- Directories
- Home Directories
- Scratch Directories
- /tmp and /var/tmp Directories
- Reserved Project Space
- Permanent File Storage
- File Transfer Options
1. Directories
1.1 Home Directories
Your home directory is the default directory you are placed
in when you log on.
You should use this space for storing files you want to keep long term
such as source code, scripts, input data sets, etc.
NCSA HPC systems have a 50GB home directory quota.
The command to see your disk usage and limits is
quota. Home directories are backed up daily.
1.2 Scratch Directories
Scratch file systems are intended for short term use and should be
considered volatile. The size of scratch file systems varies with the
system.
Please note that backups are not performed on the
scratch directories. In the event of a disk crash or file purge,
files on the
scratch directories cannot be recovered. Therefore, you
should make sure to back up your files to permanent storage
as significant changes are made (at least daily).
- Global Scratch Space
The common scratch filesystem /scratch/users is available
for all interactive work. There is a soft link scratch-global
in your home directory that points to your scratch directory.
For batch jobs, see the section
Disk Space for Batch Jobs.
- Files in the common scratch filesystem (/scratch/users)
are removed on the basis of size and time since the last access:
File Size Removed after
>= 10 GB 4 days
< 10 GB 14 days
Please do not attempt to circumvent this removal scheme (e.g.,
with touch). Such attempts may result in the loss of
access to the scratch file systems.
- Files in the batch scratch filesystem (/scratch/batch) on
Ember may be purged
as soon as the batch job that it is associated with completes.
Users should use the
saveafterjob utility for automated, guaranteed
saving of files from batch jobs.
To opt out of receiving email on purged files, add a file named
.nopurgemail in your home directory:
touch $HOME/.nopurgemail
- Local scratch space
Each compute host has available 7 TB of local
scratch space. The space is available
only while your batch job is scheduled on the host
and is available via a per-job directory
at $LSCR. The directory is purged as soon as the associated
job completes.
The /tmp, /usr/tmp, and /var/tmp directories are intended for temporary files that
are used during the execution of a process or job. Please do not use
these directories for storage of user files.
Files placed in /tmp, /usr/tmp, or /var/tmp may be purged at any time.
NCSA has reserved project space available on the HPC systems.
They are intended for users who require larger amounts of scratch space
than exist in the normal scratch file systems for short durations. These
directories are intended for short term use and are not backed up.
Contact consult@ncsa.illinois.edu
for
requesting space.
Please include your name, project (PSN), preferred start date, duration
of need, approximate disk space needed, and a short description of the
project. Include reasons why regular scratch space is insufficient for
your needs.
Permanent storage of your files is available using the NCSA archival
storage system (MSS).
You have read-only access to your MSS account for 4 months after your last NCSA HPC account has been deleted.
A variety of methods are available for transferring files between computer systems. These are outlined, with examples, here:
NCSA Data Transfers
