Storage and Backups
Storage
Home Directory (/home/your_username)
Your home directory sits on a fileserver and is automatically made available (mounted) whenever you log onto one of our systems. Your disk quota varies depending upon the type of account you have. If you run out of space you should first check to see if there are any files that can be deleted. You may check your current usage by logging into the cims portal. For suggestions on how to reduce your disk space usage and/or request an increase in your quota go here.
Web Directory (/web/your_username)
Your web directory sits on a fileserver and is automatically made available (mounted) whenever you log onto one of our systems. The quota here is separate from your home directory quota. Like your home directory quota, your current usage and allotment can be seen by logging into the cims portal. For suggestions on how to reduce your disk space usage and/or request an increase in your quota go here.
Data Directory (/data/your_username)
A data directory is optional and only supplied upon request and only then if there is a valid reason that the extra space is needed. It is important to note that data directories are not backed up to tape. So the main purpose for a data directory is for large data sets that can be reproduced. This is not to say that these directories are not backed up at all. There are nightly backups but, unlike tape backups which go back months and can contain multiple versions of the same file, these only contain the latest version. Unlike your web directory, there need not be a link under /home/your_username pointing to /web/your_username, though, of course, you are welcome to create one. Like your home directory quota, your current usage and allotment can be seen by logging into the cims portal. For suggestions on how to reduce your disk space usage and/or request an increase in your quota go here.
Other resources at NYU
ITS at NYU offers options such as NYU Box and NYU Drive (also known as Google Drive, part of Google Apps) for storing and sharing files. For a comprehensive list of all of NYU's data storage solutions, click here.
These services are, however only for faculty and staff.
Our suggested client for syncing between Google Drive and linux machines is Insync.
Resources outside of NYU
A number of folks here at Courant use services such as Dropbox, Github and Gitlab to backup, store, or share their data. This practice is not supported and NYU has no official arrangements with these services and is not responsible for the privacy or integrity of any data stored there. It should also be noted that the off the shelf free accounts offered by these sevices are not Ferpa compliant and as such should not be used to store data that comes under such restrictions.
- Dropbox: If you decide to go this route please read the section on Dropbox under Frequently asked Questions.
- Github and Gitlab: Courant does not offer in-house implementaions of these services at this time. We do, however, offer subversion and mecurial repositories. That being said, folks are welcome to set up a self-managed git repository for their own use (in their home directory) that can be accessed remotely via ssh.
Backups
Home and Web Directory Backups
The Systems Group maintains both nightly backups to disk and tape backups for both your home directory and your web directory. Feel free to request a restore of older files from tape archives or recently deleted or "corrupted" files from the nightly zfs backups to disk.
Data Directory Backups
The Systems Group maintains a nightly zfs backup of your data directory. If you have just changed/deleted a file and would like to recover the version from the previous backup you could be in luck. Feel free to request a restore of recently deleted or corrupted files from nightly backups.
Note: data directories are not bacled up to tape so older versions of files that are more then a day or 2 old cannot be restored.