Scientists How Do You Store Your Data for Easy Access

Storing and Preserving Your Scientific Data

Perhaps you're finally ready to kickoff writing that paper or thesis, or possibly yous're rethinking a hypothesis and need to refer dorsum to the results of an earlier experiment. There'due south just one trouble: Where is the data?

Nearly scientists take experienced the frustrating search for archived inquiry information, whether information technology's from a long-departed lab member, from a time before you established a filing arrangement, or on a misplaced storage device. The resulting costs can include wasting time searching through difficult drives, needing to echo experiments, and the worst case scenario⁠—losing data from an irreplaceable sample.

Storing your experimental data in an organized fashion is vital for helping you and your collaborators efficiently access the data your enquiry is founded on. Securely storing your information is also a uncomplicated, yet smart practice to protect against mishaps and ensure that lab members volition have admission even long later your research projection is completed.

Follow these tips to organize and protect your inquiry findings.

Dorsum Up Your Information in Multiple Locations

If you have always lost your research information, whether due to hard drive failure, a lost USB flash drive, or another means, you know the importance of backing up your electronic information on more than one platform.

Instead of simply storing your information on your internal difficult drive, be sure to back it up regularly on an external hard drive. Traditional difficult disk drives offer cheap chapters, but for added security, consider investing in a solid-state bulldoze. Since solid-land drives do non take any moving parts they tend to be more durable and reliable than hard disk drives. The read and write speeds are also significantly faster on solid-land drives, assuasive you to rapidly access your documents.

Whichever storage medium you cull, there is always a chance that your data will become corrupted on your local hard drive.

For added reassurance, consider backing upward your information using cloud storage, such equally Google Drive or Dropbox. Cloud storage likewise allows yous to access your data from anywhere you lot have an internet connection. Ane caveat: Cloud storage does not come without security risks, then remember twice before you store sensitive data in the cloud and consider encrypting it. You should also bank check your institutes rules and policies on using deject-based storage.

Use a Shared Online Drive

In addition to protecting against physical data abuse, cloud and online storage can be employed when storing data that needs to exist accessed by several people. Cloud-based storage is particularly useful when you're working with external collaborators who practise not have access to your network, or when lab members demand to admission documents remotely. Storing protocols and scientific papers on a common online drive besides serves as a centralized storage location and resources for all lab members and helps keep paper clutter in the lab to a minimum. Equally with cloud-based storage, exist sure to follow your institutes policies on setting upwards and using shared online drives.

Develop a Systematic Electronic Filing System

Whether you lot're storing electronic documents on a personal drive or a shared drive, information technology is important to develop a structured filing system that'south intuitive and easy to adopt.

• Develop a systematic, logical naming convention, east.g. with the appointment and a descriptive title, and use it consistently.
• Create a strategic hierarchy for folders. Commencement with a few folders for broad topics and create specific folders within these.
• Include a typhoon or revision label at the stop of each file name so y'all can continue track of changes.
• Earlier analyzing or manipulating your data, create a copy of the original file and label it as such to ensure that you won't lose your raw data.

How to Organize Your Lab Notebooks, References, and Protocols

Increase your efficiency in the lab past keeping your lab notebook organized.

Read Now >

Maintain Your Lab Notebook

Even with the increasing adoption of electronic devices in the lab, concrete lab notebooks remain a stalwart method for recording experimental details.

Keeping your lab notebook organized will make it easier for you to refer back to your work and help anyone who needs extra information near your research data.

Use the following tips to organize and protect the data in your lab notebook:

• Store your lab notebook abroad from the lab bench and whatsoever areas where at that place is a adventure of spills or harm.
• Routinely scan your lab notebook, salve the file as a PDF, and shop information technology on a central drive.
• Consider storing your lab notebook in a fireproof file cabinet.
• Reserve the first page for your table of contents and update it each time you start a new section.
• Include dates, page numbers, and descriptive titles on every page then y'all tin can chop-chop refer back to specific pages or experiments.
• Prepare electronic, printable templates for experiments you perform frequently, and paste these into your lab notebook. Share templates for common protocols (e.k. buffer recipes, blank results tables) with your colleagues.

Bones Protocol Templates

Explore templates for basic protocols, including cell counting and dilutions, and protein quantification. Accommodate these templates to suit your own specific experiments.

Organizing and carefully storing your inquiry data allows you to work smart and protect your valuable research data. By investing in preserving your data now, you can potentially salve yourself time in the hereafter and make things easier for anyone who continues your research going forward.

Another manner you can work smart is by adopting more efficient technologies.

Efficient Tools and Technologies for Life Scientific discipline Research

Attain more in less fourth dimension and with less endeavour by making smarter choices for the tools you employ in the lab, including prison cell isolation and cell culture technologies.

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Source: https://www.stemcell.com/efficient-research/storing-data

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