Faculty, staff and students have a variety of options for storing files (data, web, email, research) on University servers, including both personal file storage and shared storage areas for collaboration.
Data Storage Standard
University data must be stored to comply with regulations or contractual agreements related to data storage and to maintain the confidentiality,integrity and availability of the data. The University has developed a Data Security Classification that defines data as public, private-restricted or private-highly restricted, and also defines the security level of the data as high, medium, or low. Users and data owners are responsible for working with IT staff to understand and follow the data storage requirements for the data they store. For more information, see: Information Security Standards: Data Storage.
Personal file storage options and quotas
Google:
Students, faculty and staff have allocated data storage for Gmail, Calendar and Drive.
Active Directory:
Faculty or staff can request a personal folder (P: drive) on the ITSS Active Directory file server and store up to 10Gb of data. To be eligible for this data storage, the user's primary workstation must be on the University's Active Directory service. Additional storage may be requested as needed and will be billed a service fee at our current hourly rate. For help connecting to your personal folder see: AD-Accessing Files on a PC or AD-Accessing Files on a Mac.
Box Secure Storage:
Box Secure Storage is a cloud storage and collaboration service configured to meet the University security standards for HIPAA data. Box can be used for storing varying types of sensitive data including PHI, SSN, drivers license, etc. (but is not appropriate for PCI data such as credit cardholder data). Data storage is unlimited.
Myfiles (Samba) Internet storage:
Students, faculty, and staff can store data in their personal MyFiles Samba folder. The total Internet disk storage quota is 5Gb for faculty and staff and 500Mb for students.
Data collaboration
A number of options are available for those who wish to securely share files with others within the University or elsewhere. Please note that email is not a secure method to share private or confidential data.
Active Directory:
For collaboration between faculty and staff, Active Directory customers can use the departmental shared folder (N: drive). Customers may also request additional shared access groups from ITSS. For help connecting to your shared folders see:AD-Accessing Files.
Google Drive:
Within Google Drive, individuals can set their own shared access folders and provide access to other students, faculty, staff and even those outside the University.
Box Secure Storage:
With Box Secure Storage, invite anyone to view, edit and upload files with options for real-time and offline editing. Box Secure Storage automatically saves files, and offers options for version history.
Tiered Data Storage (for research or other large data sets)
For large (250Gb+) storage areas for research data sets, videos, and archiving, try the Select Digital Storage Options Tool.
Backup and restore services
Active Directory:
Files stored on the Active Directory file servers are backed up nightly. Windows users can self-restore personal files from shadow copies; ITSS staff can restore individual files at our current hourly rate.
Google:
Files in your University Google account (Gmail, Drive) are backed up for disaster recovery purposes only. Deleted files and older versions are stored in the user's "Trash" for a short period of time (30 days) and can be retrieved by the user during that time.
Box Secure Storage:
Files in your Box account are backed up for disaster recovery purposes only. Deleted files and older versions are stored in the user's "Trash" for a short period of time (60 days) and can be retrieved by the user during that time.
Internet storage:
Files stored on ITSS servers (MyFiles, MyWeb, home directory) are backed up nightly. Individual files can be restored on request by ITSS staff, billable at our current hourly rate.
Summary of Data Storage, Backup & Restore Options
The following table summarizes the options available for network data storage.
| Service | Primary Use | Data backup restore? | Disk Quota | What you need |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | Private data
| Data is backed up for disaster recovery. Users may self-restore from their Trash file (30 days) | Google Workspace Storage Allocations | University Internet (Gmail) account
|
| AD File Server | Private data
| Data is backed up for disaster recovery. Windows users may self-restore to previous shadow-copy versions. Individual file restores for deleted files are available on request. | 10 Gb personal; additional storage available on request Designated department shared area; additional storage available on request | Active Directory services
|
| Box Secure Storage | Private highly-restricted data (but not PCI data)
| Data is backed up for disaster recovery. Users may self-restore from their Trash file (60 days) | Unlimited (individual file size limit is set to 15 GB) | University Internet (Gmail) account Duo Two-factor Authentication Box account |
Managing your data when you leave the University
When an employee is leaving the University, the employee and their supervisor should review the employee's digital data on all University systems, including:
- University-owned computers or tablets
- Active Directory file storage (P: and N: drive)
- Google files (Gmail, Drive and Sites)
- Box Secure Storage files
- UMD web server (www.d.umn.edu)
- Samba (Myfiles)
- Department databases or servers
For details on this process, please see: Digital Data Process for Terminated Employees.