Before deciding where to store your data, think about the volume of your data as well as the type and reasons you need to store it. This will help you to determine the most suitable and cost-efficient option for your needs.
Estimate how much data you have
Based on your usage, you may discover that Wasabi and Research Computing Oak Storage can offer considerable cost savings compared to Google Workspace.
- For example, at 2 TB Wasabi becomes slightly less expensive than Google Workspace, and at 10 TB, it is about half the cost.
- For substantial storage needs of 250 TB or more, Oak offers drastic cost savings over both Google Workspace and Wasabi.
- Use the chart below to help identify your most economical option.
Comparison of estimated annual cost based on usage* |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Usage | Goggle Workspace | Wasabi | Oak |
| 1 TB | $75 | $133 | n/a |
| 2 TB | $375 | $202 |
n/a |
| 5 TB | $675 | $404.40 | n/a |
| 10 TB |
$1,425 |
$749.40 | $1,154.04 |
| 100 TB | $14,925 | $6,905.40 | $6,434.04 |
| 250 TB | $37,425 | $17,165.40 | $8,243.04 |
*Pricing estimates are based on the following rates:
- Google Workspace: $0.15 per year ($.0125 per month) per GB for storage over 500 GB
- Wasabi: $5.70 per TB per month plus $5.45 per account per month for billing administration
- Oak: $45 per 10 TB per month; $600.00 per 250 TB per month plus $79 per month for access to and management of gateway to Oak Storage and $7.17 per month for management of backup for Oak storage.
Keep in mind that it can be more difficult to predict costs for Amazon S3 (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Additionally, these solutions are usually economical only for long-term storage where you do not expect to read or otherwise access the data.
Consider how you will use your data
Many factors go into choosing the best place to store your research data, including what you will do with it.
- For content that requires strong real-time collaboration and sharing features, consider paying for additional space to keep your data in Stanford Google Workspace.
- For content that requires compute on Sherlock, consider Oak.
- For content that requires compute on Google Cloud services, consider GCP.
- For content that can be archived, consider Wasabi or cold storage on AWS or GCP
Reach out for assistance, if needed
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to selecting a storage solution. Be sure to consider your data types and estimated volumes and access patterns when analyzing costs to decide between high-performance or more economical storage. Additionally, You may want to choose a storage solution that’s compatible with your existing infrastructure. Lastly, ensure reliability through redundancy and backups, and prioritize security with robust encryption and compliance with regulations.
If you would like help cleaning up your data or characterizing it to make a more informed decision about what solution best meets your needs, please contact your local IT support group or schedule a meeting with our dedicated storage consulting team.
See also
- Review the specific requirements set by the university for the storage and management of Stanford data.
- Understand the best option for your needs based on this storage matrix.
