The University will be moving away from the current main data storage (such as the Z:, S: and R: drives) and on to Microsoft OneDrive and support is on offer for staff and students in migrating their data.

From the end of January 2020, access to existing personal (Z: drive) will be restricted to read only. Early adoption of OneDrive storage is strongly encouraged and you can start your migration now – more information can be found here.

Staff and students already have access to 5TB of OneDrive storage through Office 365. Even more space is available when collaborating with others through Microsoft Teams.

Staff and students can migrate their data to Microsoft OneDrive which offers greater flexibility, capacity and collaboration. It also provides a greater degree of security for storing our data.

R: and S: drives will be reviewed with colleagues starting in Spring 2020, with the aim to arrange relocation to Office 365 where possible.

Chief Digital Officer, David Hill said: “The University currently uses a range of local and cloud based storage but when we talk to our users we know how important it is for them to have reliable and remote access to their data 24/7.”

“Our existing storage technologies have certainly served us well over the years but are soon in need of costly upgrades and replacements and this provides us with the perfect opportunity to bring about a new way of storing our data.

“Cloud storage provides our staff and students with the best platform for collaborative learning, accessing their secure data globally, more storage and ensuring the stability of their data.”

Director of Governance and Assurance, Jason Carter said: “This is a great opportunity for us all to get our data management in good order. I strongly recommend that we all use this time to review the data we currently hold and make sure we only move what we need. This will really help the University in our GDPR compliance.

“As O365 offers a much more secure place to hold our data, it will also support researchers in meeting your funders’ terms and conditions. Remember – we shouldn’t keep data just in case it’ll be useful one day, only if we have a good reason to do so.”

IT specialists will support staff and students, especially those with complex storage needs. If you think you may need assistance in migrating data to OneDrive or other storage platforms please contact Campus IT.

To start your data move now more information can be found here.