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Data Attic

DATA ATTIC

A Data Attic is a place to store data that you do not need to regularly access or analyze.

A Data Attic is one of the services available to add to your Research Project in Research Toolkits. It is a place to store data that you do not need to regularly access or analyze. A Data Attic is S3 Object storage on Ceph, and data can be moved into and out of an attic via Globus.

To learn more about how to use a Data Attic in your Research Toolkits project, please checkout our Data Attic Tutorial

Duke Data Attic Trial

Duke Data Attic is being offered as an incremental trial during Spring Semester 2025. Currently, it is only available upon request. If you are a faculty member and are interested in participating, please contact oitresearchsupport@duke.edu.

By participating in the trial, users understand that they will be required to provide feedback (both formally and informally) on the service and associated support.

Please note:

  • Faculty receive 2TB of storage at no cost; after the pilot, we will introduce a payment structure for additional storage, but the 2TB will remain at no cost.
  • Data attics created during the pilot will not be deleted when the pilot ends.
  • Data stored in attics is not backed up. The service is deployed on highly resilient data center storage, but it is not protected from accidental deletion from a user. During the trial it is recommended that you have a copy of the data in another location or can recreate it.
  • Sensitive data (including regulated data) is not permitted in Duke Data Attic, and usage must comply with IRB protocol and/or data management plans. Clinical researchers should consult with the Data Front Door if they have questions about allowability.
  • Duke Data Attics default to a 6 year automatic retention period that may be adjusted by the data steward (project admin or PI). At the end of the data retention period, the Duke Data Attic is deleted automatically.
  • When you leave Duke, the Duke Data Attic will persist until the retention period is reached.
  • By data steward request to research computing, attics may be transferred to another user.