The Best Online Tool to Calculate Storage
for Your CCTV Needs
“Yes, this stuff is for the experts.”
“Not for me.”
You might be probably correct. The reason is there are so many bogus tools online which gives you incorrect storage estimation for your CCTV setup. Western Digital understands your pain and shares with you the most important factors to help you with this.
Factors when choosing storage for CCTV surveillance
Number of cameras
It is essential to calculate the present and future number of cameras needed. Because that is the basic information upon which storage depends.
Days to store
It is a critical component, which also involves legal aspects. There are specific rules for personal and commercial CCTV data storage in days. It is advisable to check the latest guidance of the local administration in this regard.
Hours per day
Consider this: you may not need the cameras to actively record activities for 24 hours a day. Why waste on buying extra storage space if you are not going to use anyway?
Video format
Choosing a compatible video format is helpful when we choose to playback or transfer the data to different locations.
Resolution
Set appropriate resolution to get desired clarity. This affects the size of the video recorded. Facial recognition or number plate identification will require higher resolution.
Video quality
Video quality is the level of visual detail (low, medium, high) for the video format. This setting can be changed on some cameras.
Scene activity
This is something which almost no one concentrates on. Scene activity simply means the expected level of scene movement in the video being captured; higher activity will result in higher capacity used.
For example, low scene activity includes a street alley or hallway, and high scene activity can be perfectly described as a casino floor or busy highway.
Frames per second
Popularly known as FPS, you can choose from 1-30 frames per second, whichever number you are most comfortable watching the video in.
Factors to Consider before Buying Storage for CCTV Use
- Storage Capacity
Do you want to buy tons of drives or find all your footage at one spot? Picking your storage option also depends on the number of cameras you’ll be using. If you want to find out how many cameras you will need, Western Digital’s Storage Capacity Calculator is a helpful tool. - Power consumption
This is crucial because the amount of power your storage drive consumes, and the cooling system will help determine the longevity of your storage. It's also better to be sustainable. - Durability
Will your storage survive harsh weather? Can it sustain in low-power or high-temperature conditions?
Now What?
It’s a lot to process and you are wondering what if someone could do it for us? Well, fret not. We created a tool which gives you the accurate data to help you with your storage need. Let us know how it has helped you make storage selection easy for you.