Is my data backed up?

Yes, the RDSF is data archive and all data stored on the RDSF is backed up to our tape libraries.

How can I keep the data on the RDSF up to date with my locally held data?

If you want to back up your Research Data files automatically to the RDSF we recommend using rsync for Linux/Mac users and SyncToy or Allways sync for Windows users. Please email rdsf-help@bristol.ac.uk if you need advice to set this up.

Linux/Unix and Mac

Rsync

The most widely used program for backups is called rsync. This is a Unix/Linux utility which is also available for Mac and Windows. It is normally run from the command line eg.

rsync -av mydata /mnt/rdsf_project/mydata/

This command will copy of all of the data in the 'mydata' directory including sub directories to /mnt/rdsf_project/mydata/

The next time rsync is run this will keep the copy up to date, only coping new and changed files.

grsync is a graphical version of rsync.

Windows

For Windows only, there is Microsoft's SyncToy or Allway Sync.  These are graphical programs that may be more suitable for those unfamiliar with Linux.

There are also other File Synchronization tools available, including grsync.

How long do you keep backups?

Forever, however, we recycle every 30 days, throwing away all but the latest copies. So if you lose a file we can get it back as long as you realize, and let us know, before 30 days has elapsed. This does not mean that if a file is older than 30 days we don't have it. As long as a file is still on the system, i.e. it has not been deleted, we will always have the 'latest' copy, even if it's several years old. We aim to retain all data for at least 20 years.