The amino acid's backup bone - Storage solutions for proteomics facilities

Proteomics methods, especially high-throughput mass spectrometry analysis have been continually developed and improved over the years. The analysis of complex biological samples produces large volumes of raw data. Data storage and recovery management pose substantial challenges to biomedical or proteomic facilities regarding backup and archiving concepts as well as hardware requirements. In this article we describe differences between the terms backup and archive with regard to manual and automatic approaches. We also introduce different storage concepts and technologies from transportable media to professional solutions such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems, network attached storages (NAS) and storage area network (SAN). Moreover, we present a software solution, which we developed for the purpose of long-term preservation of large mass spectrometry raw data files on an object storage device (OSD) archiving system. Finally, advantages, disadvantages, and experiences from routine operations of the presented concepts and technologies are evaluated and discussed. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Computational Proteomics in the Post-Identification Era. Guest Editors: Martin Eisenacher and Christian Stephan.