SFU Vault FAQs

Anyone with a valid SFU computing ID can use SFU vault.

SFU provides 50 gigabytes of space to each account set up in the vault.

Due to the recent changes to licensing, it's no longer possible to increase your quota.

Due to the file locking mechanism changed in ownCloud version 8, some clients will connect in read-only mode (ex. Mac OS X Finder).

The WebDAV address is: https://vault.sfu.ca/remote.php/webdav/

Use your SFU Connect login credentials. Under Windows, make sure that the service WebClient is started, otherwise WebDAV does not work properly

Make sure you use "https:" and not just "http:" when connecting through WebDAV to https://vault.sfu.ca/remote.php/webdav/

No, there isn't. With your Windows mobile device, you'd have to use the web client through your browser.

The server name is: https://vault.sfu.ca

Use your SFU Connect login credentials (excluding the “@sfu.ca” in user id).

SFU vault uses your SFU Credentials and the password reset on all your SFU accounts can be performed at:

https://my.sfu.ca/ChangePassword

Upon graduation, SFU alumni are only given an additional year of temporary access to their computing ID. As such, alumni would only be granted access to the vault depending on how much time remains from the point when their accounts were switched to a light-weight status.

When uploading via the web browser, the maximum size limit is 10GB per file. You can however store larger files via your SFU vault client.

This can be done through the web-browser (https://vault.sfu.ca)

Move the mouse over the file or folder you want to share, click on the “share” symbol and enter the computing ID, or the name of the person you want to share a file or a folder with.

Please note: In order to share a file with an SFU Vault user, the user must have logged-in in the past at least once to SFU Vault. Otherwise SFU Vault will not be able to find the user in its internal directory.

In the same share-dialog where you can enter the SFU computing ID of the person, you can also specify which rights this user should have. Furthermore, you can set a date when the sharing should stop. If no date is entered, the file or folder will be shared until you revoke it manually.

Click on the share symbol next to the file name and choose 'Share link'. This generates a public link that can be protected with a password. Also, you can set an expiration date how long the link should be valid.

Similar to sharing a normal file, you can generate a public link. Every person who knows that link can upload files via the web browser and change existing files. Like with any other public link, a password and/or an expiration date can be set.

You can see which files or folders are shared through the web client. A detailed overview is available when you click on the "Shared with you" link on the left hand side.

If you allow the user with whom you've shared a file with to have "delete" permissions and this user deletes your file or folder, it will also be removed from your files in SFU vault. However, you can restore your file or folder through the webclient of SFU vault.

In order to access previously saved versions of a file from the vault library, click the Share icon (<) or Details (...) --> and (i) beside the desired item to locate versions to select for restoration.

Once the menu appears on the righthand side of the web browser after selecting the Share or the Details option, choose Versions from the upper categories beside Activities and Sharing.

From the list of dated versions that follow, you may choose to restore any of the available selections. If none of the desired options are visible, check More versions... at the bottom of the menu to list more options.

SFU vault does support all characters in file and folder names except for:

•  \
• /
• <
• >
• :
• "
• |
• ?
• !
• *
• &
• #
• %
• $
• (
• )
• +

If you create a file which one of the characters above - some operating systems do allow that - SFU vault will not synchronize these files or folders.

Use of special characters in directory and file names can cause syncing problems. As a general precaution to avoid potential problems it’s advisable to refrain from using special characters in directory and file names. This includes:

•  \
• /
• <
• >
• :
• "
• |
• ?
• !
• *
• &
• #
• %
• $
• (
• )
• +

When these characters are bracketed with spaces, the probability of encountering file syncing problems increase.

No we can't. Please contact the sender and tell him the problem. If the sender cannot help you, he or she can contact us for further assistance.

Deleted Files will be deleted for good after 180 days. If 'Deleted Files' are using more than 50% of the available quota the oldest files will be deleted.

At the moment SFU vault does not support group creation inside of the application.

To create a new group, which SFU vault can use, you will need to create a new mailing list in https://maillist.sfu.ca and ask your LAN admin to propagate this mailing list to ADSFU (Active Directory). If you don’t have a departmental LAN admin please submit a request to IT Service Desk.

The limit of a folder to be download is 1GB. The reason is, that this fills up the hard disk on the web server with a temporary file and we do not have enough space to support a higher amount of data. Usually you only need this if you want to share a whole folder once with somebody who does not have SFU vault.

