Storing and backing up your research data

You’ve spent time and effort creating your data. Keep it safe so you can use it in the future and publish or share it if you choose.

Storing your data safely

Choosing the right storage options makes your work easier and protects your data. You should only store what you need, and have a back-up plan to mitigate against potential risks of data loss.

UIS provide guidance on the storage options available to researchers at Cambridge. The storage you choose needs to be suitable for the security risk level of your data. 

Data Security Classifications   

The University of Cambridge defines 4 security levels for classifying data. These centre around the potential impact a data breach would have. The data owner decides the data security classification.

UIS provides guidance on How to classify and store your data or, you can complete an Information Security Risk Assessment (ISRA).  

Portable storage

Portable storage such as USB sticks or external drives can be convenient. But they also have risks. Portable storage can be lost or damaged and is not backed up by the University.

You should only use portable storage for:

  • temporary file transfers
  • secondary or backup copies
  • data you can afford to lose

Portable storage should only be used where appropriate for the data security risk level. 

Backing up your data

Data loss can be catastrophic if you are unprepared. You can protect yourself with good backup habits.

Best practice

  • Keep two or three backup copies.
  • Store copies in different physical locations.
  • Use different brands or types of storage to protect against failures with one of them.

You could follow the 3-2-1 Rule: make 3 copies of your data, use 2 different storage media, and keep 1 copy at an external location. 

Backup options

Backup storage locations should also be appropriate for the data security risk level. 

Backup frequency

This will vary depending on your data and where you store it. For example:

  • Are your backups automatic or manual?
  • If manual, how much data do you produce as this will affect how frequent your backups should be e.g. hourly, daily, weekly...etc. 
  • Check if your department network backs up your data automatically. Ask how frequently files are backed up, where they are located and how long backups are stored for.