Content:

1.        Access to Shared drives

2.        Permission to Shared drives

3.        Folder structure of Shared drives

4.        Google Drive for desktop

5.        Help and Support concerning the operation of JCTIC Shared drives

1. Access to Shared drives

Every colleague can see “Shared drives” once login to the school Google account (https://drive.tic.edu.hk). The following diagram shows that “Shared drives” is located below “My Drive”.

Google Shared drives are shared spaces where teams can easily store, search, and access their files anywhere, from any device.

Unlike files in My Drive, files in Shared drives belong to the team instead of an individual.

IT Administration committee has created Shared drives for all committees and all subjects in 2021-2022. All committee heads or subject panel heads can now access their respective Shared drives while all members will also be allocated to respective Shared drives in mid-August.

2. Permissions to Shared drives

Committee heads or subject panel heads have the “Manager” access level to their respective “Shared drives” while committee members have the “Contributor” access level to their respective “Shared drives”. The following diagram shows all the types of permissions.

The main differences between “Manager” access level and “Contributor” access level are the latter have no permissions on user management, files/folders movement and deletion.

As mentioned before, the permission setting in Shared drives is different from My Drive. All the folders and files created in Shared drives can be assessed by all members within the committee or subject. If you want to create a folder or file for individual use, you have to use My Drive instead of Shared drives.

Folder Permissions

All the folders created in Shared drives can be accessed by all the members and you cannot share the folders to non- members, while you can ASK manager to share, which is not common as the access rights have been updated accordingly.  

File Permissions

All the files created in Shared drives can be accessed by all members. Different from folder permission, files in Shared drives can be shared to non-members.

3. Folder structure of Shared drives

Committee heads or subject panel heads are encouraged to design appropriate folder structure of their respective “Shared drives”. The following diagram shows an example of the comprehensive folder structure of the 2021 IAC Committee.

4.Google Drive for desktop

Instead of assessing Google Drive using a browser, Google Drive for desktop enables users to stream files from Google Drive to your desktop as you need them rather than syncing everything and gobbling up your hard drive space. Files can be edited with software installed locally on any computer with Google Drive for desktop installed.

Google Drive for desktop software for Windows and Mac can be downloaded from
https://www.google.com/drive/download/

After installation, there will be a new Local Drive letter (e.g. G: below) mounted in your computer. Your Google Drive (My Drive and Shared drives) content can now be accessed locally like a normal disk attached to your computer.

The benefits of using Google Drive for desktop are:

• Direct local access of cloud-based files stored in Google Drive. i.e. You can open your word document as if the file is in your computer. Once you click save, the file will be uploaded to the cloud automatically.
• No more download → Edit → Upload through web browsers.
• You can install the Google Drive for desktop client software to any computer you want. e.g. At home and at the PC in your workplace. You don't have to carry around USB flash drives or removable hard drives any more.
• Files are all stored on the cloud, not in your computers. Minimal hard drive space is consumed.

Important Reminder:

Remember to check the synchronization status of your files through the Google Drive for desktop TRAY ICON. LOGOUT your computer only after all files are synchronized (i.e. the "Tick" icons appear on all files). The screenshot below shows some files are still pending upload and synchronization.

5. Help and Support concerning the operation of JCTIC Shared drives

You can always contact us through email (ithelpdesk@tic.edu.hk) for any IT related support. You may also obtain support through this SUPPORT PAGE.

For enquiries related to the operation of Shared drives, please contact Mr. Leung Li Yick or Mr. Leung Yat Hin for help.