At IU, what options do I have for storing files?

Important: Indiana University students, faculty, and staff have a variety of choices available to them for storing files. Some of these choices are suitable for use with sensitive institutional data, and some are not. Before choosing a storage solution, see the Important information about storing sensitive institutional data and Determining which storage system is appropriate for your data (below).

• Quick guide to storage options
• Removable storage media
• Online storage
• Research systems
• Temporary storage
• Electronic Document Storage (EDM)
• Important information about storing sensitive institutional data
• Determining which storage solution is appropriate for your data

Quick guide to storage options

Important: The information in this section is intended primarily for IU students, faculty, and staff who are not seeking to store sensitive institutional data. If you need to store sensitive institutional data, see Important information about storing sensitive institutional data at IU and Determining which storage solution is appropriate for your data (below).

Your campus may have additional or alternative options. For details, contact your campus Support Center.

Note: For a complete comparison of UITS dedicated file storage services and services with storage components, including information about default allotments, maximum file sizes, back ups, and costs, see At IU, which dedicated file storage services and IT services with storage components are appropriate for sensitive institutional data, including ePHI research data?

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Removable storage media

A portable USB drive (thumb or flash drive) is an excellent option for storing and transporting your files. Flash drives are useful for word processing files (e.g., papers, assignments, and notes), PowerPoint presentations, and other files you need to access and work on from multiple computers.

For more permanent storage, consider burning a CD-R or DVD. Both are useful for completed projects or backing up copies of important files.

Although removable storage media are convenient and useful, your access to the data stored on them is subject to the availability of the appropriate drives. A portable USB drive, which requires only a USB port, is most likely the most commonly supported removable storage option.

Note: Removable storage media can be easily misplaced, damaged, or magnetized, causing you to lose data. You should always have back-up copies of important files saved in different locations. For important files, you should have one copy on your computer for convenience and easy access, one on removable media for quick recovery, and one on a server that is regularly backed up (e.g., Oncourse).

Important: At IU, never store sensitive institutional data on USB flash drives or other removable storage media unless the information is properly encrypted and your senior executive officer or the IU Institutional Review Board (IRB) has given prior written approval.

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Online storage

Storing your files on a secure, regularly backed-up online (or "cloud") service minimizes your risk of losing data, and lets you access your files from any computer or mobile device connected to the Internet.

Online storage services at IU include:

• Box: With an IU Box account, you get 100 GB of simple, secure online storage. You can use your Box account to securely share files with anyone who has an email address. For more, see About Box at IU and How does Box compare to other enterprise and commercial storage solutions?

  Important: Box at Indiana University is a flexible storage service and collaboration tool that is appropriate for use with institutional data classified as Public, University-internal, or Restricted, as well as with personal files. Box is not appropriate for storing or sharing any sensitive institutional data elements classified as Critical, including electronic protected health information (ePHI) regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). For more, see What types of data are appropriate for my enterprise Box account?

• Oncourse: Instructors and project site owners can use the Resources tool to share files with members of their sites and the public.

  The quota for a course, project, or portfolio site is 4 GB; the quota for My Workspace is 4 GB. You can only upload 200 MB at a time, unless you use WebDAV. To request a larger quota for your site, see What are the default disk quotas for UITS accounts, and how do I request an increase? To check your site quota and usage, in the Resources tool, click Check Quota.

  Oncourse Resources is appropriate for use with personal files and institutional data classified as Public, University-internal, or Restricted. For more, see File storage in Oncourse.

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Research systems

Access to research computing and storage systems is available to graduate students, faculty, and staff on all IU campuses. Undergraduates and non-IU collaborators must have IU faculty sponsors. For details, see the "Research system accounts (all campuses)" section of What computing accounts are available at IU, and for whom?

Storing ePHI research data

UITS Research Technologies supercomputers (Big Red II, Karst, Mason, and the Research Database Complex), long-term storage systems (the Research File System and Scholarly Data Archive), and the high-speed, high-throughput Data Capacitor II file system are considered HIPAA-aligned and are appropriate for storing ePHI research data. Although these systems are secure enough for storing ePHI research data, using them does not fulfill your responsibility for protecting the privacy and security of ePHI data, as required by federal and state laws and university policies. If your research involves HIPAA-regulated ePHI data, make sure you understand your responsibilities; see What are my responsibilities when using UITS systems for work with electronic protected health information?

Storing batch job output and other data that are not considered sensitive institutional data

Home directories on IU's research supercomputers allow you to store 100 GB of data. The 100 GB of disk storage is shared among the systems on which you have accounts.

If you need more than 100 GB of permanent storage for your research, consider applying for an account on one of IU's advanced, reliable distributed storage services. The Research File System (RFS) and the Scholarly Data Archive (SDA) provide large storage allotments for storing research data over long periods of time.

For more, see:

• At IU, how much disk space is available to me on the research computing systems?
• At IU, how much space is available to me on the RFS or SDA?

Local and shared scratch space on the research systems

Important: Even temporary storage of HIPAA-regulated ePHI research data requires compliance with federal and state laws and university policies; see What are my responsibilities when using UITS systems for work with electronic protected health information?

Temporary storage for research data is available in the form of local scratch disk space on Big Red II, Karst, Mason, and the Research Database Complex. Data Capacitor II, IU's high-speed, high-throughput, Lustre-based file system, is mounted on those systems as well, providing shared, temporary scratch space for storing application input and output files.

