How will the data be stored and backed up during the research?

Questions to consider:

• Do you have sufficient storage, or will you need to include charges for additional services?
• How will the data be backed up?
• Who will be responsible for backup and recovery?
• How will the data be recovered in the event of an incident?

Guidance:

State how often the data will be backed up and to which locations. How many copies are being made? Storing data on laptops, computer hard drives or external storage devices alone is very risky. The use of robust, managed storage provided by university IT teams is preferable. Similarly, it is normally better to use automatic backup services provided by IT Services than rely on manual processes. If you choose to use a third-party service, you.

See UK Data Service Guidance on data storage.

SAMPLE 1:

I will be using a networked storage drive XXX, which is a storage for active data for all research staff and students. It is fully backed-up, secure, resilient, and has multi-site storage. It is accessible via VPN (Virtual Private Network) from outside the University.  

SAMPLE 2:

The data will be stored locally on a secure password-protected data server. One set of hard drives and one set of tapes will be stored in XXX building. A second set of hard drives and a second set of tapes will be stored at a XXX building. 

SAMPLE 3:

The data (on staff computers and the web server) will be managed according to the standard practices of the college’s IT department and will be password protected. Any restricted, non-public data will be stored on XXX ( Restricted Access Data Center). 

Backup & Versioning Control

SAMPLE 1:

A complete copy of materials will be generated and stored independently on primary and backup sources for both the PI and Co-PI (as data are generated) and with all members of the Expert Panel every 6 months. The project team will be adopting the Version Control guidelines provided by National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research to organise and ensure different versions of the data are identifiable and properly controlled and use.

SAMPLE 2:

We will adopt and use the version control standards recommended by University of Leicester for the transcripts of the interviews and coding in terms of changes the research team has made to the files.

SAMPLE 3:

We will be using Mercurial, a free, distributed source control management tool to manage the data, so that the data would easily be identifiable and properly controlled and used.

SAMPLE 4:

All data will be backed up manually on monthly basis by researcher xxx on a computer hard drive kept at the research team office. The computer will be password protected and only team members will be given the password and right to access the computer. Incremental back-ups will be performed nightly and full back-ups will be performed monthly. Versions of the file that have been revised due to errors/updates will be retained in an archive system. A revision history document will describe the revisions made.

SAMPLE 5:

In our data storage and backup, we follow the 3-2-1 rule. In our laboratory, we have two copies of data: one on an instrument computer and one on a central storage server. Data on the central storage server is backed up automatically daily to a backup server located at a completely different building. Furthermore, all work computers are automatically backed up on a daily basis to the backup server.

For data backup and recovery, the senior research staff is responsible. Each member of a senior research staff member has his/her area of responsibility concerning experimental equipment that includes data management.