FAQ - Piratedrive

Summary

See the answers to users' most-asked Piratedrive questions.

Body

Can I access my “U” drive through FTP?

Can I change my “U” drive to a different letter?

Can I access my departmental folder through FTP?

Can I install an application to run on Piratedrive?

Can I use Piratedrive for my Web pages?

Do I have space on Piratedrive?

How can I check the space left on my drive?

How do I access my folder on campus and off campus?

How do I configure user access to my departmental Piratedrive (Department Administrators only)?

How do I request a department piratedrive folder?

How is access removed for users who no longer require access to my departmental Piratedrive?

How safe is my data on Piratedrive?

How will I know when my folder is full?

Is data stored on Piratedrive safe from hackers?

What happens if I don’t have a “U” drive?

What happens to Piratedrive if ITCS experiences hardware problems? Is my data still going to be available?

What if I delete some files and realize I still need them?

What if I need more space?

What is my “U” drive and why does it show up every time I log into my PC?

Why can’t I use Piratedrive if I am logging into another domain?

Why do we need Piratedrive?

Will my Macintosh have a “U” drive?

With so many people accessing Piratedrive, will there be any performance issues? How will file transfer time compare to a regular server?

Can I access my “U” drive through FTP?

Yes, you can access the “U” drive via FTP at piratedrive.ecu.edu. Use your PirateID and password for access. Once authenticated, you will be automatically routed into your personal folder.

Can I change my “U” drive to a different letter?

No, the drive will always map as "U" upon log in to the INTRA domain.

Can I access my department folder through FTP?

Yes, department folders are accessible via FTP. Contact the IT Service Desk at 252-328-9866/800-340-7081 to submit a request. A technician will contact you and provide assistance in setting up FTP to access your department folder.

Can I install an application to run on Piratedrive?

No. Piratedrive is a file server and applications cannot be installed on it. You can, however, copy .exe files to Piratedrive which then launch on your workstation once they are double-clicked.

Can I use Piratedrive for my web pages?

Piratedrive is not a web server. You can save web page files on Piratedrive, but others cannot view these files through a browser.

Do I have space on Piratedrive?

Yes. All faculty (5GB), staff (5GB) and students (5GB) have a Piratedrive folder created the same time as their email account.
Departments can also request a shared Piratedrive folder. Submit the Piratedrive File Storage form to request a department folder or to increase space.

How can I check the space left on my drive?

On a Windows PC, right-click the Start button and choose, File Explorer. Once the file explorer window opens, right-click the "U" drive and choose Properties. The Properties dialog opens with a diagram of used and free space.

How do I access my Piratedrive folder on campus and off campus?

On Campus (faculty, staff, students) – Folders are designated as the “U” drive on PCs logged in to the INTRA domain. Users can map a drive to a department folder. Mac users are able to connect to Piratedrive through an SMB connection to access their data for both the “U” drive and department folders. See the related article on Mapping a drive.
All users can also access Piratedrive through the PiratePort.

Off Campus (faculty, staff and students) – Users access their Piratedrive personal folders through the PiratePort Piratedrive app or through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. See the tutorials in the related articles.

How do I configure user access to my department Piratedrive (Department Administrators only)?

  • For step-by-step instructions on how to configure user access, see the Piratedrive tutorials link in the related articles.
  • Please do not remove Administrators or Domain Admins from the list.
  • Please do not edit permissions from a Mac.

Folder Permissions

NTFS File Permission Allowed Access
Read Users to can view files, folders, and subfolders of the parent folder. Also allows viewing folder ownership, permissions, and folder attributes.
Write Users can create new files and folders within the parent folder, view folder ownership and permissions and change the folder attributes.
List Folder Contents Users can view the files and subfolders contained within the folder
Read & Execute Users can navigate through all files and subfolders and perform all actions allowed by the Read and List Folder Contents permissions.
Modify Users can delete the folder and perform all activities included in the Write and Read & Execute NTFS folder permissions.
Full Control Users can change permissions on the folder, take ownership and perform all activities included in all other permissions.

How do I request a department piratedrive folder?

Departments submit the Piratedrive File Storage request form. A primary administrator and backup admin are required. The administrator is responsible for maintaining security and user permissions.

How is access removed for users who no longer require access to my departmental Piratedrive?

It is the responsibility of the department’s Piratedrive administrator to remove a user when access is no longer required. Users are removed through the properties dialog box.

How safe is my data on Piratedrive?

Piratedrive security is set up so that the “U” drive is only accessible by the owner of that folder. Nobody else can access the “U” drive data. For department data, the department administrator maintains security through file and folder permissions.

How will I know when my folder is full?

If you do not proactively monitor your disk usage, it is possible to reach your quota limit. A message displays stating that the disk is full. Files must be deleted to make room for new ones.

Is data stored on Piratedrive safe from hackers?

No computer system can prevent every hacker attack, but Piratedrive is firewall-protected, and access is only allowed to those physically or virtually connected to ECU’s network. However, a compromise of your PirateID or local computer could lead to a compromise of the data on Piratedrive. The entire ECU community should follow safe computing practices both on and off campus.

What happens if I don’t have a “U” drive?

First, make sure you are logging into the INTRA domain. If you log into INTRA with your domain username and do not have a “U” drive, contact the IT Help Desk at 252-328-9866/800-340-7081.

What happens to Piratedrive if ITCS experiences hardware problems? Is my data still going to be available?

Piratedrive is 100% redundant with automatic fail over. There is no single point of failure. As with all computer hardware, unexpected problems do occur, but access interruptions should be significantly less than with typical servers.

What if I delete some files and realize I still need them?

See the related article tutorials on retrieving deleted Piratedrive files.

What if I need more space?

Submit the Piratedrive File Storage form to request additional space.

What is my “U” drive and why does it show up every time I log into my PC?

Your “U” drive is a permanent drive mapped to your individual Piratedrive personal folder whether you are a student, faculty or staff member using a Windows PC.

Why can’t I use Piratedrive if I am logging into another domain?

Piratedrive is a member of the INTRA domain. In an effort to offer the best possible service and security, it is only available to users who log into INTRA.

Why do we need Piratedrive?

Piratedrive is one storage option approved for sensitive information. Other options include OneDrive and SharePoint.

Will my Macintosh have a “U” drive?

Since Macintosh computers do not map drives the same as a PC, there won’t be a “U” drive for Mac users. Mac users are able to connect to Piratedrive through an SMB connection to access their data for both the “U” drive and departmental folders.

With so many people accessing Piratedrive, will there be any performance issues? How will file transfer time compare to a regular server?

You should not notice any performance issues even with so many users on Piratedrive. Piratedrive has ample network bandwidth to handle lots of traffic. File transfer times to/from Piratedrive may be faster than a typical Windows server. Remember, Piratedrive is designed and optimized for quick file transfer.

Details

Details

Article ID: 67138
Created
Tue 6/11/19 10:42 AM
Modified
Wed 6/5/24 1:44 PM
Service Owner
Enterprise Storage

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Piratedrive is a secure network attached storage folder available to store sensitive and non-sensitive information.