Storage

Thailand Flood Causes Hard Drive Shortage
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If you’re looking to buy a Network Video Recorder (NVR) or especially a configurable NVR like those with QNAP that offer your choice of storage, there may be a shipment delay due to flooding in Thailand that is affecting hard drive production.

The damage from flooding could keep factories closed for months so manufacturers who have an immediate hard drive need are stocking up quickly.  The last few months of 2011 are expected to be tight and Q1 2012 could be slow when the true impact of this disaster is felt.

If you’re looking into buying an NVR or anything else with a hard drive, sooner rather than later may be the best option as there’s no telling how long the wait could be.…

IP Video Storage – RAID
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I briefly touched on IP video surveillance storage options in a previous post. 

Ronen Issac, over at the Security Info Watch Blog, has done a much better job, including some very useful graphics, at explaining the intricacies of the redundant storage system known as RAID. 

From his post, Overview of RAID for IP Video Storage:

Storage is a big part of IP video security and so I thought I would start a small series of video storage starting with the basics. Today we will discuss RAID. RAID has been discussed many (x4) times throughout the years but I still get questions about it. What is it, what is the best choice for RAID for my VMS, etc. So here we go.

There are 4 …

IP Camera Storage – New Media
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I’ve been talking about the different video storage options for your IP surveillance system and I happened across a good article that goes into more detail about server-based, network-based, and camera-based storage architectures.  Additionaly, the redundant storage options that focus around RAID and hot standby servers.

There’s an interesting mention too about the growing capacity and reliablity of the on-board camera storage options of flash drives and SD cards — that eventually months or even years worth of video will be able to be stored within a camera.

Check out “Eye on Video: New storage media; Revolutionizing the way we archive video,” by Fredrick Nilsson, GM of the Americas for Axis Communications:

Until recently, storage was a bottleneck for video surveillance and represented …

IP Video Surveillance Storage – Best Practices
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The previous post talked about the different methods for IP video surveillance storage.  When selecting the right kind of storage for your IP surveillance system, you’ll need to review your current server set up and ask yourself what you’re aiming to accomplish from your surveillance video information.

Keep in mind that once your IP cameras capture images you need a system that handles all of these video functions:

  • Monitoring
  • Recording
  • Managing
  • Archiving

Those factors are an important consideration when determining server configuration and the amount of storage that you will need.…

IP Video Surveillance Storage
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QNAP VS-2008-PRO NVR Surveillance RecorderStorage of IP surveillance video is driven by cost and, based on your application, how long you need to store the video.

High quality, high resolution IP surveillance video can take up a lot of space and can be a sizable cost of your IP surveillance system.  But with today’s technology, driven by Moore’s Law (“The number of transistors incorporated in a chip will approximately double every 24 months.”), any size of storage system that you need can be arranged.

That is to say video frame rate, number of cameras, and video retention time can be handled.  IP video surveillance storage systems have varying degrees of performance, cost, and scalability.…