Resources for Data Storage and Security
The Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA) outlines four storage considerations:
- Volume of storage space required
- Who needs access to the data?
- Precautions needed to protect against data loss
- Are the data sensitive?
Proper data storage and security precautions are designed to prevent theft, modification, breach of confidentiality agreements or privacy legislation. Information on data storage options available to the OCAD U community is available in the Knowledgebase article, Research Data Management - Storage Options.
File Naming and Formats
Meghan Frazer in the ACRL TechConnect Blog recommends the following conventions for file naming:
- Do not use spaces or special characters (other than “-” and “_”)
- Use descriptive file names. Descriptive file names include date information and keywords regarding the content of the file, within a reasonable length
- Date information is the following format: YYYY-MM-DD
The University of Edinburgh further recommends including file extensions (often defaults) to accurately reflect the software environment in which the file was created:
- .por for SPSS portable files
- .xls or .xlsx for Excel files
- .ssd or .sas7bdat as appropriate for SAS files
- .txt for text files
Backing Up Your Data
DataONE suggest the following best practices for backing up research data:
- Create a detailed and thorough backup policy
- Review your backup policy and plan periodically to ensure it is still valid and applicable
- Minimize or remove reliance on users to perform manual backups
- Don’t assume backups are being made for you
- Use non-proprietary, standard formats
- Check your backups manually
- Have multiple versions of backups on multiple formats in multiple places
- Practice good data management to limit the amount of data rescue that needs to be done to older data
Security
Portage's Sensitive Data Tools provide valuable resources for researchers for the security of sensitive data. They include:
Additional Resources:
