XARTS Network Drive

For Users with Full Lab Access

content last updated 6-17-2022

ABOUT

Think of your XARTS Network Drive as a “cloud drive” that’s always there no matter which computer you log into in any XARTS computer lab. Because it’s “in the cloud”, you can access it no matter which computer you log into – and you can get to it from non-lab computers, too, both on and off campus. You can also use it to publish a live website.

CAPACITY

Your network drive has a finite amount of disk space called your disk quota:

  • Students: 26 GB
  • Faculty, Staff, and Lab Assistants: 34 GB

See the topics below on our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to learn how to monitor the size of your network drive:

  • "XARTS Network Drive doesn't accurately show capacity or free space"
  • "Which of my files are consuming disk space on a lab computer or my XARTS Network Drive?"

"SITES" FOLDER

The "Sites" folder inside your XARTS Network Drive is the root folder, a.k.a. top-level folder, of your very own web server.

The URL for your server is https://xarts.usfca.edu/~username where username is your myUSF username, and the symbol preceding it is a tilde, i.e. the shift-character on the accent symbol key [ ` ] to the left of the [ 1 ] key on a standard keyboard.

The filename for the home page of any website you host in your "Sites" folder must be one of the following:

  • index.html
  • index.php
  • default.html

CAUTION: Anyone in the world can use a web browser to view the websites and browser-readable files that you put in this folder.

SFTP ACCESS

You can access your XARTS Network Drive by using an FTP application, a.k.a. an "FTP client," that supports the SFTP protocol. Cyberduck, Transmit, and Fetch are a few of the many SFTP apps available for Mac. WinSCP is just one of many popular SFTP apps available for Windows.

No matter which FTP client you choose, you'll need some or all of the following information:

  • Server a.k.a. Host: xarts.usfca.edu
  • Connection Method: SFTP
  • Username and Password: your myUSF username and password
  • Port Number: 22 (standard port for SFTP)

ADVISORIES & WARNINGS

BACK UP YOUR FILES

The files you save on your XARTS Network Drive are not backed up by the department and could be lost in the event of user error, a severe hardware failure, or other catastrophe, so it’s essential that you save and/or back them up to other locations, such as a personal storage device or to an online file storage service such as Google Drive (part of Gmail and USF email) or Dropbox.