Start with how long discovery takes
Footage is useful when someone asks for it: an insurer, an employee, a customer's attorney, or the police. The question is how long after the event that request tends to arrive. A break-in is noticed the next morning. Stock shrinkage, a disputed delivery or a slip and fall claim can surface weeks later.
That is why many businesses settle on something like 30 days as a minimum, and choose 60 or 90 days where incidents are typically discovered late. Whatever you choose, pick it deliberately rather than leaving it at whatever the recorder shipped with.
Check for rules that apply to you
Most businesses are not bound by a specific legal retention period for general security video. Some sectors are, including certain licensed and regulated industries, and your insurer or lease may set expectations of its own. Ask your insurer, and your attorney if you are in a regulated field.
Once you know footage may be needed for a claim or legal matter, keep it. Do not let it be overwritten on schedule.
How much storage it takes
Storage is simple arithmetic. A camera's bitrate, in megabits per second (Mbps), is how much video it records each second. One megabit per second of video recorded continuously comes to about 10.8 gigabytes a day. Multiply by each camera's bitrate, the number of cameras and the number of days.
| Per camera, continuous | 30 days | 60 days | 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Mbps | 648 GB | 1.3 TB | 1.9 TB |
| 4 Mbps | 1.3 TB | 2.6 TB | 3.9 TB |
| 8 Mbps | 2.6 TB | 5.2 TB | 7.8 TB |
Recording on motion rather than continuously, and newer video compression, both reduce these figures considerably. The actual saving depends on how busy the scene is, so measure it on your own system after a week rather than relying on a spec sheet.
Make sure you can actually get it back
- Check the oldest recording on the system matches your retention target. Recorders quietly fall short when drives fill faster than expected.
- Keep the recorder's clock synced automatically. Footage with the wrong time and date is easy to dispute.
- Pick a date three weeks ago and practice finding and exporting a clip, in a format someone else can play.
- Make sure more than one person knows how to do that, and write it down.
Respect privacy
Do not point cameras where people reasonably expect privacy, such as restrooms or changing areas. Recording audio brings its own legal rules, so talk to an attorney before turning it on. Signs stating that cameras are in use are good practice.
More on how we design systems around retrieval is on our security camera page. We install camera systems for businesses across Genesee County from Grand Blanc.