Japanese university loses 77TB of research data following a buggy software update

guest · Jan 3, 2022

34 million files got deleted from Kyoto university's supercomputer due to a backup error
January 3, 2022

In brief: Losing data to a backup error can mean fretting over the loss of years worth of personal photos or, as in the case of Japan’s Kyoto University, losing 77TB of critical research data. The incident occurred with the university’s supercomputer that received a faulty software update for its backup system, accidentally wiping 34 million files over a two-day period.

The culprit for this huge data loss was a faulty script originally meant to delete old, unnecessary log files from Kyoto university’s Cray/HPE supercomputer as part of a software update. However, it ended up deleting a massive 77TB of research data between Dec 14 and Dec 16, 2021, from the computer’s high-capacity /LARGE0 backup disc.
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The university’s supercomputer supplier, Hewlett Packard Japan (HPE), admitted 100 percent responsibility for the incident and issued a letter of apology later published by the university. HPE said a modified script was issued in its update to “improve visibility and readability,” as The Stack reports.

Kyoto University has since suspended the backup process, as it looks to make improvements and add preventive measures to deal with such incidents in the future.
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Japanese university loses 77TB of research data following a buggy software update

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