Comparing RDS to other storage options
Use the below table to compare RDS against of College storage options.
| OneDrive for Business | Box | H Drive | Group spaces | Data Respository | RDS individual space | RDS project space | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recommended use | Individual use. Active document and small data file sharing | Group based collaboration documents | Legacy | Storage of small volumes of research and business data; data that must stay within College | Archive of output data for publication | Active workspace for users of the College HPC system |
Storage of high volumes of active and cool research data; Data to be processed on HPC systems; Long term archive of cold data |
| Standard allowance | 5TB for staff and students | data transfer limited to 1TB/mo. | 8GB | None | Unlimited | 1TB for HPC users | 2TB/research grant |
| Extra storage | Not available | Not applicable | No | Purchaseable in 100GB/3yr increments | Not applicable | No (unlimited ephemeral storage) |
Unlimited, metered storage (unlimited ephemeral storage) |
| Data sharing | Selectively, by file folder | Selectively: Co-owner, collaborator or read-only access | None | Full Windows access control lists | Publically via DOI, with optional embargo password |
POSIX file permissions. Sharing within individual's research group |
POSIX file permissions. Single access control list per allocation |
| Sharing outside of IC members | Individuals with a Microsoft account | yes, can share to selected individuals or create public links | No | No | Yes | No | yes with Globus. |
| Access | Web, Windows, Mac | Web, Windows, Mac |
Windows, Mac | Linux, Windows, Mac (CIFS) | Web | RCS HPC systems, Linux, Windows 10, Mac (CIFS) |
RDS HPC systems, Linux, Windows 10, Mac (CIFS) |
| Accessible outside College network | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | yes with Globus. | yes with Globus. |
| Data locality | EU | US | Imperial | Imperial | EU | Imperial + copies within the EU | Imperial + copies within EU |
| Reliability | Cloud service | Cloud service | Backed up for DR | Snaspshots backed up for DR | Cloud service | Snapshots, second copy at second site | Snapshots, second copy at second site |
| Allocation llifetime | Owning individual's College account | Data is retained indefinitely but only accessible to the staff member with an active College account. | Owning individual's College account | 3yrs, renewable | Indefinite | Owning individual's College account | Indefinite, subject to funding |
| Last updated: January 2019 | |||||||