Research data storage services

Below is an overview of some of the data storage options that are available to store, share and publish your research data at Flinders.

* R drive is only accessible off campus by using the Flinders remote network access (VPN)
** Stage of data capture - Active is for research projects that are still gathering/processing data, Storage is for finalised data that needs to be held but not necessarily published in an open access repository, Open Data is for data that can/should be made public in an open access repository.

Note: Researchers should always review the conditions of the research project contract / funding conditions.

R Drive

The R Drive is the university’s on-premise enterprise storage solution for researchers. Managed internally by the IDS team at Flinders’ University, it provides safe and secure storage and management of research data which meets the requirements of the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.

Learn more about R Drive

Available space

Space is allocated to individual researchers on request, within a total allowance per college.
Default allocation is 50GB per researcher, but additional space can be provisioned subject to approval.

Collaboration

Internally, multiple Flinders’ staff and students can have access to the same R Drive folder for ease of collaboration. Permission can be read-only or read/write.
External collaborators can be granted a sponsored FAN to enable them to access the R Drive folder within the university’s security protections.

Storage and backup

All data is stored on Flinders’ University owned and operated hardware. Replication to a second site (geographic replication) ensures the safety and resiliency of data on the platform. There are different options available for retention of data on R Drive. While data is stored on the platform and not deleted, it will be retained indefinitely. There are three retention options for users of the R Drive;

No retention (nr): Snapshots are taken daily and retained for up to 90 days to support immediate roll back to the point in time copy, and also allow the user to restore data from a previous version. Data is not backed up to tape.
Short term retention (str): Full backups are conducted with 300 day granular file recovery. To support immediate roll back to the point in time copy, and also allow the user to restore data from a previous version, snapshots are taken daily and retained for up to 90 days. All data is backed up to tape.
Long term retention (ltr): Backups are incremental and consolidated with 60 day granular file recovery. To support immediate roll back to the point in time copy, and also allow the user to restore data from a previous version, snapshots are taken daily and retained for up to 90 days. All data is backed up to tape.

Data security

Suitable for data up to and including Restricted classification. R Drive does not provide encryption at rest for data only encryption of data in flight. Data is transmitted over secure encrypted and authenticated connections. Access to R Drive folders is controlled by Flinders’ IDS staff on request from folder admin users. Data security is governed by the university’s Information Security Policy.

Request access to R Drive

OneDrive

Microsoft OneDrive is a cloud-based document storage platform available to all staff and students, allowing you to: Store up to 1TB of data, share and collaborate securely with other staff and external users and recover earlier versions of documents. OneDrive for Business has been certified to store any University documents classified as public, internal only and restricted. Any highly confidential documents should not be stored on OneDrive for Business.

Find out more about OneDrive

Available space

Store up to 1TB of data. Once the 1TB cap is reached, there is a 24 hour outage where data cannot be accessed.

Collaboration

OneDrive allows you to easily share and collaborate securely with other staff and external users. Careful consideration needs to be taken prior to sharing data outside of the institution.

Storage and backup

OneDrive allows you to recover earlier versions of documents. Version history is stored for 12 months from the date of the last change. Version history will be kept for 12 months after the owner leaves the institution and then will no longer be available. If data becomes corrupted or lost, it can be recovered by request but the folders and structure will be lost.

Data security

OneDrive for Business has been certified to store any University documents classified as public, internal only and restricted. Any highly confidential documents should not be stored on OneDrive for Business.

Request access to OneDrive

ROADS

ROADS is a dedicated space for making Flinders research data open using the Figshare online platform.

Open data is the process of making raw data files gathered during the course of research openly accessible online. Grant funding bodies and publishers are increasingly requesting researchers to make data associated with research outputs publicly available. Uploading your material to ROADS can increase exposure to research data by making it findable and citable with a permanent link (DOI).

Find out more about ROADS

More information about ROADS can be found on the Library site.

Learn more about ROADS

Request access to ROADS

Request access

Request access to the above data storage options via the Service One requests below.

Frequently asked questions

Where should I store my research data?

Research data should always be stored in line with any funding/contractual obligations. You should also consider the safety and retention of your data when choosing a storage solution. R drive is the recommended platform for research data storage at Flinders as it is protected from external threat, duplicated to an off-campus location, and is rated to store data rated up to highly confidential.

How do I determine the classification of my research data?

If not already determined by funder or contractual conditions, the Information Classification Handling Procedure document will step you through classifying your research data.
There is also a helpful webpage about information classifications.

Is your data defence related?

For advice on defence data storage, contact the security team at: disp@flinders.edu.au

What are Data Management Plans and when should I complete one?

A Data Management Plan (DMP) typically outlines what research data will be created during the course of a research project and how it will be created, plans for sharing and preserving the data and any restrictions that may need to be applied. Funder conditions or ethics approval may require you to have a DMP but it is good practice to complete one even if this is not the case. Completing a DMP and storing this with your data helps the university know how to manage your data into the future and helps to ensure all of the elements of research data FAIR principles are present –
Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability.

What happens to my data if I leave Flinders?

Data that is stored on the R Drive will be retained indefinitely unless deleted by the owner or approved for deletion by an appropriate university representative (typically Dean of Research). Before leaving Flinders, we recommend that you assign a new owner for any data that you plan to leave at Flinders. Data that is stored on the Microsoft platform will be available for 12 months after the owner leaves Flinders. Cloudstor is due to be decommissioned at the end of 2023, data stored in Cloudstor will be available until this time but will not be able to be accessed after you leave Flinders. Data can be transferred to another institution via request to the AARNet support team.

Can I purchase my own data storage solution?

If the storage offered by the university is not suitable and you have funding to purchase data storage, please contact IDS prior to purchasing so that we can ensure the solution meets the security, network and funder requirements and that there is a plan for the data beyond the life of the purchased storage platform.

How can students access R Drive?

Access to R Drive is for research use only and so is generally limited to research staff and higher degree by research (HDR) students. For HDR students wanting access to storage on R Drive, log a request in ServiceOne and attach your supervisor’s approval.