Skip to content

Directory Structures for Storing Data

We have adopted the following directory structure for data storage across all of our projects.

Scheme

In the below example, a sub-project (code: STP) of a project (code: AULAB) contains two experiment entries (AULAB_STP0001 and AULAB_STP0002). Data for AULAB_STP0001 have been collected using INSTRUMENT_1, and are named according to the project, sub-project, experiment code, and sample number.

ROBOTLAB_ROOT
└───AULAB
    └───AULAB_STP
        ├───AULAB_STP0001
        │   └───INSTRUMENT_1
        │       └───AULAB_STP0001_0001.csv
        │       └───AULAB_STP0001_0002.csv
        └───AULAB_STP0002
            └───etc.

You would access a data file for instrument_1 for this project using the path:

ROBOTLAB_ROOT\AULAB\AULAB_STP\AULAB_STP0001\INSTRUMENT_1\AULAB_STP0001_0001.csv

Considerations

The following criteria were considered:

  • The RobotLab has proposed large projects consisting of related sub-projects. These projects are given codes at the proposal stage.
  • We will try to keep experiment codes to three letters and four digits (e.g. XYZ0001).
  • Data are organised according to experiment to facilitate archiving of older experiment entries if required (although we recognise that in the ideal case, data do not get 'old').
  • Four-digit experiment codes and sample numbers are used so that the numbers 0001-9999 are available (many experiments are expected to be performed!).
  • Unique experiment and project codes allow for navigation, organisation and maintenance.