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When it comes to data management, probably almost everyone knows about ‘horror stories’ from everyday life. This year, the FDM@UBT team is again using the time around Halloween as an opportunity to draw attention to some pitfalls in research data management – in best case to avoid the spooky moment.

The nightmare of lost bytes

It was a dark and stormy night on campus. The clock ticked relentlessly as a group of students sat in a small seminar room. They were working feverishly on their joint project, which had to be submitted in a few hours. The air was filled with tension and the soft humming of computers. The project was challenging, a complex data analysis that had taken weeks of preparation and countless hours of work. Everyone had contributed their part, and now it was time to bring it all together. The tension was palpable as they made the final adjustments. And suddenly, in a moment of carelessness, the unthinkable happened…

During the data compilation, the original file containing all the important data was overwritten. Initially unnoticed, everyone continued working until the final analysis of the data no longer provided any conclusive results. When the group finally realized what must have happened, a silent horror spread. „Don’t worry, we made regular backups, right?“ one of the students shouted. An awkward silence followed. In the rush and stress of the past few days, no one had thought to make a backup in time. Desperately, they tried to recover the lost data. They searched through their notes and tried to reconstruct the data. But it was too late. The crucial data of the project was irretrievably lost, along with their hopes for a good grade.

In order to prevent such a "horror scenario" from becoming reality, data should be backed up from the very beginning of any work. For example, the so-called 3-2-1 rule can be used as a basis for data backup. Further information on data backup can be found under "During the project".

If you have any questions on this topic, please feel free to contact FDM@UBT

Note: The illustration and text extracts have been created with the support of artificial intelligence.