The NMR Service have a backup server, Scapa (above), that every night copies data from all the spectrometers to its large array of hard disks. This data is then served out to the rest of the department using the Microsoft file and printer sharing protocol. Scapa is located behind a ‘firewall’ which secures the NMR Service computers from hackers and virus attacks.

There are two parts to the backup server - NMRarchives and NMRshares.  NMRarchives holds all data from 2000 up to the spectra run on the previous day.  The backup occurs around midnight, so data recently run will not be found there.  It is arranged in year quarters (e.g. Q1-2011) and then by instrument.  Going via the NMRarchives route will always be the best way of getting your data that is more than one day old.

NMRshares is a live link to the spectrometers themselves and is arranged by instrument.  This is the route to take if you are after data run on the same day.  It may be slower than the NMRarchives as you are linking to the actual spectrometer, and therefore will slow down the computer running the instrument as well.

Once you have configured your computer to connect to Scapa, transferring files from Scapa to your computer is a simple drag and drop exercise.

To connect to Scapa, open My Computer and then the search window pane (or press F3).  Use the search for computers option and type scapa.ch.cam.ac.uk into the search box.  Hopefully it should bring up an icon for Scapa in the right hand pane.

Double click on the Scapa icon and you should see icons for NMRarchives and NMRshares.  Select one of the icons and right click.  From the resulting menu select Map Network Drive.  On the window that pops up select Connect using a different user name.

Type nmr for the user name and enter the password that the NMR Service will provide you with if you visit us in B28.

Finally click OK and then Finish on the previous window.  You should now have an icon in My Computer.

If there is a problem with scapa for any reason you will not be able to find it on the network using the above method.  If this is the case, please see us in B28 and we will rectify the problem.

You should also configure your virus checker so that it only scans your local computer.  If it scans Network Drives as well, it will be scanning the computers that control the spectrometers, slowing them down.  If you are unsure how to do this you can contact the computer officers or see one of us in B28.

You can also use one of our reprocessing computers to access your data.  You will find two machines in B13 (below), one in B19 and one in B25.  You should find that the links have already been set up to the NMRshares and NMRarchives - please see us in B28 if you need any help with these computers.