How to use it

iFolder works with major operating systems. To register your HZB ID and the internal password is required:

• Web browser: https://ifolder.helmholtz-berlin.de/ifolder
• Windows: Windows iFolder client
• openSUSE Linux: with the command ifolder
• Ubuntu Linux: http://www.chimos.de/stuff/ifolder-ubuntu.txt
• MacOS: Install Mono-Framework, then install MacOS iFolder client

(The choice of operating systems does not make any statement in support of the HZB).

The iFolder client have to be installed and set up once on a PC. Additional information required for this purpose:

• Server Address: ifolder.helmholtz-berlin.de
• User name: Your HZB ID (three letters)
• Password: Your internal password
• Default iFolder Location: (guidelines for the location of their first iFolder)
  - Windows: a directory on drive D or under My Documents
  - Linux: a directory below /hmi
  - MacOS: a directory below your home directory /Users/Username

Only folders/directories on local disks can be used directly for iFolders. Network drives (including the network-wide Linux home directories) are not possible as iFolder by design. On the HZB Linux systems, you may have active only one iFolder because of the central home directories (If you move the directory .local in your home directory to a really local place. eg in /hmi and refer it by a soft link from your home directory, you can circumvent this restriction).

You may create further iFolders through conversion of existing folders in Windows Explorer by right-clicking on it or with any Web browser on the iFolder server. iFolders can be converted back into a normal folder or combined with other iFolders.

You can convert your local Windows My Documents folder to an iFolder and thus keep all your local files therein in global access. But please remember the size limit of 10 GiByte for each user.

Access rights: Which user may access the files

With the access rights you can control which user and how she can access the files in the iFolders. Four user roles are possible:

• Owner: may do everything with the files
• Full control: may do everything, but cannot change file ownership
• Read/write: may read and write files
• Read only: may only read files

Owner and full control user have the right to control the access rights for all other users.

Synchronization: File matching

When there is a connection from the PC to the server, iFolders can be synchronized. With an access password stored in the client this will happen automatically. You can also synchronize manually or by schedule. With slow network connections the synchronisation may be delayed over multiple synchronization cycles.

The following files you'd better not put in an iFolder, because they change too often:

• Files in system directories
• hidden files or directories with configuration data
• database files,  temporary directories and other volatile items

Please note: Everything is synchronized in iFolder, ie if you delete something in the iFolder on the PC it will be also cleared at the next syncronizaton on the server and other computers that are share this iFolder. If you want to use an iFolder locally, than do not delete it, but turn it over to a local folder with the properties dialog. Versioning or a rescue or accidentally deleted files ist not possible (yet). In some cases, data from the backup of the server by FM-D may be restored.

Recommended names for iFolders and files or directories in it

You can name your files and directories (almost) as usual, although the iFolder client must meet the combined limitations of Linux and Windows file systems for file names and directories:

• You can use any character of the UTF-8 (Unicode) character set (which are almost all well-known characters), except the characters with special functions:   \ /:*?"<>|;
• The maximum length of the name depends on the client system
• The upper and lower case is insignificant, the writing itself is still maintained. If the names differ only by the upper and lower case, there is a name conflict. This must be solved before the sync manually by eg a Rename command.
• Names in all uppercase letters in the FAT32 file system on Linux are not permitted. These produce a reading problem by accessing read-only. FAT32 should be avoided, it is only on mobile storage devices such as SD cards or memory sticks are used. These are unsuitable for iFolder.