Manual method
Obtain medical imaging studies and radiologist reports from the imaging facility; a report PDF is not the image study.
- List the facility, exam type and exam dates needed.
- Ask the facility for the complete electronic study in its original clinical format, commonly DICOM, plus the radiologist report.
- Use its authorized portal download or copy the complete delivered CD/USB folder to a protected archive.
- Retain all study folders and metadata rather than selecting only preview JPEGs. In the University of Michigan Health-West example, open the image viewer’s Export toolbar and choose Download DICOM Images; the JPG/PNG download is a different option.
Coverage and limitations: Delivery format and release procedures are facility-specific. Preserve any DICOMDIR and series structure where supplied. A screenshot cannot replace diagnostic image data. The reference describes US practice; no universal legal entitlement or deadline is asserted here.
Size and time to allow
Illustrative small / central / large case: 0.1 / 10 / 100 GB (decimal GB). These are planning assumptions, not a measured average per person. 10 GB models several CT/MRI studies; a single x-ray is much smaller, while repeated volumetric exams can exceed 100 GB.
Preparation: Ask the facility when download/media will be ready. Transfer can take minutes to hours; physical delivery adds separate waiting time.
For the central 10 GB example, network transfer alone is approximately:
| Connection | Estimated transfer |
|---|---|
| 10 Mbps | 3.2 hours |
| 50 Mbps | 38.1 minutes |
| 100 Mbps | 19.0 minutes |
Assumes 70% sustained use of the stated connection. Provider throttling, many small files, retries, local extraction and copying add time. For online backup use your upload speed. These are not estimates of the provider’s preparation queue. See calculation and large-file advice.
Store and verify the archive
An encrypted external drive is a practical main archive; a USB key can carry a copy if it has sufficient free space. Keep an additional encrypted copy on another device or private online backup, outside the source account’s sync folder. For health records, restrict access and avoid shared-family/public-link destinations; keep encryption recovery information separately.
Create medical_images/YYYY-MM-DD/originals/, preserve the untouched download, and extract a separate working copy when needed. Allow extra free space for archive plus extraction; compressed text can expand far beyond twice its size. Record account/scope, export date, date coverage and missing items in a local README without passwords.
Check patient/exam identifiers and series counts in a trusted local DICOM viewer. Verify that the study and report match; copying successfully does not establish diagnostic completeness. Reopen a sample from the second copy before deleting or replacing any source. Storage choices and verification.
Sources and review
Public documentation was reviewed on 27 October 2026. No signed-in export or restoration was performed. Account options and availability can change; follow the current provider instructions.