How to use: First enter the number of cameras you have or want to have. Then select the resolution you will be recording at. Next, input the desired frames per second. Then, how many hours a day you will be recording and how many days a week you will be recording.

Note: If you are recording on motion event only, you may want to decrease the “Hours per Day” for a more accurate calculation (*Average Record on motion is about 8 hour per day).

Breaking down the nominations of Bytes

Have you ever asked yourself what a hard drive is or ever wondered the significance of its role? Perhaps puzzled by its “not so common” measurement scheme? To have a better understanding of a hard drive also referred to as an HDD or Hard Disk Drive, let’s first grasp the concept of the units of measurement that make a hard drive. Just as 4 quarts make a pint and 100 pennies makes $1.00, the increments of a hard drive begins with a single Binary Digit known as a Bit. 8 of these Bits form a Byte and 1,024 bytes form a Kilobyte. 1,024 Kilobytes makes ONE Megabyte and (notice the pattern) 1,024 Megabytes create a Gigabyte. 1,024 Gigabyte begets ONE Terabyte and 1,024 Terabytes form ONE Petabyte. As with our numerical system, the numbers keep compiling until you can no longer fathom. Now that you know the consistency of these volumes let’s try to answer the following:

Let’s say (hypothetically) you own one camera. Every hour that camera records 1MB of data. How many hours till you have enough footage to fill a 2TB hard drive? How many Megabytes will you have? How many Kilobytes?

Making any sense yet? I’m hoping you answered yes. Moving on, did you know there are also multiple forms of these Hard Drives? From form sizes, capabilities and connection types to internal and external. In this era, the most commonly used (and affordable) are known as SATA Hard Drives. Now depending on your demands and needs (of course your device compatibility hardware as well), choosing the correct hard drive can mean the difference between efficiency and battling impatience. For those of you ready to pick out your hard drive for your DVR or other devices please click here.

NOTE: These calculators are provided for general information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional consultation. We advise you to call us if you have any question as to the accuracy of this information, or if you need help interpreting this information. Security will not be held liable for damages resulting from the use, misuse or unlawful use of the information contained herein.