We wanted to update existing and potential future users of our storage about an exciting change coming to the BEAR Research Data Store! From Tuesday 21 January, the amount of free, secure storage that can be requested per research project increases from 3TB to 5TB.
At the same time, we have decided to simplify the process by bundling the cost of the end-of-project archive in the initial charge. Therefore, the price per additional TB (for 5 years) will increase from £110 to £150.
The overwhelming majority of researchers (projects requiring 10TB or less) will pay the same or less for storage from 21 January – as of calculations in September 2024, this accounts for 98% of BEAR projects (3502 projects).
![Storage disks](https://blog.bham.ac.uk/bear/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2025/01/DSC07048-1024x683.jpg)
Changes from 21 January, 2025
BEAR Research Data Store
- When you ‘Register a new BEAR project’, you will be able to request up to 5TB (previously 3TB)
- Any existing BEAR project which is using >2.5TB of the free quota will be automatically increased to have 4TB quota
- If you paid for any premium BEAR storage, 2TB free quota will automatically be added
- The price per TB will be increasing from £110 per TB (for 5 years) to £150 per TB
- Prices for projects requiring over 100TB (previously 90TB) will be calculated on a case-by-case basis
BEAR Archive
- All mid-life archives will be charged at £40 per TB
- Projects over 20TB prior to the policy change will be charged £40 per additional TB for final archiving – projects created in 2025 or later include archive costs up front
What is staying the same?
Archiving the data in a BEAR Research Data Store is available at the end of the project on request by the PI (via the ‘Archive a BEAR project’ form). The data is archived for 10 years, after which it will be deleted with no warning – see details on the BEAR Archive page.
What do I need to do?
Probably nothing! If you originally asked for 1TB or 2TB for your project and find you need more storage, the PI of the BEAR project can use the ‘Edit a BEAR project form’ to increase the quota to either 3TB, 4TB or 5TB.
Further information
- Information on BEAR storage, including backup and retention
- Guidance on including costs for BEAR services in research bids
- Report a fault with the BEAR Research Data Store
- To meet with a member of the team (via Zoom or in-person) and get advice on research data management, book onto a BEAR drop-in session