Where is my study data? What is my project folder?
- Aaron Jackson
- Laura Ward
- Magalie Guignard-Duff
Introduction
Each workspace within our TRE is provisioned with several shared directories. This means that the underlying infrastructure of your workspace will include your study data and project folder. If you are involved in multiple TRE projects, you will have separate project folders, each with its unique project directory.
Once your TRE workspace has been created, it cannot be linked to additional studies, or new projects. This ensures datasets are not shared between projects, which is crucial for our information security.
On an Ubuntu Linux workspace, these folders are mounted under the “studies” folder in your home directory. On Windows workspaces, these folders are provided on the D:\ drive.
There are some known issues with using SPSS and LibreOffice from the D:\ drive. We would recommend storing files on your workspace’s C:\ drive (e.g. on your Desktop or Documents folder) and copying the files to the project storage at the end of your session.
User folder
Your user folder is unique to a project. If you are using the TRE for multiple projects, this folder will differ depending on the project's workspace you are logged into. It is accessible only by you and is a place to store scripts, configuration, and other files. The user folder has a randomly generated name, but will always be prefixed with “u-" (for user), which should help you identify it.
Project Folder
The project folder is your collaborative space, where you can exchange files with other users on the same project. The exact name of this project can be found from your workspace details (see the image on the right).
Please note that syncing is not immediate. It may take several minutes for a file to appear in another workspace after being copied to the project storage. Therefore, it is not recommended to use this folder for live editing if someone else on the project also needs to edit the same files.
Study Folder
The study folders are provided to a workspace in read-only mode. Data released by HIC will be stored in this folder. This ensures that study datasets remain unmodified, preventing errors while computing statistics about a cohort. Generally, we aim to treat each data release as a separate study. A workspace can be linked to multiple studies, each appearing as a separate directory within your workspace.
Remounting
Occasionally it is necessary to remount the project, study, and user data folders. This occasionally happens after the workspace has automatically hibernated due to inactivity. On Windows, this can be done by clicking “Remount D Drive” on your desktop. On Ubuntu, you can run mount_s3.sh from a Terminal windows.