How to manage research data

Data storage

Through the course of your research you must ensure that all research data, regardless of format, is stored securely and backed up or copied regularly.

You can store your research data on:

Networked drives

These are managed by IT staff centrally or within your School or College. It is highly recommended that you store your research data on regularly backed-up networked drives such as:

Fileservers managed by your research group or school.
Fileservers managed by Information Services.
Storage Area Network (SAN) - either the Infrastructure SAN or the Edinburgh Compute and Data Facility (ECDF) SAN.

This way you will ensure that your data will be:

Stored in a single place and backed up regularly.
Available to you as and when required.
Stored securely minimising the risk of loss, theft or unauthorised use.

Personal computers and laptops

These are convenient for storing your data temporarily but should not be used for storing master copies of your data. Local drives may fail or PCs and laptops may be lost or stolen leading to an inevitable loss of your data.

External storage devices

External storage devices such as hard drives, USB flash drives, CDs and DVDs, can be an attractive option for storing your data due to their low cost and portability. However, they are not recommended for the long term storage of your data, particularly, your master copies as:

Their longevity is not guaranteed, especially if they are not stored correctly, for example, Compacts Discs (CDs) degrade, tapes shrink in the long term.
They can be easily damaged, misplaced or lost.
Errors with writing to compact discs and digital video discs (CDs and DVDs) are common.
They may not be big enough for all the research data, so multiple disks or drives may be needed.
They pose a security risk.

If you choose to use CDs, DVDs and USB flash drives (for example, for working data or extra backup copies), you should:

Choose high quality products from reputable manufacturers.
Follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer for care and handling, including environmental conditions and labelling.
Regularly check the media to make sure that they are not failing, and periodically 'refresh' the data (that is, copy to a new disk or new USB flash drive).
Ensure that any private or confidential data is password-protected and/or encrypted.

Remote or online back-up services

These provide users with an online system for storing and backing-up computer files e.g. Dropbox, Mozy, A-Drive.

Typically, they:

Allow users to store and synchronise data files online and between computers.
Employ cloud computing storage facilities (e.g. Amazon S3).
Provide the first few gigabytes free and users pay for more facilities, including space.

Advantages

No user intervention required (change tapes, label CDs, perform manual tasks).
Remote back-up maintains data offsite.
Most provide versioning and encryption.
Multi-platform.

Disadvantages

Restoration of data may be slow (dependent upon network bandwith).
Stored data may not be entirely private (thus pre-encryption).
Service provider may go out of business.
Protracted intellectual property rights/copyright/data protection licences.