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Ensure that your data is stored safely and securely, and discover tools to help you manage your active data sets.

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During your research, it is important to ensure that your data is stored safely and securely. This page outlines the data storage options and directs you towards tools and support to help manage active research data.

Filestore

Filestore is for active research data and is available for all research projects:

  • an initial 5TB per funded project, additional capacity can be purchased at £43.20 per TB per annum
  • backed up daily and replicated between data centres
  • new storage can be easily requested via a request to the IT Service Desk 

The storage provided is intended for use by project personnel during the project's lifetime. You will need to plan for the archiving, sharing and deletion of data at project end.

If you’d like support in estimating storage requirements or the costing of storage into research proposals, please get in touch or contact your local computing officer.

Portable storage

The use of portable storage devices (USB sticks, laptops, external hard drives) may be essential for short-term solutions, for instance while travelling or conducting fieldwork. The master copy of the data should be kept on the University's Filestore service and updated with any changes when possible. It is also advisable to use encryption to secure files and personal information on portable devices.

Portable devices should be used in conjunction with filestore and collaboration tools to ensure the security of the data. The managment of the data between these storage options can be covered in a . 

Cloud storage

The University provides a cloud-based solution through Office 365. The storage and collaborate tools that are offered with Office 365 can be used in tandem with the filestore.   

It is advised that you do not upload personal or sensitive data to services the University does not have a contract with. This includes many of the 'free' cloud storage providers (e.g. DropBox and Google Drive). These providers go against funder and University expectations of data storage and are targeted by hackers.

Collaborate

Make use of Office 365 collaborative tools.

Organise your data

Manage your data to make working with it easier.

Sensitive Data

Handling personal and sensitive data for your research.

Data Analysis

Discover available software and support for data analysis.
Trusted Research

Trusted Research aims to support the integrity of international research collaborations. Those working in academic research need to be aware of these risks and how to protect themselves. 

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