The Michigan Review

IFS FAQs

by Benjamin Rousch

You probably pay attention to how many pages of printing ITD has allocated to you for the term, and you may even know how many hours of dial-up time you have left. However, you may not be aware of the other services included in the basic computing package, such as your IFS space. Even if you do know that you have ten megabytes of IFS storage space, you probably have no idea how to use it, or even what it can be used for. In this installment of Campus Computing, you will learn how to store and retrieve files on your IFS space, and view email attachments which Pine cannot display.

What is IFS Space?

As a student at the University of Michigan, you are allotted a certain amount of electronic storage on the university’s servers. This term, you are given ten megabytes of file storage — which is roughly equivalent to seven floppy disks — and you can request more space relatively cheaply if you want it. Some files are automatically stored on your IFS account by ITD, but they don’t generally take up much space. This leaves the bulk of ten megabytes for you to use as you wish (as long as you stay within the U-M’s computing rules).

People use their IFS space in many different ways. On my ten megs I have a small web site, several pictures I downloaded from the web, some help programs for EECS 100 students, shortcuts to a few programs I commonly use, some MS-Word documents, and more. Even with all this, I still have three or four megabytes still open. Some classes require you to hand in your assignments electronically, so you have to temporarily keep the file for that assignment on your IFS account. Some people just have a web page they had to make for an introductory class.

How do I Access my IFS Space?

Before the U-M upgraded its computers to Windows NT 4, it was big hassle to access your IFS space from a PC. You had to use an outdated FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program, know the name of an IFS server, and the path to your account. If you want to access your IFS from your home, you still have to use an FTP program, but the programs have gotten much better. From a computing site, accessing your IFS account from a PC is very easy, assuming the computer is working correctly (which is about 75% of the time).

After you log into a PC, you should see at least four icons on the desktop. They are “Sites NT Workstation”, “Recycle Bin”, “Click Here to Logout”, and “My IFS Home Directory.” If you click on the fourth icon (“My IFS Home Directory”), a window should open showing a number of files (the number and names of the files you see will vary depending on machine settings). This is your IFS account.

You can now drag and drop files into the window, and they will be available from whichever computing site or computer you use. You can type half of a term paper in the Angell Hall computing site, store it in your IFS directory, finish it at the School of Education computing site, and revise it in your dorm’s ResComp site without ever touching a floppy disk. It is especially handy if you forget a floppy disk, or download something interesting from the web, only to find you have nowhere to put it. You just copy it to your IFS account and then copy it to a floppy disk when you have one.

If you are trying to open a file you have copied to your IFS account, you need to know the drive letter of the IFS account. Until recently, the letter seemed to change from site to site, but now it is almost always “H.” So, to open an Excel spreadsheet stored on your IFS account, open Excel, click the little “Open File” icon (a half-opened folder), and navigate to the “H:” drive. Your file should be ready to open.

If you have any problems with storing or retrieving files from your IFS account, or you want to access it from home, you should ask a computing site staffer. They should be able to figure out any problems and fix you up with an FTP program (if they recommend Rapid Filer, run away screaming).

How Do I Look at an Email Attachment?

In general, your email and IFS accounts are separate. You have seven megs of storage for your email messages, and ten more megs for your IFS account. However, if someone sends you an attachment in an email, you may have to save it to your IFS account to view it. If the attachment is just text, it will usually be automatically displayed below the message. If the attachment is a picture, sound, or video, Pine cannot display the attachment, so you have to figure out how to get at it.

You may not even realize that someone has sent you an attachment unless you are an experienced Pine user. An attachment shows up just below the subject of a message in the “Parts/Attachments” section. These are the steps you should follow to view an attachment:

1. Press the “V” key on the keyboard.
2. Highlight the attachment you want to view from the list.
3. Press the “S” key. (On the bottom of the screen it should say “Copy attachment to file in home directory” and then give the attachment’s file name.)

4. Press the “Enter” key.

You have now saved the attachment to your IFS account, and it can be accessed just like any other file you have saved there. You can usually double-click the file and it will be opened in an appropriate viewer. However sound files cannot be opened since campus computing site PCs do not have sound capabilities. If you have any trouble with saving an attachment, consult your local computing guru or sites consultant — they can usually help (though I have seen a few get it wrong).

So remember, since you are paying for those ten megabytes of IFS storage space, you might as well use them. MR

This article was published in the 7 October 1998 edition of The Michigan Review (Volume 17, Number 2).
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