Yes. Castor employs automated, multi-tiered backup procedures to ensure data integrity and disaster recovery, while also providing study teams with tools to generate self-service local backups.
1. Automated System Backups
- Frequency: Full database backups are generated automatically at least twice per day.
- Geographic Redundancy: Backups are encrypted (AES-256) and replicated to a secondary, geographically distinct Microsoft Azure data center within the same regulatory jurisdiction.
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Retention Schedule:
- Daily backups: Retained for 28 days.
- Monthly backups: Retained for 1 year.
- Restoration Requests: In the event of catastrophic data loss, backups can be restored by Castor engineers. (Please note: Ad-hoc restoration requests for user error or accidental deletion may incur additional service fees).
➔ Learn more about infrastructure & hosting: Helpdesk: Where and how is data stored and backed-up (e.g. clouds or servers locations)?
2. User-Controlled Local Backups
Authorized study team members can create and download independent copies of their study data and eCRF structures at any time:
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Export Participant Data: Download all clinical records and audit trails in Excel, CSV, SPSS, or SAS.
➔ See Helpdesk: How to export Participant Data in CDMS -
Full Study Structure & Data Backup: Download a complete production backup (structure + participant data) directly from the Study Settings.
➔ See Helpdesk: Exporting full study structure and data before applying changes in CDMS -
Export Study Structure / eCRF Template: Export visits, forms, and field configurations in XML or CDISC ODM format.
➔ See Helpdesk: Export the form structure in CDMS