Data Management

Google Drive, Email Storage, and their Sustainable Management

Google no longer provides unlimited storage for educational institutions. Why? Cloud storage requires servers and electricity. And, as data traffic grows, so will the use of fossil fuels. Growing cloud resources are particularly energy intensive accounting for 4% of global electricity consumption and 1% of global greenhouse… Continue reading »

Time Machine backups for Mac

Macs at Williams are set up to use Time Machine as a backup solution.  Computer drives don’t fail often but it does happen and laptops can be damaged or stolen so having a backup in place is important.  Even if  most data is stored in your email, on… Continue reading »

macOS Time Machine Backups

On primary computers issued by OIT we provide backup solutions for you. For macOS we provide an external usb hard drive for use with Time Machine . It should be preconfigured if you received the computer from OIT. All you need to do it connect the drive to the computer… Continue reading »

Google Shared Drive

Google Shared Drives are shared spaces where groups (teams) can easily store, search, and access their files from anywhere. Unlike files in My Drive, files in Shared Drive belong to the team instead of an individual. Even if members leave Williams, the files stay in place so your team can… Continue reading »

Managing Google Suite Files – Changing Ownership

Transfer Ownership of a Single Document In the document’s sharing settings: Go to the document’s sharing settings First make the desired owner an Editor (if they are not already) Save Change their role to Owner Detailed Instructions are available in the Google support article: Transfer File Ownership Transfer… Continue reading »

Connecting to the Microsoft file servers – Macs

From the Go menu select:  Connect to Server Type in smb://<servername>.williams.edu <servername> could be files1, files2 or files3 depending on where you need to connect. A list of server names and the volumes on them is available hat this link: Drive-mappings-on-the-new-microsoft-file-servers (Click the… Continue reading »

Department Drive Mappings on the Microsoft File Servers

Servers and Volumes mapped to the noted Windows servers (Active Directory) College network file servers changed from Novell to Microsoft.  The overall naming convention also changed from personal names (e.g. Hector) to a basic numbering scheme (e.g. Files2) Short summary Files1  have Achilles’ and Athena’s Volumes… Continue reading »

Mapping a Network Drive (Windows/Mac)

There are some instances where access to another department’s drive is granted to an individual and the drive mapping needs to be done manually. Choose your OS for directions: NOTE: If you are off campus you will need to make a VPN connection before connecting to a network drive. Continue reading »

Google Drive

Google's Online Documentation Meet Drive Using Drive For Work Help Center View your Storage Usage What is Williams College Google Drive? Williams College Google Apps are a set of… Continue reading »

Data Classification Policy and Usage Guidelines

Data Classification Policy and Usage Guidelines Whether you study, teach or work at the College, you possess information that should be protected from exposure.  Personal information has a lot in common with money – it has value, whether it’s your SSN, bank account number, or account usernames & passwords.  These… Continue reading »

File Transfer Settings (FTP/SFTP)

You can use Dreamweaver to access web site files on our non-WordPress server (unix.williams.edu). File transfer settings (FTP/SFTP) Important note: If you are trying to transfer files from a computer not on the campus network (e.g., from home or on the road), you must connect to the campus network using… Continue reading »

Working From Off-Campus

There are many resources available to college faculty and staff when working remotely.  Some are straightforward and require no configuration, while some require prior setup or further consideration. These are resources you can access from anywhere, with any computer or tablet: Google Apps for Education (Email, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets… Continue reading »

Backing Up Data

What to back up There are two types of files: Data files that you create (Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, pictures, etc.) Programs that you use to create your work (Word, Excel, Photoshop, etc.) and Operating System files (Windows or Mac OS) There is no need to backup the program files;… Continue reading »