Data Backup Digest

Video content and storage are two facets of modern technology that are very closely linked. Home video has been one of the biggest factors in advances made in disc-based storage, and now that digital media is becoming increasingly popular with consumers and businesses alike, that progression looks set to continue in the world of hard drives and mass storage.

One form of technology that relies on video storage more than most is the field of surveillance. Twenty years ago, CCTV footage was recorded on tape — a solution that caused a myriad of problems related to reliability, not to mention picture quality. Today, digital video means that the job can be done much better, although there's still plenty of improvements that can be made.

Wayne Arvidson, VP of video surveillance solutions at Quantum, stated in an interview with Security Info Watch that "storage needs to be the foundation on which you build everything else". To put it bluntly, you can spend as much money as you like on a video surveillance system, but it can prove to be quite useless without a sensible method of storing the footage you record.

The key is a sense of scale. You need to be fully aware of the needs of your system, and what it's trying to achieve. A one-camera surveillance system that only runs at night will have a very different storage set-up than a five-camera operation that runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Those aren't the only factors, either — consider how long you want the footage to be kept before it's recorded over, as that can vary drastically depending on what you're looking to accomplish.

Hard drive costs have plummeted in recent years, as the microtechnology that storage devices are built upon becomes cheaper to build. However, that doesn't mean that a drive that you can buy in an electronics store has the capabilities necessary to record surveillance footage. Recording and storing video constantly is incredibly taxing on a drive, and a typical consumer product won't hold up for long. Instead, it's worth looking at purpose-built devices if you're looking to build a set-up that's going to stand up to its intended usage.

The world of video storage has undeniably become more complex over the past twenty years. Everything from video resolution, to video format, to the methods of retention being used to store video files themselves is constantly being rethought and reimplemented. It's a constantly changing marketplace, in line with the enormous upheaval that the technological revolution has had on countless linked industries.

However, this is all in favor of the consumer. It might be more difficult to establish what any individual or business is looking for in such a multi-faceted landscape, but it offers up unprecedented customization for the well-prepared buyer. If you know what you're looking for, then there's a way to make it work using the technology available — the important thing is outlining exactly what that set-up is before you make a purchase. Building a custom-built system from scratch is comparatively easy; repurposing a hastily designed one is not.