Store Your Data

Digital research data are extremely sensitive. The long-term preservation of these data is a challenge for both researchers and research institutes, which must be managed in a joint agreement.

Data loss may occur at any time and may have the following causes:

• The storage media (hard disk, SSD, USB sticks, memory cards, external hard disks, cloud memory) can be damaged, lost, stolen or destroyed.
• Obsolete storage media can not be interpreted by future software environments, which means that the stored data becomes unusable. Examples which may be mentioned are floppy disks.
• Data may be intentionally or accidentally deleted, or stolen or altered.
• The access (especially cloud storage) to the data can be lost. The provider of cloud storage can stop its operation or be obligated by policy measures for data blocking. Observe the regulations of the UHH Sync & Share Policy.
• In the case researchers leave a project or the project ends, data and other research results are often not accessible or intelligible to all authorities. Typically, a sufficient record description (metadata) is missing.

• The most important step is the regular preparation of backup copies (backup) of the original files and their archiving. Never work only with one copy of your data! It is also important that the original data and the backups are kept physically in different places.
  
  If your data are already stored in a data center, you do not have to worry about this. The data center always makes backups of your data.
  
  For smaller amounts of data that are more local on your PC, you should always make a copy of the data on storage in the datacenter, or at least on USB hard disks, in addition to it regularly (for example once a week). However, when copying to a USB hard drive, make sure that you store these storage media in a different location (e.g., a colleague's office, at home).
  
  
• In the application phase of your research project you should describe the storage of your data organisationally by creating a data management plan. This includes answering the following questions:
  • What metadata is necessary to properly document and explain the data?
  • Is there a retention period?
  • What about copyright issues and data protection (for sensitive, e.g. personal data)?
  • Which data formats are suitable and are future-oriented?
  • Which character encoding should I use?
  • Where can I store my data?
• Storage space in the regional data center
  
  Secure data storage for all UHH employees! 50 GB in the personal directory!
  The central service for the data maintenance of the UHH are the network drives of the UHHDisk. UHH employees can store up to 50 GB of data in their personal directory. This data volume corresponds to a book shelf of 1000 meters in length. The data are accessible globally and also via UHHShare.
  
  Save larger amounts of data on the server-infrastructure in the UHH secure data center!
  The central service for the data maintenance of the UHH are the network drives of the UHHDisk. UHHShare extends the functionality of the UHHDisk with mobile access, synchronization and the possibility to share files with external users. All members of UHH can use these services directly via their UHH identifier.
  
  Backup: Your data is not lost!
  The data stored on the UHHDisk, the central service for the data maintenance of the UHH, are backed up every night in the Backupsystem (because of the same data, this also applies to UHHShare). Old versions and deleted files of personal directories and project directories can be recovered from this backup. It is simply enough to send a restoration request to the RRZ-ServiceLine.

• Archiving in the research data repository at the end of your project

  Secure data archiving for all UHH employees!
  The central service for data archiving at the UHH is the Research Data Repository (RDR) of the UHH. Your data is stored securely at several locations, each entry is given a unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which makes citation easier, and the system also offers versioning of the data. The RDR is intended for data that no longer changes; it is not designed for daily work on the data.