File storage and archiving are your responsibility

It is the users responsibility to retain and secure research, research data and primary material.

Temporary data storage

Laboratory equipment will provide temporary storage for your data. However, you should transfer your data as quickly as practical to your own device.

The following rules must be adhered:

  • Do not use your standard UC login on equipment PCs. Please ask staff for a login, if the login credentials are unavailable.
  • Do not use USB devices directly into air-gapped instrument PCs.
  • No data storage within the instrument PCs, or post processing PCs should be regarded as safe. We strongly recommend that you back up immediately- we do not make backups of user data, and ACCIDENTS DO HAPPEN.
  • Where there is space, files may be kept on local hard disks for a short time - check arrangements for the particular computer. Staff may delete files from the local hard disk without warning.
  • Your provided data folder is short-term storage only - a few days or so - to aid in transferring files to other systems. Files left on the PCs may be deleted after two weeks.
  • Remove your data from the original location as soon as you can after you have copied it.
  • Please consult staff if you have problems accessing or copying your data.


There are several instruments that must not be placed on the wider network because of obsolete operating systems or other virus vulnerabilities. Therefore, there is an extra step to getting data.

 On these instruments, there will be a bridge access PC that has a read-only networked drive to the instrument PC in the lab.

The bridge PCs are network accessible and data is synchronised from the instrument PC. This means all data is publicly viewable on the network. If you have privacy or IP concerns, please consult with staff .

Network storage access

To access data that has been synchronised from an instrument to a bridge or file-share PC within the UOCNT network, enter the address in the Windows file explorer. It can then be saved as a shortcut or mapped as a network drive.

RoomInstrumentData PC network address
E102aJEOL JSM7000f SEM\\MECH1907\Share\{SEM,EDS}
E104aJEOL JSM IT-300 SEM\\MECH1906\Share\{SEM,Oxford}
E107aBruker Icon-IR AFM\\MECH1965\Share\AFM
E104Optical microscopes\\MECHXXXX\Share\{Zeiss_stereo,Olympus_BH2,Leica_DM-IRM,Olympus_stereo}
E106Struers microhardness\\MECHXXXX\Share\Struers