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Drives

Drives Overview​

Virtual encrypted hard drives (otherwise known as drives within tiCrypt) are container files that act similarly to a physical hard drive. Like a physical hard drive, a virtual hard drive file contains a file system, and it can contain an operating system, applications and data. Virtual hard drive files are normally attached to virtual machines and function as systems or data drives for the VM.

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Research data is saved on the drives attached to user's virtual machine. Not on the virtual machines themselves.

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Always make sure at least one drive is attached to a working virtual machine to be able to save one's work.

Create a Drive​

To create a drive navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Click the Create new drive icon located in the top right corner.
  • In the prompt, type the name of the drive and the team who will use the drive.
  • Optionally, select the project you want to tag your drive to.
  • Select the realm and the maximum drive capacity.
  • Select the format for Windows or Linux and wether or not you want to backup the drive.
  • Click on in the lower right corner to create a new drive.
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If a user does not select a project, the project defaults to the Unlocked project which is a project with no security levels.

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After a drive has been created it will appear in the tab in the panel.

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We advise creating encrypted drives larger than 3 GB.

Create a New Drive

Edit a Drive​

Users have limited ability to edit a drive.

To edit a drive navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the drive you want to edit.
  • Click the Three Dots on the right.
  • Click the Edit name/backup option.
  • In the prompt, edit the name of the drive.
  • Click in the lower right corner to update the drive.
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Once a drive is created the capacity, team and project may not be altered. The only things that can be altered are the additional read-and-write drives that can be mounted.

Edit a Drive

Delete a Drive​

To delete a drive navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the drive you want to delete.
  • Click the Three Dots on the right.
  • Click the Delete option.
  • In the prompt, re-type the name of the drive.
  • Click in the lower right corner to delete the drive.
Delete a Drive

Share a Drive​

To share a drive navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the drive you would like to share.

  • Click the Share icon located in the top right corner.

  • Type the name of the users/groups you want to share the drive with.

  • Select the read-only mode.

  • Click .

  • Optionally, use the same process to add more users/groups.

  • Once you finished, click in the lower right corner.

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Share a drive when you want another user to see or work with the data of your drive of another virtual machine or to ensure that more than one user can launch a virtual machine with this drive.

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A user can share a drive with any user.

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Users may unshare their drive with others by selecting the Delete icon on the right of the user, as seen in the "Delete a drive" video.

Share a Drive

Drive Modes​

Drives can be mounted in two modes: read-only or read-and-write.

When a drive is mounted as read-and-write, only the user who mounted it can use it. However, the user can share it as read-and-write or write-only with another user. The shared user cannot use the drive unless the original user unmounts it. Once the original user unmounts the drive, the shared user can choose to use it as read-only or read-and-write.

A drive mounted as read-only can be shared with any number of people as read-only, without the need for the original user to unmount it. However, the original user cannot share it as write-only or read-and-write.

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This description excludes the project restrictions that may interfere with this process. For more about this, visit the tiCrypt Project Hierarchy Tree in the Virtual Machines section.

Detach a Drive​

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Detaching drives may only be available to drive owners or admins who have the appropriate permissions.

To detach a drive navigate to the tab in the section.

  • Select the virtual machine you want to detach the drive from.
  • Click** on the card in the right panel.
  • Select the drive you want to detach.
  • Click Detach button on the right.
  • Click .
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Drive owners will view a warning message when trying to detach a drive. This should be done after the VM has been disconnected.

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It is not recommended to detach drives from a running virtual machine. This can result in a crashed virtual machine.

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You must have your drive unmounted to detach it.

Detach Drive
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You can unmount a drive by clicking the Drive key icon on the right side of the drive.