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Working with data: Data storage

Guide on working with data

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On this page you will find guidance on choosing storage for your research data, University managed research storage services, remote access to the University managed servers, securing your research data, choosing where to preserve your data at the end of your project, and links to the Digital, Data and Technology Group information on data storage. 

Choosing storage for your research data

Your research data are valuable assets to you, and potentially to the wider research community, and you have probably invested considerable time, effort and money in creating them.

To protect your data you need to consider how they are stored, backed-up and secured whilst still working on them. You should consider the following: 

  • is the storage reliable or is there a risk that the data may be lost?
  • how much storage will I need and will this vary during the project? 
  • can I access my data storage from the different places that I need to work? 
  • are my data secure and how do I ensure that they can only be accessed by authorised people? 

Using the University managed research storage services

Managed research storage is provided by the Digital, Data and Technology Group for academic staff and postgraduate students, up to 1TB if required. Those research storage options include the X and H:Drive, as well as the University's instance of the OneDrive (non-institutional cloud storage accounts should not be used for research data storage).

Principal Investigators and doctoral student supervisors can request data storage via the Digital, Data and Technology Group help page. Larger requirements for storage (above 1TB) must be costed into research grant budgets and should be discussed with the Research & Innovation Service Pre-Award team at the earliest opportunity. 

The University's research storage service is resilient, with multiple copies stored in more than one physical location and measures to protect against corruption. Backups are taken regularly and kept for three months. If you accidentally delete a file, the 'Previous Versions' feature of the storage enables you to recover files. 

Collecting data away from campus without network access

There may be situations where you are collecting data, or working on data, away from campus where you are not able to upload your data to the University managed servers via a secure network connection (https or stfp). Under these circumstances we recommend that you take the following steps to secure your data:

  • If you are collecting sensitive data (personal data, commercially, politically or socially sensitive data that would be classified as 'restricted' or 'highly restricted' under the University's Information Classification Framework) you should ensure that your laptop and back-up device are both encrypted. The Digital, Data and Technology Group can help with encryption of devices.
  • You can use synchronisation software to upload your data over secure network connections (https or sftp) providing that you use VPN to connect to the University servers.
  • Ensure that you store your laptop and back-up device, such as an external hard drive, separately.
  • When you are travelling ensure that you pack your laptop and back-up device in different luggage to protect against data loss due to lost luggage. 

Securing your research data

Data security involves ensuring that only authorised people have access to read, edit or use your data.  The University research storage service provides a certain degree of security as standard, provided that you follow the Digital, Data and Technology Group guidance on:

  • choosing a strong password and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
  • keeping your computer account secure
  • the principles of information security explained by the University's Information Security online course

You should keep all data in accordance with the University's Electronic Information Systems Security Policy and the Information Classification Framework.  

Personal and confidential data

There is detailed guidance on working with sensitive data on the 'Sensitive Data' page.

What should I do with my data at the end of my project?

The University research storage service only provides storage for active projects. Once you no longer need regular access to your data, you should evaluate whether you need to retain the data for the long-term and therefore, whether it should be archived. Researchers should be aware that any research data that is held on an individuals' University file storage area (i.e. the H and X:Drive, as well as OneDrive), runs the risk of deletion if they leave the University as their accounts will be closed following their departure.

Data that underpins a publication, or that may be of future benefit to you or other members of the research community, should be archived in an appropriate research data archive or repository. Any dataset that is deposited in a research data archive should be structured and documented appropriately, with adequate metadata attached to it. For more information, see our guide to archiving and sharing data.