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Store and Share Research Data

What you are trying to do

You want to store research data so that it can be:

  • accessed during your project
  • shared with collaborators
  • organised and maintained over time

This usually involves choosing the right storage location and deciding how others will access the data.


Key decisions

Before choosing a solution, clarify:

Who needs access?

  • only you
  • a research team at UCT
  • collaborators outside UCT

How will the data be used?

  • active analysis or computation
  • shared project datasets
  • documents and smaller files for collaboration

How large is the data?

  • small files (documents, scripts)
  • medium datasets (GB scale)
  • large datasets (100s of GB to TB)

Where does the data need to be available?

  • on your local machine
  • in shared storage
  • in a compute environment

1. Choose the appropriate storage approach

Start here:

Compare options:


2. Request or confirm access

If storage is not yet available:


3. Access shared storage

If storage has already been provisioned:


4. Share data with collaborators

If data needs to be shared:

  • use appropriate access or sharing mechanisms provided by the storage system
  • use collaboration tools where needed

(See storage service page for available approaches.)