Windows 11 and folder redirection

In addition to the migration from Windows 10 to Windows 11 there is also a change in folder redirection happening. What does that mean?

Until now following Windows folders have been 'redirected' into your D-ITET home account:

- Desktop -> folder in home: MSDesktop
- Documents -> folder in home: MSDocuments

Within the change to Windows 11 following folders will be redirected also:

- Music -> folder in home: MSMusic
- Pictures -> folder in home: MSPictures
- Videos -> folder in home: MSVideos

All these folders are viewable via 'Windows Explorer' -> 'This PC' (on the left side in "Quick Access" and also in the right side general overview):

You can verify the source of the data by right-clicking on the folder, then choose 'Properties'. In the upcoming window you'll see the
location of the folder, which is in your home directory "\\verdi.ee.ethz.ch\<username>". E.g. for 'Desktop':

This results in following consequences:

1) All stuff stored in there will be backuped
2) All stuff stored in there will burden your home quota!

But ATTENTION!

Windows arranges a second - different - set of 'Desktop', 'Documents', 'Videos', etc. folders in your local home, which is path: "C:\Users\<username"
These folders are stored LOCALLY on the machines harddisk. This can also be verified by right-clicking -> Properties:

This means for these folder no backup exists! Or in other words, when the harddisk fails, the data is lost.

How much data in your home?

50 GB of data in your home directory should be the absolut maximum!

home dir should mainly be used for documents. Big amounts of data, which are important for a project, should be stored in a 'project account'.
Ask your Institutskoordinator, he can advise accordingly. Big amounts of less important data can be stored in 'scratch' (available in Windows and Linux)

Here's an overview of different storage possibilities at D-ITET:

https://computing.ee.ethz.ch/Services/StorageOverview