Since its inception in 2002, eDisk has been quite a useful tool for storing and backing up files. eDisk’s accessibility and redundancy make it an ideal solution for storing documents for safekeeping. But did you know that eDisk also makes it easy to share files with other members of the F&M community or with colleagues around the world?

Once you connect to your eDisk folder, you’ll see a few folders inside. The “Private,” “Public,” and “Sites” folders are the only ones we really need to worry about. Files placed into your “Private” folder are only accessible to you. This is the folder to use if you’re looking to back up documents on your computer (instructions for Macs can be found here, and instructions for Windows can be found here) or store a personal document that you’ll need to access later from another computer. Remember, no one but you will be able to see anything inside the “Private” folder.

Your “Public” folder is accessible to anyone with an F&M universal username and password. That is, anyone who can log into eDisk can see the contents of everyone else’s “Public” folders. This makes the “Public” folder an ideal place to store documents that need to be accessed by other members of the F&M community. If several people need to receive the file, or if the file is particularly large, using the “Public” folder on eDisk can be an excellent alternative to distribution via email. Keep in mind that anyone in the F&M community can browse the contents of your “Public” folder, so be sure not to place any sensitive or confidential information in there.

The “Sites” folder allows you to share files with anyone in the world, whether or not they have an affiliation with F&M! If you place a file in this folder, it will be accessible to anyone in the world through the web browser of their choice. You will need to provide the intended recipient(s) with the web address (URL) of the file, which is in a standardized format that includes both your F&M “long name” and the filename of the document. For example, if Ima Student wanted to share a Word file named “research.doc” over the web, she could place the file in her “Sites” folder on eDisk and give the following link to the intended recipients:

http: //edisk.fandm.edu/ima.student/research.doc

So, eDisk is much more than just a place to save files when working in a computer lab on campus. It’s a safe place to keep backups, and a great way to share documents as well!

-Christopher Silansky, '05 Desktop Support Specialist