Where should I store my data on NeSI systems?

Frequency of data being read	Frequency of data being written	Recommended option
Often	Often (at least once every two months)	Store in your /scratch/<projectcode> directory (but ensure key result data is copied to the persistent project directory).
Often	Seldom	Store in your /project/<projectcode> directory.
N/A	Seldom	If this is a dataset, apply for a Dataset allocation.

In general, the project directory should be used for reference data, tools, and job submission and management scripts. The scratch directory should be used for holding large reference working datasets (e.g., an extraction of compressed input data) and as a destination for writing and modifying temporary data. The scratch directory can also be used to build and edit code, provided that the code is under version control and changes are regularly checked into upstream revision control systems.

Datasets are to enable collaboration on, sharing of, and reference to research data. A single research activity/project might require both a Project and one or more Datasets on the eResearch Infrastructure. At the end of a research activity, a final step might involve turning the Project into a Dataset for archive (after some tidy up and additional description work).