How to create a folder outside the root?

[flyeruk]

Hi all,

Could someone tell me how I'd create a folder/directory outside of the root folder?

For example, I need to create a 'data' folder not in my httpdocs folder like this:

/home/vhosts/mydomain.com/data

Or could I just add a password protected directory in httpdocs like this:

/home/vhosts/mydomain.com/httpdocs/data/

Any help appreciated as I've searched google to no avail

Thanks in advance,
Lisa.