SDSC > User Support > Compute and Data Resource Guides > Storage at SDSC: Quick Comparison
Storage at SDSC: Quick Comparison
To secure your data, it is important to back up your data when necessary. We recommend backing up your data to your local hard disk or transferring to archival tape storage on HPSS. See the respective user guides for specific information on using the various storage systems.
| Storage type1 | Purged | Backed up by SDSC |
Direct access from compute nodes |
Comments | Recommended use |
| Online Disk | |||||
| GPFS | every 5 dys | no | yes | higher performance than $HOME | temporary storage of input & output files |
| $HOME | no | nightly | yes | 1 GB quota | source code and configuration files |
| Archival | |||||
| HPSS | no | no | no | tape only; SRB or HSI interface | long-term archival storage |
| SAM-QFS | no | no | no | disk cache filesystem interface for faster access to frequently used data | long-term storage of frequently-accessed data |
1This table compares storage options that are available to users with compute allocations. See SDSC Cloud Storage Services for a detailed description of archival (tape), disk, and database storage solutions and services or if you do not have a compute allocation but would like a storage allocation.
