Backup Strategy for Medical Imaging Studio


  1. Posts : 9
    Windows 10 Pro
       #1

    Backup Strategy for Medical Imaging Studio


    Hello Forum, I'm in the process of opening up a medical imaging studio ( each patient will have approx 200 mb /per study). I'm thinking to have the following 3-2-1 strategy.

    The working PC will have the patient studies in a Raid 1 (2x2TB) hardware (Mobo) , I will have a second copy in "sync" from an external USB Hard Drive and to top it off Upload to Cloud at the end of the day (possibly with versions)...any suggestions on this system....is there any worthwhile difference if I RAID 1 the backup vs the main work folder....where is the best place to use the RAID 1 ?
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  2. Posts : 13,899
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #2

    Not an expert but the RAID 1 Mirroring is good. Having done IT service in our hospital and since HIPAA rules become involved I'd be sure an external backup drive is stored off-site and I wouldn't use a Cloud storage, might not be as secure as desired.
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  3. Posts : 161
    Windows 11
       #3

    More questions than answers at this point:
    1. How is the "sync" to the second copy external HDD performed?
    2. Will there be multiple versions on the external HDD?
    3. If multiple versions are they write protected and taken offline?
    4. If using a cloud service will the files be encrypted with multiple versions?

    Make sure that the restore/recovery process are fully tested with whatever strategy/process chosen.
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  4. Posts : 8,057
    windows 10
       #4

    Forget raid 1 if a disk fails all data is gone RAID 0 vs RAID 1 - Difference and Comparison | Diffen
    What format is data ie txt,photo, database as that can make a difference. Dont know your country laws but in the EU very sensertive data has a lot of security needs around it and it can be illegal to pass that data outside the country ie cload storage
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  5. Posts : 13,899
    Win10 Version 22H2 Pro and Home, Win11 Pro and Home
       #5

    Samuria said:
    Forget raid 1 if a disk fails all data is gone RAID 0 vs RAID 1 - Difference and Comparison | Diffen
    What format is data ie txt,photo, database as that can make a difference. Dont know your country laws but in the EU very sensertive data has a lot of security needs around it and it can be illegal to pass that data outside the country ie cload storage
    I don't usually contradict but seems the linked page shows it as opposite.
    RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is a storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a single logical unit so it behaves as one drive when connected to any other hardware. RAID 1 offers redundancy through mirroring, i.e., data is written identically to two drives. RAID 0 offers no redundancy and instead uses striping, i.e., data is split across all the drives. This means RAID 0 offers no fault tolerance; if any of the constituent drives fails, the RAID unit fails.
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  6. Posts : 9
    Windows 10 Pro
    Thread Starter
       #6

    quandary said:
    More questions than answers at this point:
    1. How is the "sync" to the second copy external HDD performed?
    2. Will there be multiple versions on the external HDD?
    3. If multiple versions are they write protected and taken offline?
    4. If using a cloud service will the files be encrypted with multiple versions?

    Make sure that the restore/recovery process are fully tested with whatever strategy/process chosen.
    1. The sync is handled by Backup Software, probably will be Macrium Reflect...2. No Multiple Versions are planned for the External HDD....3. All Multiple versions will be handled on the cloud..4...The Cloud service is Specific to Medical Files....follow USA Regiulations

    - - - Updated - - -

    Samuria said:
    Forget raid 1 if a disk fails all data is gone RAID 0 vs RAID 1 - Difference and Comparison | Diffen
    What format is data ie txt,photo, database as that can make a difference. Dont know your country laws but in the EU very sensertive data has a lot of security needs around it and it can be illegal to pass that data outside the country ie cload storage
    Data will be be DICOM Files....Im sure ive read somehwere that the best Backup Strategy is to use both RAID and Backup...each protects the same data differently....where as RAID protects for Hard Drive Failure, Backup protects against Data Loss...
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  7. Posts : 161
    Windows 11
       #7

    The plan seems generally reasonable. What you need to protect against is threat actors getting into your system, or rogue processes encrypting the prime data files and the backup files. In the worst case situation where the prime data files are corrupt you need a recent backup that can be restored.
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  8. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #8

    Hi there

    @Parls

    If you have the storage space RAID 10 seems the best idea -- you get the speed with RAID 0 and the security with RAID 1 so you aren't stuck if one of your HDD's goes bonkers. So a 4 Disk RAID 10 setup has the capacity of 2 Disks but has redundancy built in.

    Have the RAID 10 data on a NAS and then back up daily to external drives any data changes. Once a patient no longer needs online data that can be archived off line and retrieved when needed.

    My preferred solution would be for the NAS system to be of some linux type server running a central MYSQL type of server that the client workstations input their data to and a daily crontab job to backup the data from the DB. - program rsync is ideal for that job or standard MYSQL log backups if you store your data on a central MySQL / MARIA DB type of DB..

    The advantage of using a central DB is that data is stored centrally and backups don't require the client machines to be online. Data changes can be captured via the logs in real time as well -- I've no idea - in a medical environment real time capture and backup of data changes might be necessary too but I'm sure there's plenty of medical software around for that -- you could use things like MySQLor MARIA DB with logging etc.

    Afraid this is a bit out of my area - but I'm sure there's plenty of sensible info around. You need to decide what data needs to be online, when you can archive data when its not needed to be online, how you make the online / real time updates, how those are logged in case of a failure so you can recover and when to take the backups. My gut feel is a central MySQL type DB system would be the best for access by the client machines / workstations-- a good DBA person would help there.

    Another advantage of a central DB on the NAS server is that you aren't dependent on any OS for the client machines -- whether (Cr-)Apple, Windows, Samsung tablets / phones, or Linux machines data input and access privileges are standard via commom SQL commands or front end GUI's.

    When using DB's though ensure your indices are stored on the fastest possible device -- SSD's or (expensive) SAS systems . The data areas can be on slower devices -- again a decent DBA should be able to help out there.

    This type of approach is easily scalable for a small business -- you start with 1 PC as the client and your NAS server -- then just add clients. My SQL type DB's can handle very fast queries and can grow as much as required and aren't limited to the space on just 1 HDD as they can span as many volumes as required - even dynamically - just add more data space !!!.

    Cheers
    jimbo
    Last edited by jimbo45; 27 Oct 2021 at 17:29.
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  9. Posts : 77
    Windows 10 Pro
       #9

    a medical imaging studio
    Oh my!!! You are in peril of having the you-know-what sued out of you. Please get a pro in this field to take some responsibility. If something goes wrong you can point at them at a minimum. This whole thing sounds like an "I can do this medical business cheaper than they can" scenario--until you find out what the real cost is. JMHO
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  10. Posts : 15,443
    Windows10
       #10

    mjohnsonn2 said:
    Oh my!!! You are in peril of having the you-know-what sued out of you. Please get a pro in this field to take some responsibility. If something goes wrong you can point at them at a minimum. This whole thing sounds like an "I can do this medical business cheaper than they can" scenario--until you find out what the real cost is. JMHO
    Totally agree. This is not domestic consumer territory and data integrity for this request is paramount.


    Op needs professional advice.
    Last edited by cereberus; 28 Oct 2021 at 22:45.
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