General ICT Help

How to access Personal File Store from non-Windows and mobile devices

All staff and students have a secure area for storing their files on University servers, which can be accessed on non-University computers and from outside the University.

This page describes how to access these files on non-windows devices, how to set this up, how to view, and in some cases edit, the files in your personal file storage area ("My Documents") at the University. It is also a simple way to move information between these types of devices, which can otherwise be difficult to do.

Apple Macintosh | iPhone / iPad | Android | Blackberry | Windows Mobile

For accessing your files on Windows devices (excluding Windows mobiles), see "Accessing Personal Filestore using Webdrive".

The information is moved securely, even when you are using wireless or 3G to access it, because it's encrypted using SSL as with financial transactions on the web. As a result it makes a good alternative to using cloud storage providers such as Dropbox or iCloud, and we recommend staff always use their personal file store rather than cloud storage services. This is particularly so when the information concerned is subject to Data Protection regulations or is commercially sensitive, because cloud storage is generally not located in the EU, and in some cases not covered by "Safe Harbor" agreements.

Accessing Personal Storage from an Apple Macintosh

Go to the Finder, and from the Go menu select Connect to Server. This window will appear:

Connect to Server

In the Server Address: box, enter https://homedir.wlv.ac.uk/. Now click Connect. You should now see a window asking for credentials:

Request for credentials

Type in your University IT account username and password, then click Connect. To omit this step the next time, you can check "Remember this password in my keychain". Shortly afterwards you should see a window listing all the objects in your My Documents folder. You can view or edit them just as you would at the University, provided you have applications that understand them (for example, you would need Microsoft Word or OpenOffice to edit a Word document).

Accessing Personal Storage from an iPhone or iPad

This requires that you download and install WebDAV Nav, a free app from the Apple store. Watch this short video which explains how to install and configure it on an iPad (it's the same on the iPhone, except that the screen is smaller).

When you connect to your personal storage, the device will display a list of all your files and directories, like this:

If you tap an item, it will display it, provided it knows how:

If you rest your finger on the item, you get a menu:

This allows you to choose another application to open a file, such as QuickOffice Pro or Documents to Go. It also allows you to download local copies of files, which can then be accessed faster using the Local Storage icon (on the right of the menu bar), and to rename or delete files.

There are several icons at the bottom of the screen. Reading from left to right these are:

Create a new folder in your Personal Storage.
Refresh the list of files.
Upload an image from the Camera Roll on the phone to your Personal Storage (it needs Location Services to be turned on, and seems not entirely reliable).
The camera icon takes a picture and uploads it to your Personal Storage.
The clapperboard icon browses all the images in the current folder of your Personal Storage.
The Local Storage icon on the far right allows you to look at local copies of files you have downloaded.

There is also a paid version, WebDAV Nav+, which doesn't have advertising and adds a few extra features. Notably, it allows you to select multiple files to upload, and it turns your iPhone or iPad into a WebDAV server, which allows you to access your files (pictures, music etc) from someone else's hand-held device running WebDAV Nav.

Accessing Personal Storage from an Android device

You need to download and install WebDAV Navigator Lite from the Android Market, which works with Android 1.6 and later. Start the app, create the server entry pointing to https://homedir.wlv.ac.uk/ and enter your IT account username and password. Then connect and you will get a list of the contents of your personal storage (My Documents). All the features of the iPhone/iPad version work the same way on Android.

As with the iPad/iPhone, there is a paid version, WebDAV Navigator, which has additional features and no advertising.

Accessing Personal Storage from a Blackberry

You need to download and install WebDAV Navigator Lite from the Blackberry App World, which requires Blackberry 5.0.0 or later. Start the app, create the server entry pointing to https://homedir.wlv.ac.uk/ and enter your IT Account username and password. Then connect and you will get a list of the contents of your personal storage (My Documents). The free version for the Blackberry doesn't support uploading at all, so if you want to use it for uploading pictures, you may want to consider the paid version. Other feattures work as on the other platforms.

Accessing Personal Storage from a Windows Mobile phone

At this time (December 2011) there is no WebDAV client for Windows Mobile, but the developer of WebDAV Nav has one under development. You can find details on his Web site.

Back to How to Use your Personal File Store

Date: December 2011
Last reviewed: December 2011