CCTV HDD Planning: Storage Capacity, Retention and Health

Plan CCTV storage around bitrate, recording hours, retention and drive health.

Capacity

Storage depends on bitrate, camera count, recording hours, retention days and recording mode—not resolution alone.

Continuous vs event

Continuous recording is predictable but uses more storage. Event recording may save space but retention varies with activity.

Drive health

Free capacity does not prove drive health. Monitor recorder diagnostics and replace failing storage promptly.

Leave headroom

Allow margin for bitrate variation, additional cameras and future schedule changes.