Selecting storage for a modern surveillance deployment is no longer a simple matter of counting cameras and multiplying by a fixed number. Resolution, frame rate, retention policy, and AI analytics all shape the real-world capacity you will need.
Start with retention
Map your retention requirements against compliance obligations. Many organisations over-provision because they assume the maximum retention window applies to every camera, when in reality only a subset of feeds require long-term archival.
Key questions to answer first:
- How many days of footage must be kept for compliance?
- Which cameras actually need that full window?
- Is footage recorded continuously, or only on motion and events?
Factor in the workload
Continuous recording behaves very differently from motion-triggered recording, and AI-assisted filtering can dramatically reduce the volume of footage written to disk.
- Estimate raw daily write volume per camera.
- Apply your analytics and compression savings.
- Add headroom for future cameras and higher resolutions.
Finally, plan for growth. When in doubt, optimise the infrastructure you already have before buying new hardware.