The astrophysics community prefers to use the FITS format for storage of data of interest.
This article compares this classic approach and one related to the use of non-relational databases high- lighting their many similarities.
Among the main advantages of using non-relational database stands out the possibility of moving and replicate automatically your data minimizing the risks related to their loss or corruption.
Once you realize that a header FITS is nothing more than a sequence of key-value pairs, the jump to the NoSQL world becomes almost natural.