Services

Storage services for research data

There are a number of solutions available for storing your data. As the research proceeds, the needs for the storage may change and most likely the data needs to be stored in several systems or with different access rights during its lifecycle. To get the most out of your data during its lifecycle, keep it managed, documented, secured and backed up.

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Before starting to collect or produce research data, it is highly recommended that you plan your data management. If you need help with the data, ask help from Data Agents. For collecting data, check Aalto Data Hub services.

Pay special attention to data handling to prevent disclosure of confidential data. Important considerations include:

First, classify the information. How sensitive is it?
Are there legal restrictions, nondisclosure agreement, or external requirements on how to handle the data and what services to use?
Plan the handling of personal data in the beginning of your research.
Use only approved IT systems for storage, transfer and sharing of confidential data (see the basic guide to information classifications). Any new IT system in Aalto should have a security review to be done.

Below are some links to help you consider the security aspects mentioned above.

How to handle personal data in research?

Recognize whether you are processing personal data and follow these instructions to handle it correctly.

Aalto Network Drives (on-premise) are recommended for research. The storage has automatic backups and it is suitable for confidential data. The network drives are easy to use with Aalto internal data.

Use Teamwork file storage space for research projects
Use Work file storage for administrative data
Use Secwork file storage for secret data

National CSC services: Service Catalog - Services for Research - CSC Company Site

Use Allas for storing and sharing large data.
Use Fairdata IDA for storing for publishing and preserving data. IDA is not suitable for confidential data.

Computing:

Aalto high-performance computing cluster Triton
Secure operating environment SecData for sensitive data
Cloud: Azure | Aalto University or Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Aalto University
CSC environments

General Storage Principles and Related Policies

Aalto Data Storage and Retention Principles

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File storage space for research and groups (TeamWork network drive)

Researchers, research groups and projects can use the specific TeamWork file service. Features are adjusted to meet the needs of each group.

Fairdata services

The Fairdata services enable verifiable and reproducible science and secure preservation of digital research outputs.

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For daily real-time collaboration, use Microsoft Teams for best experience. Teams may be used in groups with external partners too.

Collaboration with confidential data requires paying attention to security. You can work safely with these services when extra security measures are followed:

Eduuni: access restricted to authorized people only
Teams (and other cloud storage sharing): access restricted to authorized people only
Funet FileSender: use built-in File encryption option with a strong password. Share password via secure channel (encrypting messaging app, SMS, ...).

For more details on the different storage services and data repositories for publishing data, please check the pages linked below:

Comparison sheet about Data storage, File services
What file storage to use when? guide lists recommended services for common scenarios

Data Storage, File Services

Comparison of different file services (home & work, file services, cloud, teamwork, secwork, teams, onedrive, aalto repository, fairdata ida) .

Data documentation, folder organization, and describing datasets

Data documentation, organization, and publishing and describing datasets in data repositories helps to ensure the usability and comprehensibility of your research data.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a convenient collaboration tool for all people of Aalto.

Eduuni - Teamwork environment

The Eduuni workspace includes Microsoft SharePoint workspaces for use by organisations, networks, projects and teams. Eduuni is used mostly for EU-wide, international research projects, because it enables cooperation also with parties outside of Aalto University. If the information stored is not confidential, it is advisable to use Microsoft Teams for teamwork.

Funet FileSender (external link)

Share large files

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What file storage to use when?

Recommended file storage services to use in various use cases.

Before publishing and preserving, ensure that your metadata is well documented: Data documentation, folder organization, and describing datasets | Aalto University Remember that reusability is highly affecting to the value of the data.

After preserving your data to a repository, remember to delete any unnecessary data from the data storages and collaboration tools. Transfer the needed data in shared Teamwork "archive" folder with good metadata and end-of-life information. Inform the directory owner (PI) about the data. If there is a lot of data that is not needed frequently, request data transfer to tape from the IT Service Desk.

(Note: New preservation solutions are under development. More information will follow).

For more details on the data repositories for publishing data, please check the pages linked below.