Turbo Storage Benefits
Why use Turbo Storage instead of traditional harddrives?
- Reliability — Turbo offers numerous levels of data protection to ensure the accessibility and integrity of user data.
- Accessibility — Turbo storage can be accessed from multiple devices and multiple locations simultaneously.
- Flexibility — Turbo can accommodate multiple file types of various sizes.
- Ease of Management — You can easily adjust volume size, modify snapshot windows, and many other configurable options.
Turbo Storage Features
ARC Turbo Research Storage provides scalable storage for U-M researchers with CIFS, NFSv3, and NFSv4 access to data stored. Performance is intended to be sufficient for users that require both performant IO operations and bulk file access, allowing researchers to work with data in place and avoid excessive data staging.
In combination with Globus, Turbo works well for sharing and hosting data for external collaborators and institutes.
Turbo is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. When needed, routine, non-disruptive maintenance will be scheduled between 11 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday. Users will be notified of any planned maintenance involving service disruptions 30 days in advance, through the Turbo user group email and the ARC Twitter account or via the contact information submitted by users.
Backup and Snapshot Capability
The Turbo service provides optional replication and snapshots. With replication, data is written to storage at a separate location for purposes of data protection and service continuity. Snapshots provide users with a read-only copy of their data that is frozen at a specific point in time.
Snapshot capability may be requested for no additional fee, and is available with the following options:
- Daily snapshot, retained for 1 day
- Daily snapshot, retained for 3 days
- Daily snapshot, retained for 7 days
- Daily snapshot, retained for 7 days, and 1 bi-weekly snapshot.
Files can be restored from the ".snapshot" hidden directory in users' top level departmental share. Permissions for that directory are set by the Turbo account holder.
Data Security
The service offers two security levels, one for regulated and/or sensitive data and one for non-sensitive data.
The more secure service includes safeguards required by HIPAA. Accordingly, you may use it to maintain Protected Health Information (PHI). To satisfy internal HIPAA requirements, consult with Information Assurance (IA), and they will work with you to document your data sets and their location. (Contact IA via the ITS Service Center.)
Complying with HIPAA's requirements is a shared responsibility. Users sharing and storing PHI in Turbo Research Storage are responsible for complying with HIPAA safeguards, including:
- Using and disclosing only the minimum necessary PHI for the intended purpose.
- Obtaining all required authorizations for using and disclosing PHI.
- Ensuring that PHI is seen only by those who are authorized to see it.
- Following any additional steps required by your unit to comply with HIPAA.
- Social Security numbers should only be used where required by law or where they are essential for university business processes. If you must use SSNs, it is preferred that you use institutional resources designed to house this data, such as the Data Warehouse. IIA can help you explore appropriate storage locations or work with you to appropriately encrypt the data if those alternatives will not work for you.
For more information, see the U-M Information Security policy, and the Sensitive Data Guide.