Overview
Data storage and preservation are integral to CRC1261’s commitment to data integrity and reproducibility.
Data Handling Guidelines
The PIs of the projects are accountable for data storage and backup.
Research data, encompassing experimental, fabrication, and simulation data, is initially stored on individual project members’ laptops/desktop PCs and collaborative storage devices within contributing working groups/institutes and on backup shares located at the Kiel University Computing Centre.
The data is organised into type-dependent folder structures, with each directory containing an INFO or README file (
.txtor.md) documenting the data generation process and describing the directory hierarchy. Please follow the suggestions for a good README.Non-sensitive experimental data is managed in eLabFTW.
Sensitive and personal medical data will be pseudonymously stored in REDCap electronic data capture system at the Department of Neurology (established and EU GDPR compliant database for clinical research).
Code sharing and collaborative development takes place in the GitLab group in the central code repository and collaboration platform GitLab RZ CAU.
For more information, have a closer look at the Data Management Plan.
Storage
The computing centre provides various services for storage.
Service |
Usage Status |
Quota (default) |
Backup (by Computing Centre) |
|---|---|---|---|
User-specific |
50GB1 |
Daily (Incremental backups for the last 60 days) |
|
Legacy |
Unlimited |
Daily (Incremental backups for the last 60 days) |
|
Active |
Unlimited |
Daily (Incremental backups for the last 60 days) |
|
Active |
20 GB per user2 |
Ideally, the users can regulate this in self-service. The recycle bin is used for this purpose, which, by the way, is not counted towards the quota.3 |
|
Active |
20GB per repository |
Daily (Incremental backups for the last 60 days) |
|
Deprecated |
- |
- |
Backup
To ensure data security, backups should run daily through rsync-based (DeltaCopy on Microsoft Windows Systems) scripts using an encrypted connection, executed on weekdays.
Software and code managed in Gitlab RZ CAU do not need to be backed up separately.
Note
The PIs of the projects are accountable for data storage and backup. Daily backups are mandatory, with files being synchronized to either the home or project network drives using a secure, encrypted connection.
Example:
# Mount the network drive to the local directory
sudo mount -t cifs //my_network_path /mnt/my_home_drive -o uid=1000,gid=1000,rw,user,username=suabc123,domain=uni-kiel.de
# Use rsync to backup data from a source directory to the mounted network drive
rsync -av --delete /path/to/source/directory /mnt/my_home_drive/backup/
# Explanation of rsync options used:
# -a: Archive mode (preserves permissions, ownership, timestamps, etc.)
# -v: Verbose mode (provides detailed output)
# --delete: Deletes any files in the backup directory that are not present in the source directory
# Unmount the network drive after backup is completed
sudo umount /mnt/my_home_drive
- 1
Upon informal request to hotline@rz.uni-kiel.de, more storage space is provided within reasonable limits.
- 2
Upon informal request to cloud@rz.uni-kiel.de, more storage space is provided within reasonable limits.
- 3
The data centre guarantees the restoration of the data for 7 days regardless of the quota and up to 30 days if the recycle bin still fits into the quota. In addition, the data centre provides daily incremental backups of the last 60 days from which files can be replicated.