Archiving large or restricted datasets with Edinburgh DataVault

In order to meet the need of researchers at the University of Edinburgh to archive large datasets and restricted datasets for the long-term, the University set out to build a DataVault system from the codebase previously developed in collaboration with the University of Manchester. This new DataVault is a complementary and integral part of the existing suite of Research Data Management (RDM) tools at Edinburgh; open data up to 100 GB is archived in DataShare and metadata records are brought together with other research outputs in our CRIS (Pure). In this way the Research Data Service is better able to support users taking a holistic approach to RDM as a component of Open Science. Through user engagement and testing, our understanding of user needs has been refined. Challenges relating to usability and resilience have been overcome. The web-based DataVault system allows users to archive multiple terabytes in an affordable, secure archive with a persistent identifier and other metadata discoverable on the CRIS. Future development will implement a review system to allow appropriate management of data over the long-term.