Data Storage Location Summary
UNBC ITS has provided the following guidelines & recommendations to store your documents and files.
| Storage Application |
Storage Capacity |
Typical Use Case |
Supported OS |
 |
1 TB per user |
Personal work related files ie: time sheets, leave forms etc |
Windows/Mac
Linux/Mobile
|
 |
10 GB per user, 25 TB per site collection |
University files for all employees |
Windows/Mac
Linux/Mobile
|
 |
10 GB per user, 25 TB per site or group |
Departmental & teams files |
Windows/Mac
Linux/Mobile
|
| Personal Storage (H Drives) - Discontinuing September 2025 |
250 MB |
Discontinued September 2025 |
Windows/Mac/Linux
|
| Shared Storage (G Drives) - Discontinuing September 2025 |
|
Discontinued September 2025 |
Windows/Mac/Linux
|
| Research Management |
Based on a needs assessment |
Research related files |
Windows/Mac/Linux
|
How to Classify your Data
Public: Factual information made available to the public or information that can be released to the public if requested without needing to be assessed and severed.
Examples: Business contact information, promotional materials, information posted on UNBC's public websites, syllabi, active institutional polices and procedures, job descriptions, job postings, minutes of public meetings, large pool statistics, published materials such as academic calendars.
Internal: Factual information, advice, recommendations, drafts of records that may be damaging to the institution or an individual if that information is reviewed out of context.
Examples: Meeting notes of informal meetings, records highlighting unofficial recommendations, personal opinions or character references about individuals, employment groups or departments at UNBC, planning documentation, personal correspondence, any drafts of records found in the public category, small pool aggregated statistics subject to mosaic effect.
Sensitive: Factual information or draft records that can be reasonably expected to cause harm to an individual or the organization after unintentional or malicious release.
Example: Personnel records, official employee evaluations, individual demographic information, personal contact information, legal advice, student/employee/ ID's, employment relations records, credit card information, grades.
Restricted: Factual information posing the greatest risk of leading to identify theft of individuals in the university community after unintentional or malicious release.
Example: Criminal record/credit check information, identity records (information from: drivers license, BC ID, services card, SIN's, passports, study/work permits, temporary residents visa's, completed legal change of name forms)
Data Storage Locations
OneDrive
The preferred location to store your personal UNBC-related documents and files is your OneDrive. OneDrive offers seamless collaboration capabilities, online and offline document editing and syncing, and editing and syncing files across web, mobile, and desktop.
Each UNBC employee and student has access to a 1TB Microsoft OneDrive, available via your UNBC account credentials in Microsoft 365. Your OneDrive is accessible from any internet-connected device.
To learn more about file sharing with OneDrive (including sharing files with people outside the institution) please see our Knowledge Base article:
If your OneDrive has filled the 1TB capacity, please contact the ITS Service Desk. To check how much space is left in your UNBC Microsoft 365 OneDrive:
- Go to https://office.com and login to your Microsoft 365 account with your UNBC credentials (username@unbc.ca).
- Select the App Launcher (grid of dots in upper left) and then the OneDrive application.
- Click the settings icon (gear icon in upper right) and then OneDrive Settings.
- Click More Settings.
- Under 'Features and Storage', click Storage Metrics
- The amount of storage you have remaining is shown in the top right corner of the page.
SharePoint Online
The preferred location to store your university files for all employees is SharePoint Online.
SharePoint Online is a Microsoft Office 365 cloud-based service that helps users share and mange content, knowledge and applications, encourage teamwork and facilitate seamless collaboration across the organization. It provides a secure location to store, exchange and access data from virtually any device and all major online browsers.
To access SharePoint Online:
If you require assistance with creation of a SharePoint Online site, please submit an ITS Service Request: https://unbc.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/87/Portal/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=1016
If you also desire real-time collaboration features (text chat and video), please consider a Microsoft Team (see below) which has all the features of SharePoint Online and more!
Microsoft Teams
The preferred location to store department documents and files is Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft Teams offers a workspace for real-time communication and collaboration (text chat and video), file and app sharing. Teams and Channels can be used for tracking projects, conversations, files, meetings, etc. A Team is essentially extra functionally and features added on top of a SharePoint Online site. This means that every Team has a corresponding SharePoint Online site, which stores all the Team content.
To access Microsoft Teams:
Teams File Storage Info
- Each Channel in a Team has a Files tab. This Files tab corresponds to a folder in the Documents library of the underlying SharePoint Online site, with the same name as the Channel. Files can be accessed either through the Teams, or SharePoint Online web interface.
- Any files shared via direct Chat in the Teams application are stored in the personal UNBC OneDrive of the person who shared the file, and sharing permissions are automatically applied to allow access for all other members of the Chat. Files you have shared via Chat can be found in the "Microsoft Teams Chat Files" folder of your UNBC OneDrive.
Team Creation & Management
ITS creates new Teams, and assigns Ownership. Once ITS has confirmed that the Team is functional and the Owner is able to access the Team, ITS removes itself from user level access to the Team. It is then the responsibility of the Owner of the Team to maintain the membership of the Team. The Owner of the Team can add additional Team Owners and delegate responsibility as they choose. The Microsoft recommended best practice is to have at least two Owners per Team.
To have a new Team created, please submit a request with ITS: https://unbc.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/87/Portal/Requests/ServiceDet?ID=1077
Personal On-campus Storage (H: Drive)
Please note that ITS will be discontinuing the use of H: Drives as of September 2025
H drive can only be accessed by devices connected to the campus network: on-campus workstations, virtual UNBC desktops, or devices connected to the UNBC VPN.
Your personal H drive should be reserved for storing files that need to be accessed from systems/applications that cannot use OneDrive, such as a Linux remote shell. ITS Recommends that H:\ drives are used only as required, and where OneDrive is not available to the students.
Shared On-campus Storage (G: Drive folders)
Please note that ITS will be discontinuing the use of G: Drive folders as of September 2025
G drive can only be accessed by devices connected to the campus network: on-campus workstations, virtual UNBC desktops, or devices connected to the UNBC VPN.
For departmental (G:\ drive) folders, please avoid using going forward if possible; it is preferred to use M365 Teams/SharePoint Online.
For class/instruction (S:\ drive) folders ; do not use this service; use UNBC’s Learning Management System (Moodle) or OneDrive for class/curriculum content sharing.
Research On-campus Storage
This is storage designed to handle large amounts of data at a low price point. It is kept on campus and is accessible on a number of research related servers. It is only accessible on-campus or through virtual desktops. The storage capacity is based on a needs assessment. Access and amount of storage given is handled in cooperation with the Department of Research. The appropriate use and storage of the research data are ultimately the responsibility of the researcher.
UNBC is a member of Scholars Portal Dataverse, allowing all UNBC researchers to deposit data for discovery and sharing. For more information on Scholars Portal Dataverse please visit: