The Mind Research Network Relies on NetVault: Backup from BakBone

BakBone Software, Inc.(R) (Pink Sheets:BKBO), the leading provider of heterogeneous integrated data protection solutions, is providing peace-of-mind data protection for The Mind Research Network (MRN). BakBone’s NetVault: Backup solution protects MRN’s massive research files, most of which are generated from specialized imaging machines, including machines that capture the act of thought on image scans. As part of an aggressive overhaul of IT operations, MRN selected NetVault: Backup to consolidate data backups, improve the reliability of data recoveries and drastically minimize the time spent on backup administration.

Over 50 long-term neuroimaging studies are currently in progress at MRN. "Considering the time and expense required to get this data, it’s an understatement to call it a valuable asset. When an investigator turns their data over to us, they have the right to expect its safety," said Jeremy Lawrence, director of IT, MRN. "With NetVault: Backup, we are very confident in our ability to recover data. Our researchers come to us all the time for data recoveries and we always get what they need back."

MRN is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people by improving current methods used to diagnose mental illness and brain disorders and finding better methods of prevention and treatments that will ultimately lead to future cures. Areas of study include traumatic brain injury, psychopathy, addiction, schizophrenia and other neurological conditions that affect individuals and society at large. According to Lawrence, "Our storage requirements are huge. MRN’s researchers are collecting and analyzing two terabytes of data per month."

NetVault: Backup protects over 40TB of Linux, Windows and Mac OS data from the different sources inside MRN, including raw imaging data from MRIs, EEGs, MEGs and the mobile MRI unit; raw genetic data; analyzed and processed research data; patient records and written and videotaped interviews; and Finance and Human Resource information. Most of the research data is created on Linux because image analysis applications are almost exclusively written on this platform. A gigabyte of data acquired by a scientist at MRN will triple in size after being processed and analyzed, and studies typically range from two to eight years; both the raw and analyzed data must remain accessible during that time.

The research at MRN is very expensive and takes long periods of time to create, and patient populations can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reproduce. With BakBone’s solution, data is easily and quickly recovered, helping to keep research on track and minimize researchers’ downtime. "I sleep a lot better. BakBone’s NetVault: Backup has proven itself again and again," said Lawrence. "It gives us more peace of mind and we don’t have to worry about the reliability of our data recoveries."