Storage

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage allows you store and share files for your own use, and share with others at ISU, or with collaborators anywhere in the world.

Cloud storage is a good solution for collaborative documents, small files, or archives of large files. It is not recommended for large data files that you are actively working with, as the transfer time up/down from the Box cloud service will be too long to be useful.

If you plan to use cloud storage for research data, we strongly encourage you to ask ETG for the lab which will persist independently of any individual user account.  This will protect your data in the event that a postdoc, grad student, or PI leaves, allowing the lab to retain access to the data.  

On Premise Storage

On premise storage is storage that is located within Iowa State University.

On premise storage is typically accessed using SMB or NFS and is only available within the Iowa State network. Access the storage externally requires a VPN connection.

Feature Comparison

MyFilesCyBoxGoogle DriveLSSRS
TypeOn PremiseCloudCloudOn PremiseOn Premise
CostFreeFreeFree $40/TB/YearFree*
Storage Limit10GBUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited*1TB*
Upload LimitNoneNone 750GB/DayNoneNone
Security ComplianceN/A ferpa,hippa ferpaN/AN/A
Off campus AccessYes with VPNYesYes Yes with VPN Yes with VPN
PermissionsHierarchicalFlatFlatLimitedHierarchical
File Type RestrictionsNoYesYesNoNo
App IntegrationsNoYesYesNoNo
VersioningYesYesYesYesYes