New Scratch System on Rivanna: July 18, 2023

The previous scratch filesystem, now called /oldscratch, will be permanently retired on October 17, 2023 and all the data it contains will be deleted.
Users should clean up their /oldscratch directory in preparation, to minimize the load. A sample script is posted below.

Modified queue limits have been implemented to provide maximum read/write performance of the new /scratch filesystem. Please refer to our updated documentation and adjust your job scripts accordingly.

Transfer Instructions

Example script to copy files

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH -A your_allocation  # to find your allocation, type "allocations"
#SBATCH -t 12:00:00         # up to 7-00:00:00 (7 days)
#SBATCH -p standard         

rsync -av /oldscratch/$USER/ /scratch/$USER

The script will also be available through the Open OnDemand Job Composer:

  1. Go to Open OnDemand Job Composer
  2. Click: New Job -> From Template
  3. Select demo-copy-scratch
  4. In the right panel, click “Create New Job”
  5. This will take you to the “Jobs” page. In the “Submit Script” panel at the bottom right, click “Open Editor”
  6. Enter your own allocation. You may edit the script as needed. Click “Save” when done.
  7. Going back to the “Jobs” page, select demo-copy-scratch and click the green “Submit” button.

As we expect a high volume of data migration, please refrain from doing so directly on the login nodes but instead submit it as a job via the provided Slurm script as described above.

The new scratch is subject to the same 10 TB quota and 90-day purge policy. There is no restriction on the number of files. A friendly reminder that scratch is intended as a temporary work directory, not long-term storage space. It is not backed up and old files need to be purged periodically for system stability. RC offers a number of low-cost storage options to researchers. For more information, visit our storage page.