Preserving your data for the long term
Preservation means keeping your data FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable into the future. Risks to digital data over time can include:
- software changes making files unreadable
- damaged or degraded storage media
- missing documentation (metadata)
How to preserve your data
You should always:
- document your data clearly
- copy data to new storage regularly
- keep multiple copies on different media
- use widely compatible file formats
- share your data through trusted repositories
- plan for preservation early, ideally in your Data Management Plan
Choosing what to keep
It can be tempting to keep every piece of data you create, but this costs time and money. It also makes it harder to find the truly important information.
Consider that anything you keep may be subject to a Freedom of Information request so you may be required to disclose data if requested.
You should ask yourself:
- Am I required to keep this (for funders, University, legal reasons)?
- Is this a vital record for the project or organisation?
- Do I have the legal right to keep and share it?
- Is it documented with appropriate metadata?
- Can I afford to store it long term?
Once you’ve reviewed your files and answered these questions, you should:
- check whether data protection legislation applies
- prepare clear documentation for each file
- find out how to deposit your data in a trusted repository
Some funders ask you to keep all data, even if you don’t share it publicly. In this case, you should ask your department about archiving options.