What decides the number of days
Because of this, there is no single number of days that fits every house. Ask the installer to explain how many days your setup will keep, and check it yourself on the DVR's recording or storage page.
- Number of cameras: more cameras fill the disk faster.
- Picture quality: a sharper (higher resolution) picture makes bigger files.
- Recording mode: recording all day and night uses much more space than recording only when there is movement.
- Disk size: a bigger disk stores more days.
Ways to keep more days
- Use motion recording for rooms and outside areas that are quiet most of the time. Keep continuous recording only for important cameras like the gate.
- Lower the quality a little on cameras that look at less important areas.
- Fit a larger hard disk made for CCTV recording. Ordinary computer disks are not made to record all day and can fail sooner.
Check that it is really recording
Once a month, play back a recording from last week and confirm the date and time on the DVR are right. Many people find out the disk failed only on the day they need the footage. If the DVR beeps, shows a disk error or does not show a recording list, call a technician. If you need footage for something serious, copy it out soon, because when the disk is full old recordings are replaced by new ones.