Group Folders

Group folders provide shared storage space for collaborative research projects. Each group has a dedicated folder with a specific structure:

• Members folder: Contains individual subfolders for each group member.

• Shared folder: Accessible to all group members for shared files and data.

Specifications

• Access: Automatic for research group members (check group membership here). 

• Network Access: Available within the CIBIO network or via VPN using SMB protocol.

• Offline Access Limitations: Offline access to your group folders is not supported due to security and data integrity considerations. 

• Quota: The maximum storage capacity for a group folder varies based on IT-03 Storage Space and Use Policy, with a minimum of 6TB.  

  1. Once the quota is reached, no new files can be added to the folder or its subfolders until space is freed.

  2. The quota is updated once per month. 

  3. The quota calculated for each group will be available for consultation with the total space usage within each group's folder, under the 'members' subdirectory, under the file usage.txt. 

  4. Limitation: It will take a few months to fully implement the quota based on the IT-03 Storage Space and Use Policy.  

• File/Folder organisation: Users (group members) are responsible for organising their files within their folders.

• Backup: Files are kept in a RAID-like system (if one disk fails, no data is lost) but are not backed up.

Proper Use Recommendations

• IO-Intensive Operations: The group folders are optimised for archiving and storing data, not for continuous IO operations. 

  • In general, any application that requires a lot of disk access should not have the data placed in the home directory. This includes applications that are constantly reading or writing data to disk and applications that handle many concurrent users. 

  • Running these types of applications in data stored in the home directory can significantly degrade the performance. For instance, playing or editing a video directly requires a lot of disk access to read and write video files. Therefore, you may copy the file to be played/edited to the local disk then play/edit the file, and eventually copy the edited file back to the homes directory.

• Offloading Unused Data: Regularly review your folders and offload any unused or unnecessary files to external storage or other dedicated repositories. This helps maintain efficient storage utilisation and ensures sufficient space for essential files.

Howtos

For detailed instructions on using your home folder, please refer to the following howtos:

• Windows

• MacOS

• Linux (Ubuntu)

Support

Please contact the Information Technology Unit (ITU) through the ticket system and select Home/Group Folders group for additional information or assistance.