ICT has launched a new service this month that is designed to meet the demands of today’s research community. The RDS is a new central service for storing large volumes of research data. It has a number of key features, for example:
- Ease of use: accessible as a fast network drive across the college network, and directly on the ICT computer systems.
- Cost-effective: generous standard allocations for individuals and projects, with metered rates for additional storage (see Wiki.Imperial for a comparison of storage options).
- Secure: will become an ISO-certified system for secure, GDPR-compliant data storage.
The service includes the following storage space options:
- Project Space: as a PI you may create as many separate project allocations as you need, with each project receiving 2Tb of online storage. Additional storage will be available (chargeable at the metered rates shown below).
- Individual Space: as an active user of the Research Computing Service’s HPC systems you will also receive an entitlement of 1TB for private working space. This space provides snapshots, allowing you to retrieve deleted or earlier revisions of files.
- Ephemeral Space: projects and HPC users alike have access to temporary working space. This ephemeral space can store an unrestricted amount of data for up to 30 days before it is automatically deleted.
Matt Harvey, Manager of the Research Computing Service, explained how the new service compared with other storage options. “In addition to the 2 terabyte storage for each project, there are two levels of redundancy – a standard offering that is held on a single file-system supported by multiply-redundant disk storage system and a disaster recovery option that adds a copy of the data at a geographically remote site. Completed projects will be archived if required. We are excited to be offering this new service, which we think is a significant step forward”.
Please email us and be amongst the first to know when it’s ready.
If you are already an existing HPC user, please read what you can do to be ready.
For general queries please contact Ellen Pengelly.