Storage & Preservation

If the media you are creating or collecting for your project is research data, you must ensure that information is stored securely. This typically means it is encrypted, protected with passwords, or kept on storage media that cannot be accessed online. Refer to the Research Ethics Office's Data Security Practices for Personally Identifiable Information in Research and their Guidelines on Secondary Use of Data to understand your responsibilities in this area.

Local Storage

If sensitive files are stored on hard drives, portable drives, or USB keys, they can be encrypted and protected with a password. There are free tools you can use to create secure "containers" where this kind of media can be safely stored.

See our step-by-step guide on using VeraCrypt or the Mac Disk Utility to create secure storage containers.

Online Storage

Services like Google Drive and Dropbox are convenient for online file storage, but we do not recommend them for storage of research data or information that may infringe upon anyone's privacy. 

In situations where media is sensitive, files should be end-to-end encrypted – meaning that they are encoded using a password (“key”) – in a way that ensures that you have sole knowledge of AND control over the encryption/decryption keys. Google Docs, iCloud, Dropbox, and WeTransfer are encrypted, but they hold the keys. They are vulnerable to attack, court orders, security flaws, state espionage, etc. Do not rely on these services. 

More secure means of sharing files online include the following options, none of which are formally supported by York. 

Resilio Sync

(Price: $60-$100 depending on how you want to use it)

For peer-to-peer, encrypted file sharing that does not need a “cloud” but does expect people to be “online” so files can be synchronized. It works by having participants share files directly with one another (it uses BitTorrent technology).  This software is not free but it is easy to use, works well, and synchronizes quickly. 

AllSync

(Price: $1+)

End-to-end, client-side encrypted online storage. They are based in the Netherlands

50GB of storage costs €0.08/month. You can get 1TB for €4.99/month 

SeaFile

(Price: $0-$100)

End-to-end, client-side encrypted data storage.

Basic sign-up gets you a 3-user license for free (good news: it’s free! Bad news: it’s slow!) $100 gets you up to 9 users

If you’re savvy, you can also download the server and set up a whole system yourself [not recommended unless you have a solid foundation in IT skills (or dedicated IT support) and have available server infrastructure] 

Repositories can be used to store, preserve and share scholarly material. York's repository platforms can be used to deposit your own scholarly work, preserve digitized materials, and serve as a means of sharing your research data.

York's repositories do not currently support streaming for video and audio (like YouTube or SoundCloud). For video/audio distribution ideas, see Sharing Your Work.

YorkSpace

YorkSpace is our institutional repository. If you are a registered graduate student or faculty member, you can use it to store permanent copies of your own research outputs (anything for which you hold the copyright), or pre-prints of articles that may be permitted by publishers' agreements. See our full guide on YorkSpace for detailed information.

DataVerse

York's Dataverse can be used to share and archive research data. Datasets in this repository are publicly available and have Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) assigned to serve as permanent links.

York U Digital Library (YUDL)

The York University Digital Library preserves digital objects (digitized books, photographs, films, videos, sound recordings, websites, posters etc.) that have either been digitized from York's collection, or have been acquired by by the Libraries or its research partners.