Data Archive
Long-term storage of research data
Advantages
Safe
Long-term
Easy access to computing services
Do you have a question about the Data Archive? Get in touch.
Servicedesk Data & Computing Services
Data from the LOFAR telescope is sent via fibre-optic cables to Amsterdam and stored at SURF.
Long-term data storage
Our Data Archive stores your data for a longer period of time. It is not a backup system, but intended for storing data you are not actively using. For example, you can 'freeze' data belonging to an article, or store raw data that should remain available for future research.
Access
You transfer your data to the Data Archive via the internet. The Data Archive supports multiple protocols for data transfer, such as (HPN)SCP, SFTP, rsync and GridFTP. These protocols work in both Linux and Windows. You log in to the data archive via Secure Shell (SSH) and manage your data via the command-line.
Data management
For each project, you can specify how long the data should be kept and who has access to it. This makes it possible for research groups or consortiums to access the data. In principle, we use the B2SAFE guidelines for data management. In special cases, it is possible to deviate from these. We can then tailor a data policy using the iRODS data management system used by B2SAFE.
Data security
You can be confident that the research data and confidential information you store and process at SURF are in safe hands. This service has the ISO 27001 certificate. This means that we meet the high requirements of this international standard of information security.
Confidentiality
Do you have an account with SURF? All our accounts are personal and only accessible to you. You are responsible for managing your account and the data you store in it. Administrators have access rights to the stored data but only use them when necessary for management purposes. They have a duty of confidentiality and handle information and privacy with integrity in accordance with SURF's internal IT management rules and ISO 27001. SURF's data processor role can optionally be set out in a Service Level Agreement (SLA) or Digital Privacy Agreement (DPA).
Encrypting
Data are transferred encrypted using the SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). We advise you to encrypt privacy-sensitive and personal data before sending so that the data is stored encrypted at SURF. This ensures that your data is also unreadable and uninterpretable by the administrators. You are responsible for encrypting and managing the encryption key. SURF cannot decrypt data once it has been encrypted!
We advise you to contact your institution's privacy officer or data protection officer in advance for information on data protection requirements.
More practical examples
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For years, the well-known radio telescopes in Dwingeloo and Westerbork allowed us to conduct research on the Milky Way and outer reaches of the universe
Case study -
The marine ecology research institute IMARES maps fish stocks in the North Sea using acoustic signals. The data is stored in the SURF Data Archive.
Case study -
In the Netherlands, Nikhef and SURF together form a Tier-1 site, which means that they receive data from the Large Hadron Collider.
Case study
Other storage solutions
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Object Store
ProductObject Store is an online storage service for storing large amounts of research data. This service is ideal for storing different types of data. Your storage space can grow indefinitely, while keeping your data quickly and easily accessible.
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Research Drive
ProductDoes your research team need a lot of storage capacity for research data? Are you working with other institutions, industry or international partners? Research Drive allows you to store and share your research data in an online environment, and synchronise with various devices.
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SURF Data Repository
ProductHave you completed your research and do you want to make the research data available to others? SURF Data Repository offers reliable and long-term storage of large datasets (>1TB) on tape.
Product
