Another critical aspect of Data Management is consideration of which datasets are the most valuable and what protections need to be in place for them. Discussed in this section of the workshop, are the different stages data could be in, what to consider before choosing a storage option, a comparison of the storage offerings from ARCC, and long-term planning for the data.
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Storage Type | Advantages | Disadvantages |
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External Storage i.e., portable hard-drive or Laptop | Fully user controlled, can be encrypted, portable, and not accessible by others without physical access | Easily lost, vulnerable to damage, no extra copy, only as safe as the circumstances |
Cloud backed service i.e., Google Drive or Dropbox | User friendly, accessible from anywhere, interactive use of native files, shareable, sync-able | Possibly costly and subject to unexpected terms of service changes, potentially unauthorized access |
Cloud storage services i.e., AWS, GCP, or Azure | Robust, scaleable storage with customizable access and interoperability within the cloud environment | Potentially costly egress fees, terms of service changes |
Institutional Research storage service i.e., ARCC Data Portal | Free up to default limits, support for UWyo researchers, included backups and snapshots | Requires a UWyo based PI, does not include an offsite back up, non-compliant data only |
Institutional HPC Storage i.e., ARCC MedicineBow | Access to compute power, specialized directories for performance and collaboration, snapshots | Linux only permissions, not backed up, non-compliant data only |
Specialized Institutional storage i.e., ARCC Pathfinder | Cloud-like backend and functionality with S3 protcol for sharing | Not backed up, requires specialized software clients to interact with, non-compliant data only |
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Considering Other Requirements
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How to Decide
Next Steps
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Link to Previous sub-module or Home Module
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Before determining a storage solution for a research project, researchers should take a moment and consider all requirements they may have and what sort of compromises they can live with. Here are a few additional questions to consider prior to making a choice:
How frequently will I need access to my data and how do I want to access?
Will I have collaborators that need access?
Do I require backups?
Will I need to compute on these data?
Are there any federal compliance requirements such as HIPAA or NIST 800-171?
Is this production-like data that need to have a systems with near 100% uptime?
Do I require proprietary software to access the data?
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How to Decide
It may seem like a daunting task to choose where to put research data, but the reality is that data can be transferred to different systems when needed. There will always be nuances to migrating data from one platform to another as well as potential costs. If you are unsure, you can always request for a consultation on what ARCC can provide to get clarification on if that will meet your research needs or not.
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Next Steps
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