X Drive

All students, faculty, and staff in Electrical, Computer, and Software Engineering are provided with a Linux home directory for storing data. Likewise, all systems in the department are configured to use your Linux home directory when you log in to Linux and will map in windows as the X drive.

Accessing X Drive

The home directory is the same whether you are logging in via Windows or Linux and can be accessed from anywhere using the University VPN service. Student home directories have a limit of 100GB.

To access your Home Directory see the information below:

Windows Computers

  1. If off campus connect to VPN.
  2. Open Computer (from Desktop or Start Menu).
  3. Click “Map network drive” from tool bar (near top of window).
  4. Select your drive letter (any drive letter will work).
  5. Next to folder enter \\xfiles.ece.iastate.edu\home\<netid> (if on campus skip to step number 8)
  6. If you would like your X files path to attempt to reconnect at login you can select the check box “Reconnect at logon.”
    • Note:  This is discouraged if off campus as the drive will fail to map if you are not connected to the University VPN service when not on the campus network.
  7. Check the box next to “Connect using different credentials.”
  8. Click Finish. (if on campus skip to step number 12)
  9. A login box will appear.
  10. Enter your username as: yournetid@iastate.edu
    • Note: Replace yournetid with your University netid.
  11. Enter your University password in the Password box.
  12. Click OK.
  13. You should now see your drive mapped.

 

Apple Macintosh Computers

  1. Connect to VPN.
  2. Click on Finder in the dock (should be far left icon).
  3. Click on the Go menu (top of screen).
  4. Select Connect to Server.
  5. In the Server Address enter smb://xfiles.ece.iastate.edu/home/<netid>
  6. Click Connect.
  7. If you receive a login prompt, enter the following information:
    • Username: yournetid@iastate.edu (replace yournetid with your University netid).
    • Password: Enter your University password.
  8. You should now be taken to your X drive storage.

 

Alternatively, you can access your X Drive from Windows using WinSCP.