{"id":57,"date":"2014-05-29T19:45:20","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T19:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraries-dev.mit.edu\/data-management\/?page_id=57"},"modified":"2025-11-04T17:03:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T17:03:40","slug":"backups","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/store\/backups\/","title":{"rendered":"Data storage, backups, &amp; security"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Storage options<\/h2>\n<p>For storage and processing of your data during the active phase of research, there are several options available from the <a href=\"https:\/\/orcd.mit.edu\/resources\">Office of Research Compute and Data<\/a>. In addition, here are some others:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>IS&amp;T offers <a href=\"http:\/\/ist.mit.edu\/lockers\">Athena lockers<\/a>, which provide storage for DLCs and research labs as well as courses and UROP projects; there are storage quotas.<\/li>\n<li>IS&amp;T also offers <a href=\"https:\/\/ist.mit.edu\/google\/workspace\">Google drive<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ist.mit.edu\/dropbox\/business\">Dropbox<\/a> accounts with 500 GB storage capacity to all MIT students, faculty and staff, and 100 GB to affiliates.<\/li>\n<li>For groups that need to run their own servers, IS&amp;T maintains <a href=\"http:\/\/ist.mit.edu\/managed-servers\">managed servers<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/ist.mit.edu\/colocation?category=15\">server co-location<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>High-performance computing resources include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/researchcomputing.mit.edu\/facilities\/mghpcc\">Massachusetts Green High-Performance Computing Center<\/a> (MGHPCC) provides high-performance processing to MIT researchers.<\/li>\n<li>For more, contact the <a href=\"https:\/\/orcd.mit.edu\/resources\">Office of Research Compute and Data<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Need help determining the right storage option for your group? IS&amp;T&#8217;s Community Partnerships team and the Libraries&#8217; Data Management Services can help! Contact <a href=\"mailto:data-management@mit.edu\">Data Management Services<\/a> to get started.<\/p>\n<h2>Back up your data<\/h2>\n<h4>The rule(s) of three:<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Hear, near, far: Make 3 copies (e.g. original + external\/local + external\/remote)<\/li>\n<li>3-2-1: 3 copies on at least 2 different media types, 1 copy should be geographically distributed (local vs. remote)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Government data<\/h4>\n<p>Governments collect, aggregate, and disseminate a large volume of information and data. This content is used by researchers, policymakers, and many others for various purposes. Data can potentially disappear because of government shutdowns, broken links, and policy shifts. See our checklist for steps you can take to ensure the government data you use in your research remains accessible to you and others.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/store\/backups\/checklist-usa\/\">United States (US) federal government<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4>Documentation<\/h4>\n<p>If you are backing data up to reuse it (secondary data) make sure to capture sufficient documentation so you can understand, effectively reuse, and give appropriate credit. Here&#8217;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dropbox.com\/scl\/fi\/ij4u7v26s01932pfcd7hr\/Template_SECONDARY_DATASET_Readme.txt?rlkey=cmz5u7e2evdb4nytlsmrrllaq&amp;dl=0\">readME template for secondary data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Data backup options<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Personal computer hard drives, external hard drives, departmental or university servers<\/li>\n<li>CDs or DVDs aren&#8217;t recommended, because they fail frequently<\/li>\n<li>MIT\u2019s IS&amp;T has free <a href=\"http:\/\/ist.mit.edu\/backup\"><span class=\"s1\">computer backup<\/span><\/a> services<\/li>\n<li>Cloud storage: <a href=\"http:\/\/kb.mit.edu\/confluence\/x\/aAOACQ\">several commercial options are available<\/a>; each have different requirements, encryption, and storage fees<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Security<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Consult <a href=\"https:\/\/infoprotect.mit.edu\/\">MIT&#8217;s InfoProtect program<\/a> to assess risks and identify requirements for your materials.<\/li>\n<li>Need to transfer data or other electronic materials securely? Consider <a href=\"https:\/\/orcd-docs.mit.edu\/filesystems-file-transfer\/transferring-files\/#globus\">Globus@MIT<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Export control: Prevent the transfer of potentially dangerous technology, tangible items, and software to entities who would use it to undermine the security of the United States and its allies. See <a href=\"https:\/\/research.mit.edu\/security-integrity-and-compliance\/export-control\">MIT\u2019s guide and resources on export control<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Research security: Researchers should be aware of specific concerns regarding\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/research.mit.edu\/security-integrity-and-compliance\/foreign-engagement\/regulations-and-references\/undue-foreign\">undue foreign influence<\/a> in research. See <a href=\"https:\/\/research.mit.edu\/security-integrity-and-compliance\/research-security-and-foreign-engagement\">MIT\u2019s guide, resources and required (for PIs) training on research security<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Other considerations\n<ul>\n<li>See our page on <a href=\"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/share\/confidentiality\/\">Confidentiality &amp; Intellectual property<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Unencrypted security is ideal for storing your data so that you and others can easily read it, but if encryption is required because of sensitive data:\n<ul>\n<li>Keep passwords and keys on paper (2 copies) and in a PGP (pretty good privacy) encrypted digital file.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t rely on 3rd party encryption alone.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Uncompressed is also ideal for storage, but if you need to do so to conserve space limit compression to your 3rd backup copy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To make sure your backup system is working properly, test your system periodically. Try to retrieve data files and make sure you can read them.<\/p>\n<h2>Need more help?<\/h2>\n<p>The UK Data Archive provides <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukdataservice.ac.uk\/manage-data\/store.aspx\">additional guidelines on data storage, backup, and security<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Storage options For storage and processing of your data during the active phase of research, there are several options available from the Office of Research Compute and Data. In addition, here are some others: IS&amp;T offers Athena lockers, which provide storage for DLCs and research labs as well as courses and UROP projects; there are storage quotas. IS&amp;T also offers Google drive and Dropbox accounts with 500 GB storage capacity to all MIT students, faculty and staff, and 100 GB to affiliates. For groups that need to run their own servers, IS&amp;T maintains managed servers\u00a0and server co-location. High-performance computing resources [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"templates\/page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-57","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1036,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57\/revisions\/1036"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraries.mit.edu\/data-management\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}