Data Storage and Backups
- LMCB users must transfer their data to their own folder on the LMCB network as soon as possible
- UCL or external users must transfer their data to a UCL share, DVD or a portable hard drive as soon as possible
- All removable media must be scanned for malware and disinfected before being plugged into a microscope computer. Specific portable drives dedicated to image data are strongly recommended
- Data may be temporarily saved locally on the microscope computers but it will be deleted once it has been on the hard disc for 30 days or at any time thereafter. The exact day of deletion will depend upon the maintenance schedule for that microscope
- Any data saved locally must be saved in the UserData folder, which will be on the C, D or E drive depending on the microscope
- Users must book sufficient time on the machine to copy their data after acquisition (see Data Transfer Rates below)
- Users must delete their data from the local hard discs after it has been copied
- It may be necessary to delete data and carry out maintenance out of schedule, in which case users will be alerted either via the Faces Scheduling System or the lmcb-lm-users email
This policy may be revised in future if the rate at which data is generated increases to such a level that local hard discs must be emptied more frequently than once every 30 days
Data Transfer Rates
I have transferred test data sets to the server and USB drives to estimate the amount of time required to copy data. The results are below. Bandwidth on the network or computer could change from time to time so I can't guarantee you will always get these speeds. You may even be able to achieve faster speeds.
Transfer of 103 GB via Gigabit Ethernet from the Vox to confocalstore2 on Friday 25th April took 24 minutes.
Transfer of 103 GB via USB 2.0 from Vox to an NTFS formatted portable hard disc on Friday 25th April took 61 minutes.
This PDF explains how to calculate how big your data set will be.