Scratch

Scratch data is short-term data you are currently working on and will not need once results have been created, or data that is large and easily recreated or copied from its original source.

Auto-deleting scratch space

/data/scratch stores files that you only wish to keep for a limited period.

Important Note

Scratch data is not backed up and any important data should be moved to other locations as quickly as possible. Data stored here will be automatically deleted. An email is sent to you shortly before this occurs.

Scratch is held in /data/scratch/$USER (e.g. /data/scratch/abc123) and is automatically deleted 65 days after the last modification time.

Both the capacity and the number of files you can store are subject to a quota. By default, 3 TB and 5 million files are applied. Current usage can be checked with the qmquota command.

If you have any files which have not been modified for 60 days, you will receive a daily email listing the files due for deletion, until the files are automatically removed or modified. Only the first 100 files are shown in the email, with the remainder listed in /data/scratch/$USER/scratch-Expiring

Note

Please do not abuse this service by modifying timestamps of your files to make this a permanent location as it is unfair to other users, and you may lose your privilege to use the service as a result. Consider using Lab/Project space for longer term file storage.