KB001: UCR Research Data Storage Strategy
UCR Research Computing provides a tiered storage ecosystem designed to support the entire lifecycle of your research data.
🚀 Tier 1: High-Performance Analysis (Hot)
Best for: Active computation, temporary scratch space, and data currently being processed by the HPCC.
HPCC – GPFS (Parallel File System)
- Standard Allocation: 100 GB included for Faculty/Staff/Grads.
- Project Expansion (OPEX): Rent capacity at $1,000 per 10 TB per year.
- Hardware Buy-In (CAPEX): Purchase disks/shelves via grant equipment funds (One-time cost). We host and manage it for the life of the hardware.
🏢 Tier 2: Active Project Storage (Warm)
Best for: Lab shares, sequencing libraries, and “online” project data.
CephRDS (Secure Research Storage)
- Status: Coming Soon.
- Scalability: 3.2 PB capacity.
- Protocols: S3, NFS, Globus.
Ursa Major (Commercial Tier)
- Google Filestore: High-performance NFS for Cloud VMs.
- Cost: Direct Recharge to Grant COA.
🤝 Tier 3: Collaboration & Documentation
Best for: Manuscripts, administrative files, protocols, and sharing lightweight files.
Google Workspace (Google Drive)
- Included: 100 GB for Faculty, Staff, and Grads.
- Expansion: Individual drives up to 1 TB (Request via ITS).
- Shared Drives: Unlimited 1 TB drives (Self-Service).
❄️ Tier 4: Long-Term Archive & Compliance (Ursa Major Strategic)
Best for: Raw data retention, grant compliance.
Ursa Major Cloud Storage (Coldline)
- Cost: Subsidized (Tier 1) under the PSSA.
- Capacity: 400 TB Shared Pool.
- Use Case: “Write once, read never” / Compliance Archiving.