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You are here Data Storage and Sharing > Get and Put Folders

Get and Put folders

Get and Put folders are a facility on the Trinity network that allow lecturers and students to share files, their functionality has now largely been replaced by Blackboard VLE.

A member of the teaching staff can make assignments or lecture notes available in a 'Get' folder where they can then be collected by students. Students can then submit their assignment to a corresponding 'Put' folder from where it can be collected by their lecturer.

Requesting Get and Put folders

Procedure

Staff members may request Get and Put folders by contacting the IT Service Desk. The staff member making the request will be the designated owner of the folders and will have sole responsibility for access permissions to the folders. However, additional owners can be nominated when the initial request is made. Sole responsibility for backing up all files in Get and Put folders lies with the folder owner. For advice on how to backup the folders see our data backup pages.

Each Get/Put folder has a quota of 175MB. Folders owners are encouraged to remove old files periodically to ensure there is sufficient space for assignments, particularly towards the end of term.

General Usage Advice

  • Projects of exceptional importance or confidentiality should be returned by hand.
  • Folder owners should take backups of their Get and Put folders.
  • Students should always keep a backup of their files.
  • Once a student has copied an assignment into the Put folder it cannot be retrieved or modified by them. The file is time stamped with the time it was Put into the lecturer's folder.
  • Lecturers should ask students to name their assignments with an identifiable name such as their username or student number: eg 12345678.doc as if there is only one essay title all essays submitted will have the same title.
  • Get and Put folders are accessible only while on the Trinity network. They are not available at home or via the web.

How to access

Access to Get and Put folders is only possible with a valid Trinity username and password and when connected to the Trinity data network. Below is advice for both staff and students on how to access these folders.

Staff Information

Connecting from Windows

  1. On the keyboard, press Windows Logo + E to open Windows Explorer.
  2. If using Windows 8 click the Computer tab in the top left part of the window.
    If using Windows 10/11 choose This PC.
  3. Select Map Network Drive.
  4. Select the drive letter of your choice and type \\ntserver-usr\get\ for the Get Folder or \\ntserver-usr\put for the Put Folder.
  5. Make sure you select the Reconnect at sign-in box so that you will only need to carry out this mapping once.
  6. You will see your new drive letter(s) mapped to the Get and\or Put folders in Windows Explorer.

Connecting from macOS

  1. From the main menu bar click Go, then click Connect to Server.
  2. In the server address box, type smb://ntserver-usr and click Connect.
  3. Sign in using your Trinity username and Network Login Password.
  4. From the list of available volumes select Get or Put. It will create an icon on the desktop called GET or PUT and you can locate the appropriate subfolders within.

Make Data Available to Students via a Get folder:

  1. Copy the file(s) from your personal computer to the Get folder.
  2. Inform your class that the assignment is available and provide instructions on how the file(s) can be retrieved. Ordinarily the data should be available to Mac and PC users -- inform the students where this is not the case.

Note: The contents or the Get folders are visible to everyone. However only the owner of the Get folder can modify the contents of the folder. Students cannot copy anything into this folder.

Student Information

Retrieve files from a Get Folder

PC users in the IT Services computer rooms:

    1. Log on to the PC.
    2. Click Start > Network Shortcuts > Get folder.
    3. Open the relevant GET folder.
    4. Locate the file in question and copy it to either a removable disk or to your Personal Filestorage area.

Mac users in the IT Services computer rooms:

    1. Log on to the Mac and from the Launcher select the shortcut to the Put folders.
    2. Folders are listed alphabetically. Open the folder, locate the file(s) containing the assignment.
    3. Copy the file(s) to your Personal Filestorage.

Putting files in a Put Folder

  1. From IT Services computer room PCs:
    Click Start > Network Shortcuts > Put Folders and locate the appropriate folder
    From IT Services computer room Macs:
    Locate the appropriate folder via the Launcher shortcut to the Put folders.
  2. Copy the assignment to your lecturer's Put folder.
  3. The assignment is time stamped upon delivery to the PUT folder and cannot be removed or replaced.

Note: It is recommended that you copy and paste the file(s) to the Put folder as if you 'drag and drop' the document you may inadvertently create a shortcut in the Put folder rather than copying the document itself into the folder.

Note: Unlike the GET folders - users cannot see the contents of the PUT folders. The only person with access to view or modify the contents of the PUT folder is the owner of that folder i.e. the lecturer.