IT Connect
Information technology tools and resources at the UW

Comparison of UW file service options for Managed Workstation customers

The following chart compares the capabilities provided by various UW file services.

The file services and capabilities listed have been chosen reflecting those for which Managed WorkStation (MWS) customers have expressed interest or needs.

Note: The general UW Central Shared File Service offering has been omitted since it is identical to the Managed WorkStation File Service offering except for the cost, eligibility, and off-campus access.

UW file service option comparison

Capabilities OneDrive for Business Google Drive U Drive MWS
Home Dir		 MWS File Service MWS Windows File Service
FERPA (warning) (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick)
HIPAA BAA(warning) (tick) (error) (error) (error) (error) (error)
Other UW
Confidential(warning)		 (tick) (tick) (question) (question) (question) (question)
Other UW
Restricted(warning)		 (tick) (tick) (question) (question) (question) (question)
Cost  None None 50GB “free”  (STF/TRF), $.10/GB/month beyond $.25/GB/month beyond $.25/GB/month beyond $.25/GB/month
Eligibility Faculty, Staff, Students, Shared UW NetIDs Faculty, Staff, Students, Shared UW NetIDs Faculty, Staff, Students MWS customers UW budget UW budget
Activation required None None via Manage My UW NetID page via Manage My UW NetID page via request via request
Resiliency GR redundant GR redundant Single UW Data Center outage Single UW Data Center outage Single UW Data Center outage Single component outage
Off-campus availability (tick) (tick) via SFTP or VPN via VPN via VPN via VPN
Offline sync (tick) (tick) (error) (tick) (error) (tick)
Backed up Limited (Trash, versioning if enabled, and non-contractual backup available via support request) Limited (Trash and limited versioning) (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick)
Self-service restore Recycle bin recovery or support request Trash and in limited cases Versions (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick)
Repair Point Objective
post virus/deletion/
ransomware		 Immediate, assuming versioning on Limited, possibly never Immediate via snapshots Immediate via snapshots Immediate via snapshots Immediate via shadow copy
Versioning (tick) (minus) (error) (error) (error) (tick)
Email notification (tick) (tick) (error) (error) (error) (error)
Self-service access control (tick) (tick) N/A N/A (error) (tick)
Groups Service integration (tick) (tick) N/A N/A (tick) (tick)
External Identity Sharing (error) (tick) N/A N/A (error) (error)
Auto-mapping available at logon (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick) (tick)
Synchronous editing (tick) (tick) (error) (error) (error) (error)
Recommended for Access DBs (error) (error) (error) (error) (error) (tick)
Protocol support HTTPS, MS-FSSHTTP HTTPS CIFS/SMB, SFTP CIFS/SMB CIFS/SMB CIFS/SMB
Client platform support Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, web browser Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, web browser Windows, Mac, Linux Windows, Mac, Linux Windows, Mac, Linux Windows, Mac, Linux
Encryption in-transit (tick) (tick) (error) (error) (error) greenX
Encryption at-rest (tick) (error) (error) (error) (error) greenX
UI usability (tick) (tick) (plus) (plus) (plus) (plus)
Available in 5 years? (tick) (tick) (error) (error) (error) (question)
MWS Recommended (plus) (plus) (tick) (minus) (tick) (tick)

 Symbols reference

Symbol
Meaning
(plus) Great or recommended
(tick) OK or Yes
(minus) Some issues
(error) Not recommended, discouraged, or No
(question) Unclear; may depend on the scenario
(warning) All classifications depend on entire solution not just storage
greenX Not by default
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