Storing your (Research) Data

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In the ILS Labs you can put your data in various places. These places can essentially be divided into two categories: network storage and local temporary storage.

This how-to describes the differences between these two locations, and helps you figure out where to store your data. If you want to know how you can access your data, see the how-to on Accessing your (Research) Data.

Network Storage (O-Drive)

Project folders are located on the university’s central server. You will find these folders on the O-Drive, under Research/GW/Projects.

Advantages:

• Accessible from the lab, other UU computers, and home
• All data automatically backed up
• Accessible to everyone in your research group (provided they have been explicitly added; see the project folder request form)

Typical content of these folders:

• Experiment results (raw & processed)
• Codebook
• Minutes of your research meetings
• Schedules
• Papers and project documents
• Etc.

However:

• It is not fast enough to run time-critical experiments from; use local temporary storage instead.

You can request – and be a member of (or have access to) – multiple project folders. Generally, every current project in the lab is assigned exactly one project folder.

Corpora

We’ve also hosted the Corpus Gesproken Nederlands (CGN) as a special project folder. This folder is accessible by everybody, but you cannot change any of the files in that folder.

Sharing data

The university now provides several options for exchanging data.

An (incomplete) list of options:

• A project folder, if you regulary need to share data with the same group of people
• SURF Filesender
• SURF Drive
• UU OneDrive for Business
• YODA

See also the ITS Data Storage Finder.

Local Temporary Storage

Local storage on lab computers & laptops is fast, which is important for time-sensitive experiments.

However:

• It is not backed up automatically
• It is only available on that computer
• It is regularly cleared

Important rules:

• Always run experiments from the local storage. See this how-to for the correct procedure.
• Always upload your data to the network storage before logging out or shutting down the computer.
• Don’t assume you can access your data anywhere. It’s only stored on that computer.
• You can’t share or exchange local data. If you want to share data with others, you need to use the network storage.

It’s quite possible that the options for storing or sharing your data mentioned above are simply not sufficient. There are alternative options provided by Utrecht University here:
https://www.uu.nl/en/research/research-data-management/it-solutions. The lab technicians can also help with choosing the right solution, if needed.