Working with Data
For the duration of a research project there will be an ongoing process of creating and managing data. Data management issues include:
- Safe storage and backups to prevent data loss
- Controlled access for researchers, both remote and on-site
- File organisation: filenames & folder structure to ensure data is identifiable and easily located
- Ongoing data documentation both for the current project and future users
- Storing sensitive data to comply with Data Protection or commercial concerns
- Storing non-digital data to ensure preservation and access
Resources
Several modules of the MANTRA training kit cover these topics:
- Organising data
- File formats & transformation
- Documentation, metadata, citation
- Storage and Security
Contact the Swansea University Research Data support team if you need advice or guidance on these issues.
Where should I store my research data?
Data created as a result of undertaking research activities should in the first instance be stored on your PC’s P: Drive. You can access this on a Windows PC by opening Windows Explorer. On the left of the window that appears you will see a number of drives attached to your computer. One of these will be the P: Drive, which is a network drive that is available on any desktop managed by IT services that you log into. In practice, this means that you can access the same files and folders whether you are logged into your office PC or a PC in the library. All data on the P: Drive is backed up centrally by IT Services.
However, space on the P: drive is limited (5GB) and it is not suited for storing large datasets. Such data should instead be stored in your OneDrive. OneDrive is part of the Microsoft Office 365 online environment and can be accessed by logging in to https://swanseauniversity-my.sharepoint.com. You can store up to 200GB of data in this location. Data stored in OneDrive is stored on the Microsoft Cloud infrastructure and is geographically located at data centres within the European Union.
Files in your OneDrive location can also be shared with colleagues both inside and outside the University. Please visit the following link for more information on using your OneDrive.
