Computing (ZCU)

Zoology Computing Unit

Please email zoology.support@ubc.ca for helpdesk support.

Nick Koubrak nick@zoology.ubc.ca 822-3882 core systems administrator BRC 121
Ben Jan ben.jan@ubc.ca 827-2754 biosciences computing manager BRC 122
Jenny Kao jenny@zoology.ubc.ca 822-2645 systems analyst BRC 123

Everyone should feel free to:

  • phone us
  • email us
  • drop by our offices 
  • catch us walking around anywhere
  • talk shop at Friday donuts

And queries do not have to be about problems! They also could be wishes, questions about what/where to buy, vague ideas about solutions that you are about to research, or things that you are having to do which seem awkward. Contact any of us -- we punt problems among us depending on our strengths and current time demands. Although we overlap a lot, we do have relative strengths.

Locations

  • Anywhere in the Biological Sciences Complex, Biodiversity Research Centre, and Zoology in LifeSciences.
  • StatsLab BioSci 2004: used for teaching. Comprises 21 iMac workstations.
  • GradLab BRC 125: shared resources. Macs and PCs (please ask for password to access computers), flatbed and bulk slide scanners, scanner/OCR reader, a light table, tabloid black & white and colour printers, and a poster printer and paper cutter.
     

Access to the Zoology File Server requires a wired connection from within the Biological Sciences building or the Biodiversity Research Centre, or, if connection from off-campus or via wi-fi, Zoology Departmental VPN. Please click on the arrow to follow steps to connect to a network drive.

Before you get rid of an old/broken computer, wipe the drive. Or your information could reappear in a surprising place. UBC Security Standard #08 requires that all personal information be removed from devices before they are transferred, sold, or discarded.

  • If the computer is non-functional, remove the drive. Googling your computer model number + "remove hard drive" should help you find specific instructions. If that doesn't help, please ask us at zoology.support@ubc.ca. Once your hard drive is removed, you can either store it securely, destroy it, or give it to the ZCU to deal with.
  • If you have loose/removed drives, give them to the Zoology Computing Unit to wipe.
  • If the drive is still in a computer that works, you can wipe it using one of the methods described below.

Windows/Linux PC

  • We recommend DBAN. DBAN can be borrowed on a bootable USB key or CD from the Zoology Computing Unit.
  • You can make your own by downloading it from http://www.dban.org/ and writing to a USB drive.
  • The procedure is:
    • Boot off of the DBAN-containing device
    • When prompted for a command, type autonuke and press enter.
  • Please note that this process will take hours to complete, sometimes even days.
  • If this time is too long, remove the drive and give it to the ZCU.

MacOS

  • for an external drive:
    • run Disk Utility
    • select the external drive
    • click the "Erase" button
    • click "Security Options"
    • choose a number of times you want to overwrite it with junk data
    • click the "Erase" button
  • for the system drive:
    • put your Mac into recovery mode by
      • restarting it and holding Command + R as it’s booting
    • or ... boot from your installation disk (for older machines)
    • launch the Disk Utility
    • select your system drive
    • do the "Erase" steps listed above