It’s possible to exchange links with other Owncloud users (outside of SFU vault) via Federated Cloud Sharing as long as the target Owncloud server supports it (ex. own cloud.westgrid.ca). You will need to know the other persons Owncloud account (ex. some_account@owncloud.westgrid.ca). The files will appear as external links in your SFU vault space.

The synchronization depends on the number and size of the files to synchronize. Also the speed of your internet connection and the load of the SFU vault servers are factors that can slow down synchronization.

Make sure you are connected with the Internet and that you are logged in with the right username and password. Try to quit the SFU vault desktop client (by right-clicking the small cloud-logo in the task- or status-bar and choose 'Quit SFU vault') and start it again. However please have some patience - sometimes it just takes some time until the synchronization process starts, since there is no 'Force-Sync' function.

Check in the settings of the SFU vault client in the general tab if you have disabled the synchronization of big folders. Also please make sure that you have the latest SFU vault client installed.

One of the biggest causes for Vault's syncing problem is the use of special characters in directory and file names.

Symptoms: Desktop clients unable to complete syncing. This can occur on all platforms or selected ones, hence creating confusion as to where the actual cause is.

Remedy: Rename the directory or file name to eliminate the use of special characters.  This seems to resolve many of the problems.

Explanation: Although the SFU Vault servers use correct character encoding, occasionally due to the Linux legacy of the underlying Owncloud software, the application is trying to interpret special characters instead of treating them just like any other characters. This has been observed by other operators with German umlauts and reported as software bugs.

Recommendation: As a general precaution to avoid potential problems it’s advisable to refrain from using special characters in directory and file names. This includes: " ! # $ % & ' ( ) * + : \ < > / ?. When these character are bracketed with spaces, the probability of encountering file syncing problems increase.

If you've deleted a file you can retrieve it through the web client of SFU vault. Click "Deleted files" on the top-right corner. Select the files or folders you would like to restore and press "Restore".

All files and folders you delete are saved for a certain amount of time, to allow you to restore them. If you would like to permanently delete a file, go to the web client of SFU vault. Next, go to "Deleted files" in the top-right corner. Here you can select the files you would like to permanently remove. Click the "Delete" symbol  on the right hand to remove the files permanently.

This might come in handy if you for instance have a directory with a lot of (large) files, such as "Movies" or "Backup". You might not want to sync these files to every computer you have. To prevent SFU vault from doing this, go to the desktop-client (right-click on the SFU vault symbol ) and press "Settings". In the main-tab on the left  you can uncheck the files or folders that should not be synced to your computer.  The files are NOT deleted, they are just not synchronized to your computer.

On Android devices you click on a file and check the box 'Keep file up to date'.

On iOS devices you only need to tap on the file ­ to keep it synchronized.

You can prevent SFU vault from using mobile data. This is useful if you are on a data plan that does not allow unlimited data transfer.

On Android devices, go to Settings -> Data usage, and then choose SFU vault and check 'Restrict background data'

On iOS devices, go to Settings -> Cellular,  and scroll down to SFU vault and swipe the slider off. If SFU vault is missing in that list, you have to use SFU vault first while on a mobile data network. As soon as some data has been transferred over a mobile data network, SFU vault will be shown on that list.

A: The files will still exist on the desktop app of SFU vault, but they will be inaccessible through the web client or mobile apps while the service is temporarily unavailable. 

New security features in Mac OS 10.12+ prevent third-party Finder extensions from automatically loading, when the software is installed automatically (like on managed Macs).

To enable these icons, open System Preferences: Extensions: and click ON the "sfuvault" Finder extension.

The data stored on SFU vault is hosted in the SFU data centres located in Burnaby, BC and connected to the SFU network. This meets the data residency requirements of the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Members of the SFU community are reminded to share personally identifiable information only as permitted under FIPPA.

More information on the relevant provincial laws and regulations can be found on the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The data in transit to the SFU vault servers is encrypted using SSL. The data at rest is un-encrypted. In the future release of SFU vault we will offer encryption as an option in individual accounts.

No, the user is responsible for the backup of his/her data, there is no backup that can be restored on the user level.

A restore option is available when an item is selected from inside the "Deleted files" section of the web client. Files will be deleted automatically when there is no more quota in the recycle bin.