UQ Research Data Manager

All UQ staff and students that are listed as a collaborator on a record can access the mapped drive at all sites across UQ. If working away from any of these sites (e.g. home or overseas) a VPN connection to UQ is required to access UQRDM data via a mapped drive. Refer to these instructions about how to connect to the VPN. 

How you map the drive will depend on the operating system you are using. Detailed instructions for Windows, Mac, and Linux users are provided below. If you require assistance with this process please contact ITS Support.

  Important note for HDR students: If you experience difficulties accessing the mapped drive, please refer to the relevant topic in FAQs. 

What to do if you cannot access a mapped drive

You may be unable to map the UQ-Research drive in the following situations: 

1. Your computer/laptop is not connected to the UQ domain - if unsure please contact ITS Support. IT support can organise for your device to be connected if it is an ITS managed computer/laptop. 
2. You are using your own personal laptop or computer. 

If one of the above situations apply, you can follow these alternative instructions for Windows or Mac.

After your project record has been approved and your storage has been provisioned, you need to restart your computer in order to access the mapped UQ-Research (R:) drive. If you still can't see the R drive after restarting your computer, see Alternative windows instructions.

Complete the mapping process for each storage allocation provided.  Note: Prior to accessing the mapped drive, please ensure that you have restarted your computer. You will not be able to access the drive until you have completed this process. 

1. Click on Go and connect to server .

2. Find the pathway, for example smb://shares(or shares01, or shares02).rdm.uq.edu.au/YOURPROJECTNAME-A1234 in the Storage Instructions from the system generated email or from the project record on rdm.uq.edu.au
3.  Type in the server address box.
4. Click the "+" symbol.
5. Then click Connect. 

1. Go to your UQRDM record (via the UQRDM website), select the desired record from My Records. Find the relevant storage allocation in the 'connected services' section and click the Storage instructions icon next to the storage label.
2. Find the alternative pathway listed under the Windows instructions. 

  Note: The pathway will be written after this sentence "If this pathway does not work or your device is not authenticated by the UQ domain please enter this location...." .

3. Copy the pathway. 
4. Right click Network in the menu (of file explorer), and then click Map network drive. 

5. Select a letter for the drive. 
6. Paste the pathway into the "folder" box and check that the "Reconnect at sign-in" box is checked. This will ensure that your computer will attempt reconnecting every time you log in. 

7. Click Finish. 

8. You will then be asked to enter your UQ credentials to enable access to the allocation folder.
9. Enter your UQ staff or student username in the form uq\username (HDR students should enter their student username). Then enter your UQ password and click OK.

  Note: You will need to repeat this mapping process for each allocation folder (i.e. each time a new record is created in the UQRDM which you are a collaborator on).  For this additional mapping, do not use drive letter R again, as letter R cannot be assigned more than once. Use other available drive letters such as 'X', 'Y' or 'Z' from the lettering list.

1. Go to your UQRDM record and open your project.  Find the relevant storage allocation in the 'connected services' section and click the Storage instructions icon next to the storage label. 
2. Find the alternative pathway listed under the Mac Instructions. Copy this pathway.
3. From the finder, click Go and then Connect to Server.

4. In the server address box, paste the alternate pathway. Click the + symbol, and then click Connect. 

5. Enter your UQ staff or student username in the form uq\username (HDR students should enter their student username). Then enter your UQ password. 

6. Click Connect.

  Note: You will need to repeat this mapping process for each allocation folder (i.e. each time a new record is created within the UQRDM which you are a collaborator on). 

To map an allocation folder permanently (so you don't have to re-enter the pathway when you restart your computer) follow these instructions: 

1. Enter into system preferences from the apple menu. 
2. Click on "users and groups". 
3. Click on "login items". 
4. Click on the + button to add another login item. 
5. Locate the network drive you would like to permanently mount (will mount after re-boot of computer) and click "add".  
6. Exit out of system preferences. 

There is no consistent way to map the drive using file browsers such as Nautilus, Dolphin and Thunar. You may have success in getting this to work by using the details from the instructions for a command line mount below, but it will depend on your local configuration of samba.

Note: The current connection information for Linux is available for each UQRDM record through the RDM website by selecting the record and then clicking the Storage instructions icon next to the storage allocation label.

Map the drive

To map the drive, first check with smbclient in a Terminal or xterm window: 

 $ smbclient -m SMB3 -U uqjblogg@uq.edu.au -W UQ '//enter pathway provided in storage instructions here'

You will have to substitute in your own username and the storage path provided in the email (without the "smb:" part) to make things work.

If this is successful you will be able to use “ls” and “cd” to browse the drive. 

Mount permanently

To mount things permanently it is best to use sudo and mount the drive using the following method. Because sudo is used, all operations on this directory will need root access.

1. First make a local directory to mount to: $ mkdir local_mount
2. Then mount the allocation folder: 

$ sudo mount -t cifs '//enter pathway provided in storage instructions here'

local_mount -o vers=3.0,user=uqjblogg,dom=uq.edu.au

3. You will have to substitute in your storage path provided in the email and UQ username (HDR students should enter their student username). 
4. Once you have entered this information, you will be asked to enter your password and your allocation folder will then be available in the local_mount folder.

   $ cd local_mount

  Note: You will need to repeat this mapping process for each allocation folder (i.e. each time a new record is created within the UQRDM which you are a collaborator on). 

If you are using Dolphin in Linux system, use these instructions:

If you are using GNOME Files 3.26.4 (ex-Nautilus) and Thunar 1.6.15, use these instructions: