Storage and backup of research data is an essential component of data management to avoid loss or corruption of data through out the research. The Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research outlines the responsibilities of institutions and researchers for the management of Data and Information in Research. For example, researchers must:
When determining data storage, you should consider questions such as:
Other storage options include:
It is worth reiterating here how critical it is to have a backup strategy. This will allow you to recover data after loss and/or to recover data from a particular time. Backups of more than one copy should be performed regularly, and they should be housed remotely from the main data storage. The backups should be labelled and well organised to facilitate any data restoration process.
Charles Darwin University's Research WebPortal serves as an institutional repository for the long term preservation, management and appropriate sharing of research outputs, including medium to small sized datasets (no more than 2GB). Researchers can upload descriptions of their data and related data files through the Self Submission Portal. Data files can be assigned an embargo period or made available only by mediated access in cases where open access is not appropriate. These metadata records and attached files are stored in the CDU Research Webportal DATASETS collection.
Charles Darwin University provides personal file storage spaces on the network such as:
OneDrive for Business is your own private and secure storage area to store your files and documents in the cloud for Staff and Students. The quota for everyone at CDU is 5TB of data.
AARNET's CloudStore service, a free storage for University staff and researchers and available through CDU portal.
CDU SharePoint, you can also contact ITMS to setup trusted cloud storage DR/ Backup/ Versioned.
It is strongly recommended that for University related data storage, CDU supplied data storage services and servers are used. The CDU Information Security Policy strongly advises users save work to network drives and discourages the use of email facilities for permanent storage. Talk to your Supervisor or College Dean about specific research storage requirements.