File Systems

Helvetios storage

Helvetios is no longer connected to the central storage (/home, /scratch, and /work are now local to the cluster).

File system	Purpose	Features	Access	Cost	Backup	Data Retention Policy
/home	Secure file system for the user's critical information.	Boasts data replication and robust backup mechanisms.	Accessible from all SCITAS clusters. Limited to 100 GB per user.	Free of charge.	Yes	Data will be erased after two years of inactivity or 6 months after leaving EPFL, whichever occurs first.
/work	Team storage, ideal for users needing substantial storage capacity, particularly for research data retention over several years.	Efficient file system with significant storage capacity. Option for data backup available upon request.	Accessible from all SCITAS clusters. Quota: 20 TB, may be increased upon request.	Pay-per-use model	Available upon request	Data will be erased 6 months after the cessation of payment.
/export	Provides exported spaces extending accessibility beyond the clusters.	Efficient file system with significant storage capacity. Versatile options with specific protocols for seamless access and data sharing. Option for data backup available upon request.	These file systems offer seamless integration, being not only accessible from all SCITAS clusters but also available to any computer connected to the EPFL network. They support NFS & SMB protocols	Pay-per-use model	Available upon request	Data will be erased 6 months after the cessation of payment.
/transfer	Temporary storage during data transfers between SCITAS and other global HPC centers.	Optimized to quickly process a large volume of inodes, enhancing the speed of data transfers.	Accessible from the front-end nodes and the specialized machine scitas-transfer.epfl.ch	Usage is included in the compute services.	No	Files older than 30 days will be automatically removed without notice.
/archive	Preservation of cold data and very long-term storage exceeding 10 years, ideal for research data that does not require rapid restoration.	Slow tape-based file system to offer extensive storage capacity. For maximum security, data is automatically duplicated across two sites.	Accessible from all SCITAS clusters.	Pay-per-use model	No	Data will be erased 6 months after the cessation of payment.
/scratch	Temporary storage needs and high-speed data processing.	Offers high-performance storage with faster read/write capabilities, suitable for computation-intensive tasks.	Each /scratch space is cluster-specific (/scratch on cluster A is not accessible from cluster B, and vice versa), optimized for swift data processing and temporary storage.	Usage is included in the compute services.	No	Files older than 30 days are automatically removed without notice.
/tmp/${SLURM_JOB_ID}	Local temporary storage needs for ultra high-speed data processing tasks.	This high-performance storage solution offers fast read/write speeds, perfect for sequential jobs on a single compute node.	Exclusively available from the compute node itself. It is not accessible from login nodes.	Usage is included in the compute services.	No	Data will be automatically erased at the end of the job.