1. A method for storing and providing medical image data in a distributed, computer-based system of a clinical facility comprising multiple satellites, wherein each satellite comprises at least one imaging modality, an image administration server, and a local database, and wherein said clinical facility further comprises a central database configured for administration of stored image data and a central long-term storage for long-term storage of said image data, comprising the steps of: acquiring image data at an imaging modality of at least one of the satellites, said image data comprising metadata and pixel data; marking a portion of said metadata in the metadata of the acquired image data; locally storing, in the local database of the satellite at which the image data were acquired, the metadata in the image data acquired at that satellite; in said central long-term storage, centrally storing respective image data acquired at all satellites; in said central database, completely and centrally replicating all metadata stored in the respective local databases; and at a respective local database of at least one of said satellites, partially, automatically, replicating, in a decentralized replication procedure, the marked partial metadata of the image data from the central database, and making the replication of the marked partial metadata stored in the local database available at least to the satellite at which the local database is located.