Data Storage - Active or Working Data

Appropriate data storage is one of the most critical aspects of good research data management. There are many circumstances that can lead to data loss with potentially devastating consequences for your research project, and your research career, and safeguarding against these should be a top priority.

Researchers may need different storage and collaboration solutions at different stages of the Research (Data and Information) Asset Lifecycle. The options listed under ‘Active Storage and Collaboration Options’ are suitable for storing; active (working) data, collaborating with other researchers, and/or creating backups.

For archiving completed data see Data Storage - Completed Data.

The basic rules for storing data and safeguarding against data loss are:

DO make three copies of the data and keep them in separate places

1. A hard drive, external or on your computer;
2. An external hard drive or cloud drive (JCU supports MS OneDrive and Teams);
3. A network or other storage solution supported by JCU, e.g.  HPRC

DON'T keep the only copy of your research data on a hard drive, laptop, external drive, USB key, these devices do fail.

Compliant Data Storage Options include:

• Research Data JCU < 100 MB (for completed data only)
• JCU High Performance Research Computing (HPRC) < 1 TB, up to 10 TB by agreement
• JCU QCIF Research Data Storage (QRISCloud) > 1 TB by agreement
• JCU Microsoft Office 365 OneDrive < 5 TB
• storage as dictated by Research Partner and/or Funding Agency

Non-Compliant Data Storage Options include:

• Shared university network drive (e.g. G, H etc)
• Personal equipment (e.g. external drive/s, own laptop, etc)
• External cloud storage/collaboration space (e.g., Dropbox, Google Drive).

Non-compliant options should only be used for backups, never for primary storage

You will also need to be familiar with the:

• Retention Rules for Specific Data Types
• Data Repositories

For information on active storage and collaboration options, refer to the During Project Phase - Step 2:  Manage | Organise Data | Data Storage - Active or Working Data.

Active Storage and Collaboration Options

Notes

1. Microsoft Team team owners can add guest accounts or external account.
2. Researchers can apply (via ServiceNow) for external collaborators to have access to their JCU HPC account.
3. Within 30 days.