Data Storage

There are many types of data generated through research, teaching and the administration of the department. It is important data are stored in a safe manner, respecting any regulations which govern them. It is also important that data are stored securely to reduce the risk of loss or misuse of data through cyber attacks or hardware failures.

Staff and students have access to several locations in which data can be stored. These may be located on- of off-site (potentially outside the UK) and may have various restrictions in their use. The different storage services are summarised below:

Service	Recommended Use	Cost	Quota	Location
OneDrive	Day-to-day files Internal collaboration (e.g. Office docs, PDFs)	Free	200 GB (Staff) 100 GB (Student)	Cloud
Box	Research data External collaboration	Free	100 GB (Initial) More on request	Cloud
Research Data Facility (RDF)	Research data HPC usage	Charge	None	IC
Aero Dept. Storage	Research data Dept Linux cluster	Free	100 GB (per user) None (per group)	IC

OneDrive

Suitable for:

• Microsoft office documents and other small files

• Sharing documents internally

This is the default storage area for use by staff and students. It is used by Outlook and other Microsoft Office applications. It is also used to store the email on your Imperial College email account. This storage is located in the cloud and as such files will be transferred across the internet to a Microsoft data centre. Transfer times will be dependent on the quality and bandwidth of your internet connection.

Note

As of March 2026, quotas are enforced on OneDrive for all staff (200 GB) and students (100 GB). Exceeding the quota will prevent you being able to add additional files, or making changes to existing files.

Box

This is a secondary storage, primarily intended to store larger volumes of research data. Like OneDrive, it is located in the cloud and data will be transferred across the internet. Transfer rates will similarly be subject to the quality and bandwidth of your internet connection. There is a limit on the volume of data which can be transferred per month to Box by each user.

Note

Initial quotas on Box are 100 GB. Staff and research students can request for this to be increased.

Aero data storage

The Department of Aeronautics provides dedicated data storage for its staff and students for, primarily for research use. This is not managed by ICT, but is integrated with the Departmental Linux System.

All users have a home directory on the Linux system with a 100 GB quota. In addition, each permanent staff member can request a group space. Other staff and students can be given access to this area in order for data to be shared within a research group. Initial quotas are 4 TB, but this can be increased on request.

The data on this system is stored within the Imperial College network. When on campus, data transfer should be at the maximum speed of the network connection.