Compare UI Supported Storage and Sharing Options
Not sure which type of storage is best for you? Review all the available storage solutions available with this quick summary chart. All services listed support UI institutional data storage. PLEASE NOTE: Consumer-based storage services (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple iCloud, etc.) are only available for Level I data.
| Shared Drive (Files@Iowa) | Home Drives (Files@Iowa) | OneDrive for Business (Office 365) | Large Scale Storage (LSS) | Research Data Storage Service (RDSS) | SharePoint | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Description of Service | Highly available file storage service available for departments/units. | Highly available file storage service available for individuals. 25 GB is provided. | Cloud based file storage and collaboration. 1 TB for free. | For researchers, faculty, and staff who have a lot of data but do not need high availability (HA) storage. Also available on HPC systems. 5 TB for free†. | For faculty researchers who have large amounts of data (basic data storage, not available on HPC systems). 5 TB for free†. | Collaboration service available for departments/units. |
| Who is this for? | Departments, inter-departmental work groups. | All faculty, staff, students. | All faculty, staff, students |
Faculty, staff, researchers, IT professionals, departments |
Faculty researchers and their labs. | Departments, inter-departmental workgroups. |
| Cost | 1 GB per FTE is provided. Pay for service after that: $.08/GB/month. | Free | Free |
5 TB for free†. |
5 TB for free†. Pay for service after that: $270/TB/year | Free |
| Safe for UI data levels* | I, II, & III | I, II, & III | I, II, & III | I & II | I, II, & III | I, II, & III |
| Snapshots/Shadow Copy | 30 days | 30 days | Versioning | 30 days | 30 days | |
| Replication between Data Centers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Optional | Yes | |
| Backups | 6 months | 6 months | 90 days | Replication | Replication | |
| Access Method | CIFS/SMB | CIFS/SMB | Browser, local data sync, or mobile app | NFS, CIFS/SMB | NFS, CIFS/SMB | Browser |
| Access from anywhere? | Available from work or home via the VPN. | Available from work or home via the VPN. | Available from anywhere via browser or local data sync. | Available from work or home via the VPN. | Available from work or home via the VPN. | Available from anywhere via browser. |
| How do I get this? | By request to its-ecollaboration@uiowa.edu | Automatically provisioned. Available as a mapped drive H: | Login to Office 365 and click on the OneDrive tile. | Fill out LSS request form | Fill out RDSS request form | Fill out SharePoint request form |
* Other consumer-based storage services (e.g. Dropbox, Google Drive, Apple iCloud, etc.) are only available for Level I data.
† If you are a researcher with a faculty appointment, your first 5TB of backed-up storage is available upon request at no cost in your choice of either RDSS or LSS.