Transferring and backing up data

• The lifecycle of your data at the IRTF:

  When you take data using SpeX, NSFCam, or CSHELL, the data are written directly to /scrs1, the publically available data directory. Data taken with MIRSI are written directly to the /mirsi1 area on the mirsi computer, which is then copied over to the /scrs1 area at 8:00AM daily. Data taken with Apogee are currently written either to /scrs1 or /home/smokey/data.

  /scrs1 (and /home/smokey) are hosted on our file server. The data in /scrs1 are compressed once they are five (5) days old and are deleted from /scrs1 after they are fourteen (14) days old. /home/smokey/data is not currently part of this automatic compression/removal schedule, but will be soon. The entire file server disk is mirrored hourly and the mirror is permanently archived to tape weekly (Tuesdays). This means that all data on /scrs1 are backed up to tape at least twice.

• Getting your data from the IRTF to your home institution

  There are three options for transferring data to your home institution:

  • Download the data to your laptop while at IRTF

    You can download your data to your laptop while at the IRTF by:

    • using ftp, sftp, scp, rsync
    • mounting /scrs1 as a virual drive on your WinXP laptop and copying the files over to your laptop

  • Transfer your data via the network to your home institution using sftp, scp, or rsync

    You can transfer your data to your home institution from the IRTF:

    • using ftp, sftp, scp, rsync if you are on the IRTF network. Our firewall does not block outgoing ftp or ssh connections.
    • using sftp, scp, rsync if you are outside the IRTF network. Our firewall blocks all incoming connections except ssh to specfic computers.

  • Create hard media backups of your data
    • Optical Media:

      There are two forms of backup available for observers. There are tape drives available at HP, which observers may use and there are instructions on their use below. There is also a DVD/CD burner available. To use the DVD/CD burner, observers must request that their data be backed up on DVD/CD media from the telescope operators. There is a supply of DVDs and CDs at the summit for this purpose. The telescope operators will burn the DVDs or CDs for the observers, and the media will either be given to the observer the following night or mailed to them if their run has already been completed. The DVD/CD burner uses DVD+R and DVD-R media.

    • Tape Media:

      Observers should use the tape drive at HP, next to the workstation 'wien', to perform tape backups of their data. The IRTF remote room in Hilo also has a tape drive available for observers to use. The Hilo tape drive is attached to magellan, and is identical to the DDS-3 drive on wien.

      Specifications for these tape drives are:

           Exabyte DDS-3 4mm tape drive
           Tapes: 125m or shorter
           Capacity: 12 GB (reliable) / 24GB (compressed)
           Unix Device name: /dev/st0
      

      Note: With the Solaris tape device driver, device names set the mode of the device. The device names can include compressions. For example:

           c = use compressed mode.
           n = no rewind.
      
           /dev/st0   - indicates the 1st tape device.
           /dev/st0n  - indicates the 1st tape device, no rewind.
           /dev/st0z  - 1st tape device, using compression.
           /dev/st0zn - 1st tape device with compression, no rewind.
      

      To make a tape copy of your data:
      ---------------------------------
      

      1. Press the button on the front of the drive to eject any tape that is currently in the drive

      2. Insert your tape into the drive and close the door, when any lights on the outside are steady, your tape is ready for use

      3. Change directory to the top level directory of the data you wish to back up, e.g., "cd /scrs1/guest02"

      4. Give the appropriate commands. For example, if you wish to use the 4mm tape drive with compression to backup your current working directory, this command would work:
         tar cvf /dev/st0 .

      5. REPLACE ANY TAPE YOU MAY HAVE REMOVED