A removable medium recording station records medical image data in a format and removable medium that are widely accepted. The removable medium recording station can be used to effectively replace an installed storage device on an existing stand-alone medical image workstation. Storage onto removable media is transformed into an outboard operation. This transformation enables a hospital to migrate existing medical imaging systems to new formats and media without sacrificing a large portion of their initial investment. Additionally, the removable medium recording station can be attached as a peripheral on an existing medical modality network. In this capacity, the removable medium recording station enables an operator on the medical modality network to store medical images in a selected format and on a selected type of removable medium regardless of the proprietary format used by the enterprise level archive server. The removable medium recording station enables a hospital to add new functionality without sacrificing their investment in their enterprise solution.