Basic data storage instructions
Data means all your digital files and information, such as numbers, text, images, and audio.
Data storage refers to the locations and methods used to save data so it can be easily retrieved, used, and protected later.
Do you need to keep data after leaving Aalto?
In short: Do not take data with you. When you leave Aalto University, the files and emails stored in your personal cloud storage spaces will be deleted. Make sure all work and research data remains in designated group storage locations.
- Work and research data usually belongs 黑料网 University or the research group/project. Contracts (employment, project agreements), data management plan (DMP) and Records Management Plan (TOS) define retention.
- Move data from personal folders (OneDrive, Home etc.) to group storages (Teams/SharePoint, Work/Teamwork/SecWork) and ensure ownership and access rights are correct.
- Read more about preservable data: How to preserve data in storage spaces | Aalto University
Data management instructions
Managing data
Instructions and articles for managing data n the storage.
Aalto storage services
Aalto University's services for data storage
Cloud storage services for collaboration
Storage services with data located in an external service provider's data center.
What is 鈥渓arge data鈥 and what consumes storage space?
File size affects how much storage is required and how data can be shared, processed, and retained.
- Single large file: over 5鈥10 GB is 鈥渓arge鈥 in typical workflows (e.g., long videos, raw image datasets, massive intermediate outputs).
- Large collection: when a project contains tens of thousands of files or a total of >100 GB of data.
- Computationally heavy: many rows/columns (e.g., millions of rows in a CSV), high resolution/frequency (image, video, signal), or complex projects (e.g., multi鈥憀ayer PSDs, large GIS datasets).
Plan storage, sharing, and backups well if you expect to exceed these thresholds.
What factors affect file size?
- File type and format:
- Text/spreadsheet (txt, docx, xlsx, csv) are usually small.
- Images/video/audio, 3D, GIS, and raw research datasets are often large. For example, Photoshop projects contain multiple layers and can be significantly larger than finished images.
- Quality settings: Resolution (image/video), bit depth (e.g., 8鈥慴it vs 16鈥慴it), sampling rate (audio/signal), codec and compression.
- Project structure: Versions and duplicates, temporary render files, caches, backups in folders.
- Number of files: Thousands of small files slow down processing and backups, even if they are individually small.