UITS does not maintain any backups for local or shared scratch directories, so you will not be able to retrieve your files if they are deleted.

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Temporary storage

Graduate students, faculty, and staff can use the Slashtmp service to temporarily store and share large files via a web interface.

Important: When using Slashtmp to store data subject to HIPAA regulations, or other information classified as critical at IU (e.g., Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or bank account numbers), you must choose the "Critical" version from the Slashtmp home page before proceeding with your upload.

Scratch disk space for temporary storage of data is available locally on Big Red II, Karst, Mason, and the Research Data Complex. Additionally, Data Capacitor II is mounted to each system, providing shared scratch space for running programs and temporary storage of program output. UITS does not maintain any backups for scratch directories, so you will not be able to retrieve your files if they are deleted.

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Electronic Document Management (EDM)

At IU, Electronic Document Management (EDM) is defined as the strategies, methods, and tools used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents related to the university's organizational processes.

IU currently employs Hyland OnBase and SharePoint with KnowledgeLake as enterprise EDM solutions:

• OnBase: At IU, OnBase is the official records repository for all institutional data. Numerous IU departments use OnBase for scanning, storing, and retrieving paper documents, and for importing, storing, and retrieving electronic files. OnBase also supports workflow management, allowing users to rout documents to queues designed to meet individual departmental needs.

  IU's university-wide enterprise license makes OnBase software available at no cost to all IU departments, schools, and campuses. (Costs related to scanners, consulting, and other service components not covered by the license agreement may apply.) For more, see OnBase Support.

  Note: OnBase is appropriate for storing sensitive institutional data classified as Critical, but is not appropriate for storing HIPAA-regulated ePHI research data.

• SharePoint/KnowledgeLake: At IU, SharePoint with KnowledgeLake is a complementary edge EDM solution for non-institutional documents. It offers a fully distributed and independent management model, and supports interactive collaboration on documents.

  IU's production SharePoint/KnowledgeLake environment is licensed for use only by UITS, the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology (OVPIT) and its supported partners, and the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences (COAS).

  Note: Once a document set becomes an institutional record, a migration path to the OnBase repository is required.

  For more about SharePoint and KnowledgeLake at IU, see:

  • What is KnowledgeLake, and where is it being implemented at IU?
  • What is the UITS SharePoint service?
  • How can I get help using the UITS Electronic Document Storage (EDS) service?

Note: Electronic documents related to the scholarly record (kba docid="aujq" text="IUScholarWorks">) are outside the scope of IU's EDM strategies.

For more about EDM at IU, see About IU Electronic Document Management strategies.

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Important information about storing sensitive institutional data

In accordance with IU policy, the Committee of Data Stewards and the University Information Policy Office (UIPO) have defined official classification levels for institutional data; for details, see Classifications of Institutional Data. They also established official standards for managing institutional data, which apply to all all users and administrators of IU information technology resources, and include rules for managing access, maintaining data integrity and security, manipulating and extracting data for reports, and choosing appropriate locations and methods for storing various institutional data elements.

If you work with institutional data at IU, you are responsible for meeting these official data management standards to prevent the inappropriate disclosure of personal or confidential information. Especially stringent standards apply when your work involves sensitive institutional data (i.e., institutional data elements classified Restricted or Critical). For details, see Standards for Management of Institutional Data.

When working with sensitive institutional data at IU, always follow best practices, such as:

• Never store sensitive institutional data on your desktop workstation, laptop, USB flash drive, tablet, smartphone, or other mobile device unless the information is properly encrypted on the device, and your senior executive officer or the IU Institutional Review Board (IRB) has given prior written approval.
• Never store sensitive institutional data on an email or online storage solution that is not part of the IU information technology environment.
• Know what to do if a suspected sensitive data exposure occurs; see:
  • Reporting Suspected Sensitive Data Exposures
  • Information and Information System Incident Reporting, Management, and Breach Notification (ISPP-26)

For more on best practices for handling sensitive institutional data, see:

• Relevant Data Protection Laws
• Guidelines for Handling Electronic Institutional and Personal Information
• Best Practices for Handling Electronic Institutional and Personal Information
• Protecting red-hot data: A guide to safe handling of critical information

Important: Research data containing electronic protected health information (ePHI) regulated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) are also classified as Critical by the Committee of Data Stewards. Before storing ePHI research data on any IU information technology system or service, make sure you understand your legal responsibilities for protecting the security and privacy of that data; see What are my responsibilities when using UITS systems for work with electronic protected health information?

If you work with institutional data at IU, including sensitive data elements classified as Restricted or Critical, see the next section to determine which UITS file storage solutions are appropriate for your data.

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Determining which storage solution is appropriate for your data

Use the following information to determine the most sensitive classifications of institutional data you can store on various UITS-managed file storage solutions at IU. Before choosing a storage solution, make sure you understand the Important information about storing sensitive institutional data from the previous section.

Important: Some services approved for storing ePHI research data are not approved for storing other institutional data elements classified as Critical. Consequently, some HIPAA-aligned services have "Restricted" listed as the most sensitive institutional data classification allowed, even though they're approved for research-related ePHI (which is classified Critical). If you need help determining the most sensitive institutional data classification allowed on any UITS system, contact the University Information Policy Office (UIPO). For a complete comparison of UITS dedicated file storage services and services with storage components, including information about default allotments, maximum file sizes, back ups, and costs, see At IU, which dedicated file storage services and IT services with storage components are appropriate for sensitive institutional data, including ePHI research data?

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