Barnacles. Photo by UWW ResNet.

This week at The Molecular Ecologist, Mark Christie shares some tips for how to take care of that massive genetic dataset that’s just come off the high-throughput sequencer:

Congratulations! You have recently received a file path to retrieve your hard-earned next-generation sequencing data. You quickly transfer the files to the computing cluster you work on or perhaps, if you only have a few lanes of data, to your own computer. But before you begin messing around with your data, you quickly realize that you should come up with a plan to back up and store unadulterated versions of your files.

For a nice set of recommendations with some step-by-step instructions, go read the whole thing.◼