Data storage

This short introductory Guide is for those interested in options for long term storage of high impact data to ensure it will be available for discovery and reuse into the future:

• Institutions looking to maximise their storage options to cater for the individual needs of researchers and disciplines
• Support staff who advise researchers on where and when to store their data
• Researchers looking for the best place to store their research data - both working data and data for publication

It covers:

• Obligations and Expectations: Why Data Storage matters
• Strengths and weaknesses of various storage options: from USBs to national storage infrastructure solutions
• Which solution is right for my data?
• Interaction between storage solutions and with metadata stores

Key messages Different storage solutions are often not mutually exclusive, but complementary. Each solution is designed to address different needs. Data storage solutions should enable a researcher's data to be made part of the scholarly record: discoverable, sustainably managed and well described in to order facilitate its reuse (where appropriate) - over the long term The best storage outcomes result from researchers planning (and budgeting for) at the beginning of a project how they will store data for future access