BwDataArchiv FAQs

Technology

Q: What storage technologies do you use?

A: s. https://www.rda.kit.edu/technologie.php

Q: What ist HPSS?

A: see this web site: http://www.hpss-collaboration.org

Q: How is the data secured?

A: Data is stored on magnetic tape. We use the following tape drives and technologies: LTO5 (max. 1.5 TB per cartridge), STK 10kC (max. 4 TB per cartridge) and STK 10kD (max. 8 TB per cartridge), IBM TS1140 (max. 4.5 TB per cartridge)

Features

Q:I have a suggestion for improvement. What is the award if it gets implemented?

A: you will be named on the bwDataArchiv Hall of Fame pages and are eligible for 10 years of 1 TB of free storage.

Q: How many copies of the data are made and where are they stored?

A: all data in bwDataArchiv has at least 2 copies. Data is moved to disk and from there duplicated to tape storage. There are tape libraries in two data centres in CN as well as in CS.

User Registration

Q: I have registered but still cannot access the service. What is wrong?

A: Most probably the registration workflow did not finish completely. This can happen because of network errors. Go to https://bwidm.scc.kit.edu/user/index.xhtml, login with your credentials and unregister from the service. Then register again. You will receive an email after you have registered successfully.

Preparations for the usage

Checksums

Q: I want to routinely create and validate checksums of large amounts of files

A: See http://rhash.anz.ru/

Delete Data

Q: There is a directory with the name .Trashcan in my archive directory. Can you explain me its function?

A: Files deleted from the archive are put in the Trashcan. Contents of the Trashcan are not deleted by the system and therefore are accounted and to the amount of data stored. To permanently delete the data you have to open the .Trashcan and delete the files. To recover files from the Trashcan move (or rename) the files to a different location outside the Trashcan.