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Medical Data Storage & Healthcare Storage Solutions
Data Solutions for Clinics, Hospitals, and Research Institutions
Healthcare data is growing rapidly, from EHRs (Electronic Health Records) and imaging to AI-driven research
Choosing the right storage foundation can be critical for protecting patient privacy, meeting compliance requirements, and ensuring uninterrupted access to clinical and research data. Western Digital offers enterprise-grade solutions ideal for the complex demands of healthcare environments, supporting performance, reliability, and security from local clinics to global research centers.
Why Secure and Reliable Storage Is Non-Negotiable in Healthcare
Data Security and Protection
Protecting patient information is often mandatory with regulations such as HIPAA, regional data-protection laws, and other regulations. Western Digital drives feature available hardware-level encryption and Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) technology to help secure data at rest. On-premise and hybrid configurations can provide necessary data control and sovereignty, helping ensure security with confidence.
Maintaining Uptime for Mission-Critical Systems
Clinical applications like EHRs, Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS), and telehealth platforms often operate 24/7/365. WD Gold and WD Ultrastar drives deliver enterprise-class reliability and high MTBF ratings1 to minimize downtime and help ensure uninterrupted access to patient records.
Scaling to Meet Explosive Data Growth
Modern imaging, analytics, and genomics generate massive data volumes. High-capacity WD Gold and Ultrastar drives provide cost-efficient scalability to petabyte levels, helping healthcare organizations expand without full infrastructure overhauls.
Matching the Right Drive to Your Healthcare Environment
Each healthcare setting has distinct data-storage needs. The following recommendations pair specific Western Digital drives with common healthcare environments and workloads.
Local Clinics & Independent Practices — Reliable Everyday Operations
Challenge: Affordable, dependable storage for Electronic Medical Records and Electronic Health Record systems and billing.
Solution: WD Gold
Why: Enterprise-grade 24/7 reliability and performance for smaller-scale servers and backups.
Medical Imaging & Diagnostics — High-Performance Access
Challenge: PACS and VNAs require rapid access to large DICOM files.
Solution: WD Ultrastar
Why: Designed for sustained throughput and massive capacity ideal for imaging workloads.
Hospital Security & Telehealth — Continuous Video Recording
Challenge: 24/7 video from hospital surveillance and telehealth sessions.
Solution: WD Purple Pro
Why: High workload ratings and MTBF designed to ensure durable, compliant storage for years.
EHR Systems & Compliance Archiving — Enterprise-Class Durability
Challenge: Long-term data retention and record integrity.
Solution: WD Gold or WD Ultrastar
Why: High workload ratings and MTBF designed to ensure durable, compliant storage for years.
Healthcare Research & AI Analytics — Scalable, High-Capacity Storage
Challenge: Genomics, clinical trials, and AI workloads demand dense, efficient storage.
Solution: High-capacity WD Ultrastar
Why: HelioSeal® technology delivers power-efficient scalability for large datasets.
Case Study Highlight — Powering Life-Saving Drug Discovery
Western Digital Helps Chemist’s Quest to Develop Life-Saving Drugs with High-Density Data Storage
A leading pharmaceutical chemist sought to expand data capacity for high-throughput drug development. By upgrading to Ultrastar Data Center HC590 26TB drives, the research team:
• More than doubled storage capacity for critical analytical and process data • Increased reliability and performance without major infrastructure changes • Relieved risk of data loss due to previous capacity, safeguarding irreplaceable research results • Enabled over 4600 TB of accessible storage for HPLC, LC-MS, and NMR instruments
For the first time, we can efficiently collect data from all our instruments without capacity limits. Western Digital gave our team the confidence and capability to expand our collection and advance our mission.
Dr. Charles Chase, PhD, Synthetic Organic Chemist2
Building Your Solution: Comparing Education Storage Architectures
Model | Data Control | Scalability |
Clinic / Private Practice | WD Gold + WD Red Pro + WD Purple Pro | Reliable EHR operations, local backup, and security footage. |
Hospital / Outpatient Facility | WD Ultrastar + WD Gold + WD Purple Pro | Enterprise performance for continuous operations and archiving. |
Research / AI Laboratory | High-capacity WD Ultrastar | Scalable storage for genomics, analytics, and big-data workloads. |
Choosing Your Storage Architecture
On-Premise vs. Cloud vs. Hybrid
Depending on the priorities of the healthcare organization, from data sovereignty to cost to scalability, organizations can select on-premise, cloud, or hybrid architectures, all of which can be powered by.
Model | Data Control | Cost | Scalability | Best For |
On-Premise | Full | Higher upfront | Moderate | Protection-driven hospitals and labs |
Cloud | Limited | Subscription | High | Secondary backup and archiving |
Hybrid | Balanced | Moderate | High | Flexible, scalable healthcare systems |
DAS vs. NAS vs. Enterprise SAN
- DAS: Direct-attached; best for single-server clinics or imaging workstations.
- NAS: Network-attached; ideal for multi-user collaboration — powered by WD Red Pro.
- SAN / Enterprise: High-performance backbone for hospitals and research centers — powered by WD Ultrastar.
Why Choose Western Digital for Healthcare Data
Purpose-Built Portfolio
A drive for every workload — from edge clinics to enterprise research.
Proven Reliability
Enterprise engineering with exceptional MTBF ratings1.
Advanced Technology
HelioSeal®, OptiNAND™, and AllFrame™ AI technology innovations.
Cost-Efficient Scalability
High-capacity HDDs that reduce long-term TCO.
Western Digital empowers healthcare providers to store, secure, and scale data confidently — supporting modern care delivery and innovation.
Building a Future-Ready Foundation for Patient Data
Selecting the right storage architecture is foundational for secure, accessible, and AI-ready patient data. Western Digital hard drives deliver the performance and reliability ideal to power healthcare today and prepare for tomorrow’s innovations.
Case Study
Accelerating Drug Discovery
See how Western Digital storage helped a pharmaceutical team gain 4600 TB of capacity and eliminate data loss risks in the quest to develop life-saving drugs.
Find the right drive for your healthcare environment
Frequently Asked Questions
Divulgaciones
- 1. MTBF and AFR specifications are based on a sample population and are estimated by statistical measurements and acceleration algorithms under typical operating conditions, workload 220TB/year and temperature 40C. Derating of MTBF and AFR will occur above these parameters, up to 550TB per year and 60°C ambient (65°C device temp). MTBF and AFR ratings do not predict an individual drive’s reliability and do not constitute a warranty.
- 2. https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/collateral/case-study/case-study-quest-to-develop-life-saving-drugs.pdf