1. Introduction to Data Storage

Why Do Data Storage Practices Matter in Research?  

Data storage refers to the types, locations, and methods by which hardware or software stores, deletes, backs up, organizes, and secures data. This involves data storage, whether temporary or permanent (Knight, 2020). Poor data storage practices may result in negative consequences; data accessibility is determined by the storage media’s quality and the availability of data-reading devices.

As an Example…

Although an Amstrad floppy disc may still operate flawlessly 20 years after it was manufactured, the data on this disc may not be easily recovered due to a shortage of operating computers (Policies and Guidance, n.d.). In the upcoming lesson “Considerations to Naming and Organizing your Files,” we provide tips for naming and organizing files that we have compiled from the University of Cambridge (Teperek, 2015), the University of Sussex (Naming and organising files, 2021) and the Consortium of European Social Science Data Archives (CESSDA Training Team, 2017-2020a).