How much storage do I need for CCTV footage?

How much storage do 4, 16 or 32 cameras need?

Multiply the daily figure by cameras and days. At the 6,144 kbit/s default, one camera fills 66.4 GB a day.

• 4 cameras, 3 days: 0.80 TB.
• 4 cameras, 30 days: 7.96 TB.
• 8 cameras, 30 days: 15.9 TB.
• 16 cameras, 30 days: 31.9 TB.
• 16 cameras, 90 days: 95.6 TB.
• 32 cameras, 30 days: 63.7 TB.

These figures are raw footage. A RAID layout that survives drive failures needs more disk; the trade-offs are on RAID 6 or RAID 10.

Bitrate decides the bill: at the same resolution, 1,024 kbit/s and 8,192 kbit/s differ eight times in disk.

How long may I keep CCTV footage in the EU?

Usually a few days. The European Data Protection Board's Guidelines 3/2019 on video devices (version 2.0, adopted 29 January 2020) are direct. In most cases, footage should be erased, ideally automatically, after a few days. The longer the period, especially beyond 72 hours, the more the purpose and necessity must be argued.

Its own example: a small shop owner normally notices vandalism the same day, so 24 hours of storage is enough. Weekends, holidays or a detected incident can justify longer.

So size for the retention you can defend, not the longest you can afford. Footage kept for an incident is a separate, labelled copy.

Why keep a copy of the footage off site?

Because the recorder sits at the scene. A burglar who finds the recorder can take the evidence with it, and a fire destroys both.

An offsite copy needs upload bandwidth. 16 cameras at 6,144 kbit/s need about 98 Mbit/s of steady upload, or 31.9 TB of traffic every 30 days. Two cheaper patterns work well:

• Send the sub stream. At the 256 kbit/s default, 16 cameras need about 4.1 Mbit/s and 1.33 TB a month.
• Send events only. Copy the clips the recorder marks for motion, and keep the full main stream locally.

Each hold has a fixed allowance, 60 TB per 30 days on Hold 40. Every server has a 1 Gbit/s port with a monthly traffic allowance (Hold 24 40 TB, Hold 40 60 TB, Hold 100 120 TB, Hold 160 200 TB), one dedicated IPv4 address and an IPv6 /64; going past the allowance never triggers an automatic bill.

How do I copy NVR footage to a rented server?

Two simple ways: push the recorder's files with rsync over SSH, or record the camera streams on the server itself. Either way, carry camera traffic inside a VPN such as WireGuard, and never open camera ports to the internet.

Then let the server enforce your retention period, so old footage disappears on time. Encrypt the drives as well, since footage of people is personal data; the setup without a console is on LUKS remote unlock.

# on the recorder or a small box on site (crontab)
*/5 * * * * rsync -a --partial -e "ssh -i /root/.ssh/cctv_key" /srv/nvr/ cctv@SERVER_IP:/tank/cctv/site1/

# on the storage server (crontab): enforce 30 days
0 3 * * * find /tank/cctv -type f -mtime +30 -delete

# or record one camera directly on the server, in 10-minute files
ffmpeg -rtsp_transport tcp -i "rtsp://USER:PASSWORD@CAMERA_IP:554/STREAM" \
  -c copy -f segment -segment_time 600 -reset_timestamps 1 -strftime 1 \
  "/tank/cctv/cam1/%Y%m%d-%H%M%S.mp4"

Is a storage server cheaper than cloud storage for CCTV?

Often, because CCTV deletes footage on a rolling basis. Wasabi bills objects deleted before 90 days as if they stayed 90 days. With 30-day retention, every file is billed for three times its stay.

Compare per TB, and remember that cloud prices are usable space while server prices are raw. Backblaze B2 lists $6.95 and Wasabi $7.99. Of 23 storage-server sellers Basalthold checked on 2 November 2026, the median listed plan of 16 TB or more cost $5.12 per TB. At no-KYC crypto hosts the median was $9.50, and Basalthold Hold 160 works out at $3.50/TB. The survey is on the price-per-TB page; download costs are on cloud egress fees.