Local Devices’ section. Then connect to the remote server. Once connected, under ‘My Computer’ on the remote server you will notice a drive that has the name of your computer and is mapped to your Local Hard Drive. This setting is enabled by default in the .RDP configuration files distributed at the ‘Connect!’ page that is displayed after making a reservation. That setting is one of many that can be configured in your VCL User Preferences.
If using Mac OSX:
See the section titled Connect to the VCL Machine With Access to Files on Your Computer on the Remote Desktop Instructions page.
2) AFS Home Directory and the OpenAFS Client
Most images have an icon labeled “Map AFS” that will connect your K drive. Click on the icon and enter your campus password when prompted.
The K: and J: drives will then appear under My Computer.
3) AFS Home Directory via SCP/SFTP client (WinSCP)
WinSCP is a free, open-source Secure FTP client for Windows. Its main function is secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. It also offers basic file manager functionality. WinSCP uses Secure Shell (SSH) and supports SFTP and SCP protocols. See the EOS Remote Access page for more information on using WinSCP.
Note: DO NOT leave your work on the local hard drive of the VCL environments. After the reservations have ended, the machines are reloaded with another image which essentially destroys any data left. What happens when I leave my work on the VCL machine?
4) Google Drive
One of the easiest ways to save your files while working with VCL is to upload them to google drive. Open your browser on the VCL machine and navigate to drive.google.com. Upload the files you were working on and they’ll be available to any other computer with an internet connection.
Where should I save my files when connecting to Linux?
When connected to a Linux Image within VCL there are two option you have to make sure your files aren’t removed once you disconnect from your reservation;
Save or transfer ALL of your work/files to a different location before disconnecting from a linux image
- Google Drive
- To save your files to google drive, open any browser and navigate to drive.google.com and then sign in with your campus Google account or a preferred Google account. You will then be able to upload any files and access them from any computer with an internet connection.
- AFS
- To connect to your AFS drive within a Linux reservation, open a terminal window, and typing the following command: cd /afs/unity.ncsu.edu/users/the first letter of your unityID/UnityID
- Map to local drive (RDP)
- As of right now the Linux images that are available do not contain a version of RDP to support the use of Microsoft Remote Desktop’s feature of mapping files from your local resources to the VCL connection.
Note: DO NOT leave your work on the hard drive of a Linux environment. What happens when I leave my work on the VCL machine?