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Initial guidance on where to save your research data of varying sizes and file types - we are happy to meet with you to discuss what you need and facilitate resources.
There are a number of factors to consider when planning where to save your research data. This page provides some starting suggestions and you are welcome to contact us for further guidance that fits your specific requirements.
Local and central storage
- Apart from your own computer storage, you have allocated central storage space, and your department or faculty might also have storage space for groups.
- For research data, we recommend that you use the Research Data Storage Services designed to meet the requirements of UCL Research Data Policy. Further information (e.g. how to access and storage limit) of these options, please see here.
- Centrally-provided storage options provide you assurance on uptime, availability, backups and infrastructure maintenance.
Use cases and requirements
- There are a wide variety of use cases and requirements. The following are two of many requirements:
- Some of our research data are very large, especially images and videos. It is not always practical to sort out what to keep and delete, and adds administrative burden.
- Another factor is whether external access to the data is necessary, including from people without a UCL account. In some cases, frequency of access is low.
- If you collect information that is highly confidential, the Data Safe Haven can mitigate the risk of inadvertently sharing with those who should not have access.
- Each group has different requirement. We are happy to meet to discuss your requirements and facilitate the required resources to meet your required capacity and workflow.
Data management best practice
- A good way to plan ahead is to determine which data that you have is for storing, archiving, or sharing. Please see Guide on Storing & preserving data and Guide on Sharing data.
You also need to adhere to policies and guidelines on permission on use of data.
New Repository service
- Available in late 2018. It enables long-term preservation and curation of data. Please see Repository for details.