Connect To The IDEAL Lab NAS

Goal: mount your supervisor's project share and create an ETH-username folder for durable project data.

Prerequisites: supervisor first name, personal ETH credentials, and ETH VPN when off-campus.

The canonical project root is the supervisor folder under:

\\d.ethz.ch\groups\mavt\ide\Projects\<SupervisorFirstName>

Inside it, create or use <eth-username>\. Do not store your ETH password in a script, issue, or agent chat.

Windows 10/11#

Execution context: Windows laptop - File Explorer.

1. Press Win + E.
2. Right-click This PC, then choose Map network drive.
3. Select an unused drive letter.
4. Enter \\d.ethz.ch\groups\mavt\ide\Projects\<SupervisorFirstName>.
5. Enable Reconnect at sign-in only on a trusted personal/assigned computer.
6. Sign in as username@ethz.ch with the ETH password.
7. Open the share and create <eth-username>\ if your supervisor has not already created it.

Expected result: the supervisor share appears under This PC, and you can create a harmless test file inside your own ETH-username folder.

macOS 13 Or Later#

Execution context: macOS laptop - Finder.

1. Open Finder and press Command + K.
2. Enter smb://d.ethz.ch/groups/mavt/ide/Projects/<SupervisorFirstName>.
3. Choose Connect.
4. Sign in with your ETH username and password.
5. Create <eth-username>/ if your supervisor has not already created it.

Expected result: the share appears under Finder Locations, and you can create a harmless test file inside your own ETH-username folder.

Verify Access Safely#

Inside your assigned folder:

1. Create nas-write-test.txt.
2. Open it and add a short non-confidential line.
3. Delete the test file.

Do not test write access in a supervisor or another student's folder.

Storage Rules#

• Use the NAS for durable shared project data and deliverables.
• Keep source code in GitHub; do not use the NAS as a shared Git working tree.
• Do not commit NAS datasets, checkpoints, or generated results to Git.
• For Euler processing, stage data to the approved Euler project/work/scratch location. ETH HPC advises against running high-I/O batch work directly from external storage mounts.
• Confirm classification and approved access before placing confidential or personal data on the share.
• Use short, descriptive filenames and avoid unnecessarily deep paths.

Suggested layout:

<SupervisorFirstName>/
  <eth-username>/
    projects/
    data/
    results/
    handover/

Common Failures And Safe Recovery#

• Path not found: confirm VPN and supervisor first-name spelling.
• Access denied: retry as username@ethz.ch; do not use another person's saved credentials.
• Read works but write fails: verify you are inside your assigned username folder and ask the supervisor/IT owner to check access.
• Slow Euler processing: copy approved working data to Euler storage; do not create repeated ad hoc laptop copies.
• Drive disappears after reboot: reconnect or remap; do not assume the data was deleted.

Verification#

• The mounted path names the correct supervisor.
• Your project lives inside your ETH-username folder.
• Important data has an identified owner and recovery plan.
• Euler jobs do not perform heavy I/O directly against an external NAS mount.

Ask For Help When#

The supervisor folder, information owner, classification, write permission, or authoritative project copy is unclear.

See Data and AI policy and the Data Steward Track.

Verified: 2026-08-04. Review by: 2027-02-04. Owner: IDEAL Lab IT.