# How to store data on Pouta?

Pouta provides two choices
**[which are not backed up by CSC](is-pouta-backed-up.md)**:

* Temporary storage via local disks attached to virtual machines. OpenStack
  calls this ephemeral (meaning *lasting for a very short time*) storage.
* Longer term storage via _Volumes_. Volumes appear as raw disks attached to
  virtual machines. See:
    * [What are volumes? How to use them?](what-are-volumes-and-how-to-use.md)

Alternatively, you can access data in
[Allas object storage](../../data/Allas/index.md).
