Security cameras storage
How Much Storage Do You Need?
It is recommended that most businesses store footage from commercial security cameras for at least 30 days. For large operations, camera footage is often reserved for up to 90 days, requiring a more comprehensive storage solution with more capacity.
Storing more footage generally means using more physical space and hard drives, as well as more terabytes of space. The average 12-camera business surveillance system requires at least eight terabytes of room to store 1080p footage for 30 days, at industry-standard frames per second.
Limited Video Surveillance Storage
Professional security camera systems require storage that is secure and redundant. A commercial storage server for video surveillance system should not be an embedded operating system. It should have some kind of storage that is RAID-protected. There should be a solid-state drive on the operating system as well. Which can have a pre-and post-buffer to ensure nothing is missing—the entire context of the situation record. But most users follow the standard of keeping 30 days of recording based on motion activity.
Consumer security camera systems can store videos in the cloud. That is an excellent capability in theory, but the cost can ramp up depending on your set resolution. Yes, even if it’s an H.D. camera, that doesn’t mean you can store H.D. recordings in the cloud at an economical rate. Overall, the higher the resolution and the greater the number of cameras, the more your cloud storage costs. Furthermore, out-of-the-box features limit recordings to 10-second clips, which are not very useful by commercial standards. That is an area of focus in the professional surveillance camera industry. There is hope for commercial cloud video surveillance or “VSaaS” (Video Surveillance system as a Service). Between image quality limitations, intelligent video, and overall evidence management. There are too many limitations to recommend these platforms to our commercial clients who require mission-critical surveillance systems.
Another problem with these consumer systems masquerading as professional video surveillance kits is that they are often supplied at a low cost. Low-quality Linux system that doesn’t work reliably with hard drives made for video surveillance. Finally, the embedded DVR recorder systems typically have a set amount of storage. Suppose you add cameras in the future. These systems may not allow you to simply add another hard disk drive and instead require you to purchase an entirely new system.
The critical infrastructure and other applications with national security implications, even the professional security camera market, have had many issues in this area. The U.S. recently passed a law banning the use of equipment made by one of the world’s largest security camera in factors to secure government facilities. That not only means they can’t be used going forward, but it also means that these cameras and other equipment have to be obliterated from the operation.
Do You Need a Hard Drive For Security Cameras?
Recording security camera footage requires hard drives and cloud-based storage. If you have an analog security camera system, the DVR has a hard drive inside of it. For an IP security camera system installation, the NVR can use hard drives for onsite recording and cloud-based recording in a hard drive malfunction.
What About Cloud Storage?
Free cloud storage for security cameras could be easy, depending on the IP security cameras you’re using.
The IP camera cloud storage is available via either the camera manufacturer’s client or the third-party software. And the camera provider’s cloud storage for CCTV is the most reliable and convenient way to go. Most have FREE access to basic plans, NO subscriptions, and NO extra fees.
So getting an IP camera with cloud storage will be your best choice if you are keen on the cloud.
More modern CCTV camera systems allow users to store security footage in the cloud. They allow property owners and managers to access live and recorded footage from a mobile device or web browser. That is an excellent alternative to memory cards because it offers better storage of large video files, as well as more convenience in today’s internet-based world. The cloud allows users to get instant security alerts, making it easy to view and respond to security footage in real-time, even when they are offsite. Many cloud-based CCTV camera systems offer a limited amount of free cloud storage, as well as monthly, annual, or lifetime subscriptions.
IP camera cloud storage enables you to access your camera recordings anywhere, but it’s not the only option. If you want remote viewing and playback function, you don’t need to bind your IP camera to cloud storage. Any online IP camera can do that easily via the phone app, P.C., or web.
I.P. Camera Cloud Storage: How Does It Work
IP camera cloud storage uses the Internet to store your encrypted IP camera recordings in the offsite storage software, namely the cloud server. So that you can view, playback, delete and download the recordings from your cloud IP camera cloud as long as there is a network.
And the network plays a central role in the cloud storage for security cameras.
For example, the wireless security camera cloud storage uses a WiFi network to send video recordings and live feeds to the cloud server, convenient and straightforward. And the Argus 2 is a highly demanded model that works seamlessly with the Reolink Cloud.
No WiFi network? No worries.
You can still have the IP camera cloud storage with cellular cloud security cameras. Which use 3G/4G data to send streams over the net—offering full functions and benefits of CCTV camera cloud storage.
How to Access I.P. Camera Cloud Storage
It’s super easy! You don’t have to do anything other than sign into your account via the cloud security camera app or the cloud website after you bind cameras to the cloud. And then you can see everything on its cloud section, view and playback those cloud recordings wherever you are.
Remember that battery-powered cameras only record motion events from your IP camera to cloud storage to save battery life. You will not want large files on the cloud storage for CCTV system anyway.
I.P. Camera Cloud Storage Safety Issues
Privacy and safety issues of IP camera cloud storage are always a big concern. And the best solution to avoid these problems is to choose a reputable security camera brand with advanced encryption technology.
And the quality cloud IP cameras will enable Transport Layer Security (TLS). Store videos in Amazon S3 (the industry’s most-trusted service) and transmit videos through HTTPS (the protocol to ensure your data is encrypted and transferred over a secure connection).
And those trusted cloud storage camera manufacturers are more devoted to keeping the servers up to date with security patches and operating system updates. They will update the software regularly on their software pages so that the customers can always keep up-to-date.
So do remember to create a strong password to keep your cloud IP security cameras safe.
Best Cloud I.P. Cameras
A cloud storage camera with blurry images and false alarms will lose all its edges of free cloud storage.
Is there any reliable cloud IP security camera with free cloud-based storage?
Yes, of course. Here are the top two cloud IP cameras I’d recommend. (Bonus: They also have an S.D. card slot in the camera to enable local storage if you want.)
I.P. Camera Cloud Storage: Things to Consider
The chances are that your I.P. camera cloud storage is not enabled, but still, you want to save camera recordings to the cloud. In this case, you’ll need the help of either a 3rd party CCTV cloud storage software or an FTP server.
And here are two things you need to check before signing a contract with any 3rd party IP camera cloud storage platform:
- Make sure your security camera system is supported by the 3rd party cloud I.P. camera software. Some cloud IP camera software only supports H.264 compression and RTSP protocol.
- Check the resolution output of the cloud IP camera app and whether they will support both image and video recordings to make the best use of the CCTV cloud storage.
Types of Security Cameras
- Bullet Cameras
- Dome Cameras
- Turret Cameras
- PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom)
- Cameras Fisheye
- Cameras Multiple
- Sensor Cameras
- Doorbell Cameras
- Wireless Security Cameras
No matter your surveillance system configuration, the type of security camera you choose will have a tremendous impact. And there are many types of commercial cameras and security camera installation service types out there. Each camera has its strengths and weaknesses, its benefits and downsides. So it would help if you made an informed choice to achieve the best security camera system for business safety. Remember, you’re encouraged to mix-and-match camera types when installing the security camera system that’s right for you.
