The Briefcase that UNM has long provided its students will soon snap shut forever.
Briefcase is the name of an online file-storage system available to students when they log into their UNM accounts.
Vanessa Baca, spokeswoman for Information Technology Services, said the application will be removed Friday.
She said there is no definite date for ITS to delete the files students have uploaded on the system.
Danny Lee, support analyst for ITS, said the technology is outdated and long overdue for an upgrade.
"(Briefcase) was created when floppy disks were widely used, and it was a temporary solution to moving files," he said. "We now have wav files, audio files and graphics that take up too much space."
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Lee said Briefcase's usage declined significantly in the last few years due to the increased use of flash drives and laptops.
He said the total space available for storage on Briefcase is limited to 20 megabytes per student, making it unable to store larger files such as PowerPoint presentations.
Also, UNM is planning to upgrade its portal system this year, and the Briefcase technology will not be supported by the upgrade, Lee said.
"Really, it wasn't much use - technology is lagging behind the requirement," he said.
UNM student Ryan Ayers said he used to use the Briefcase to store documents but that it isn't very efficient.
"I would lose a lot of info sometimes - you try to open a file and it would've lost information," he said.
Ayers said he won't miss the function and that he will instead use a more reliable way of keeping files, either by storing them on his laptop or by e-mailing files to himself.
Student William Cunes said he never knew about the Briefcase and isn't sure he would trust using it.
"I always use my flash drive because it is convenient and I know I always have it with me, in my possession," he said.
Baca said students were notified of the change in mid-December and were told to move their files to another location or report to the ITS support center with a flash drive so the files could be transferred.
"There has been no response of concern. It has actually been supported," Baca said.
