Decide where footage belongs and how you will recover it.
Compare local recording, off-site storage, and a combination of the two. Ask exactly which video is copied, at what quality, and under which subscription.
Include upload capacity and outage recovery in the proposal.
Set the target before you compare drive sizes
Retention means how long recordings remain available before deletion or overwrite. Set it around incident discovery and any applicable obligations.
- Discovery timeHow long an incident can go unnoticed at your premises — a weekend, a stock count, a monthly reconciliation.
- Documented assumptionsThe bitrate, schedule and scene activity behind the capacity calculation.
- Verification after setupA way to confirm the retention you actually get once the system is running.
- PreservationHow a relevant incident is saved separately before routine retention removes it.
A cloud dashboard is not an answer to where recordings are stored.
Confirm export access, deletion settings, account ownership, and the consequences of cancelling a service. A cloud dashboard alone is not an answer to where the recordings are stored.
For cloud recording, compare the upload the site needs during busy periods with measured available upload capacity while the business is working. Include remote viewing and catch-up uploads after an outage.
Discuss off-site backup separately from disk redundancy: a second drive in the same recorder does not protect against loss of the recorder itself.
Questions worth asking
What happens to our footage if we cancel the subscription?
Ask for this in writing: access period after cancellation, export format, and whether local recording continues independently.
Does the off-site copy match the local recording?
Often it does not. Ask whether the service stores continuous video, selected clips, or a lower-bitrate version.
Planning information and consultation requests. Installation and monitoring availability, provider details, and service terms must be confirmed before work is arranged. This form is not for emergencies.
Looking at a house, condo or rental property instead? Salt Lake Home Security — residential planning
Review storage and retention options
Tell us your retention target, premises type and internet connection, and we will work through the tradeoffs.