Storage

Home Directory

Home directories on Spruce Knob are located in /users directory and is the default login location for users. The default disk quota for each user is 10 Gb. As such, we recommend that home directories use should be primarily to store scripts, binary executables and other small data file types. For research data, users should use Spruce Knobs Scratch space.

This data is backed up on a daily basis via snapshots and tape. Users can retrieve up to 4 weeks of older files from /users/.snapshots/{date}/$USER if needed. If files are not available in the snapshot, please contact helpdesk@hpc.wvu.edu and the HPC team will attempt to retrieve the data from tape.

Note: Users may check their storage quota via the following command:

quota

Scratch Directory

Scratch directories are located in /scratch directory, and can be easily moved to using the $SCRATCH environment variable set-up by default for each user.

cd $SCRATCH

Scratch directories on Spruce Knob are treated as true scratch space: There is no user defined quota for space. All users scratch directories share the same file space, which is set at 130 Tb. When the scratch directory becomes full, files are automatically deleted by date. To facilitate this, all users should use their scratch space as true temporary storage. However, we will notify users well in advanced for schedule file deletions to give users ample time to remove data to prevent data loss.

Note: Scratch data is NOT backed up.

Persistent Group Storage

Research groups may purchase long term persistent storage from the RC HPC. This storage allows users to keep data on the cluster that will not be removed. In addition, this storage utilizes the same GPFS file system so files can be written directly to this storage from jobs executing on the cluster.

Persistent storage must be purchased in 1 TB chunks. To purchase this storage, go to https://helpdesk.hpc.wvu.edu ,select “Open a New Ticket”, and select “Dedicated Storage Order” from Help Topic. For more information, please contact helpdesk@hpc.wvu.edu.

For groups who have purchased this storage, it can be accessed here:

cd /group/{group_name}

Note: Persistent group storage is NOT backed up.

Note: Persistent Group storage has been replaced by a the new `Research Data Depot Service <https://wvu.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/KB/ArticleDet?ID=35328>`__.

Archival Storage

Please see the Research Data Depot Service for archival storage options.

For additional information please contact helpdesk@hpc.wvu.edu.