What is the maximum recording period for surveillance cameras? And when are the recordings deleted?

What is the maximum recording period for surveillance cameras? And when are the recordings deleted?


Maximum recording time for surveillance cameras

Many people want to monitor their workplaces or others in order to reduce the risks that may occur there, and this is through the use of the latest smart technologies such as surveillance cameras, some of which are wireless or wired surveillance cameras , but these devices need to store the images they capture, and therefore The reason is that it is best to plan to increase the storage space as much as possible, and when asking about “how long can security cameras retain images,” it must be known that the majority of surveillance camera footage and images are stored for a period between 30 days and 90 days, and this period is for... For hotels, retail stores, supermarkets, construction companies, and similar establishments, as for banks, security cameras retain recordings for up to six months in order to comply with industry regulatory requirements. Some government casino regulations require data to be retained for six months to a year. . [1]

How long does the memory of surveillance cameras last?

In order to know the memory duration of surveillance cameras, there is a need to know the type of storage that the camera system uses, as different types of storage have different capacities. For example, the majority of SD cards have less storage space than the server or DVR, and thus their capacity to hold is less than Snapshots from others.

When the storage system being used is full, old images are often erased or overwritten with new footage, so if you want to know how long stores retain surveillance video you will need to know more about the type of storage systems being used, and if If security cameras are being set up on the user's property, there will be a need to consider how much footage they would like to retain and selecting the right storage option will help with this.


It is worth noting that the quality of the footage also determines how much can be recorded. For example, high-resolution or 4K video has a larger area than low-resolution footage, and therefore the length of time that surveillance cameras retain footage may depend on the quality of the video, as video clips Larger ones take up more space on the storage device, so the device may fill up faster.

That is, in general, the answer to the question, how long does a surveillance camera’s memory last, depends mostly on the type and capacity of the storage device, in addition to the user’s preferences. [2]

When is surveillance camera recording deleted?

Surveillance cameras have the ability to retain recordings for a specific period. In general, 31 days is the period for which most cameras retain recorded images and private videos. However, this period may be adjusted according to the severity of the incident, and once the private hard drive arrives. When your security camera reaches its maximum storage capacity, it will simply overwrite old photos and replace them with new ones. Old photos may be automatically erased to make room for new videos, ensuring that the latest videos are always available. [3]

Reasons for losing video from surveillance cameras

CCTV or surveillance camera video recordings are often saved through the use of DVRs (Digital Video Recorder) or NVR (Network Video Recorder), depending on the type of surveillance camera. It is worth noting that DVR/NVR software saves the footage to external hard drives and USB Stick and SD card of various sizes enable video footage to be saved and viewed at a later time. However, sometimes hardware or software problems can occur that lead to video corruption or loss of footage. Surveillance camera video loss problems can be related to the following: [4]

  • Internet connection.
  • Loss during file transfer.
  • Camera hardware or software.
  • Insufficient power supply.
  • Accidental deletion of CCTV clips.
  • Faulty connection of the entire CCTV system.
  • Other expected causes could be hard drive corruption or formatting, loss of radio signal, faulty infrared night vision or outdated firmware.

How to retrieve surveillance camera recording

Videos and photos from surveillance cameras are automatically recorded and archived through DVR/NVR in your hard drive, SSD, memory cards, USB drives, cloud or portable media players, and those lost videos or photos on your computer can be recovered. Drives with ease either through backup, CCTV recovery tool or in an ISO certified data center. Here are the ways to recover lost video on CCTV cameras: [4]

  • Method 1: Restore CCTV videos from backup.
  • Method 2: Use CCTV/DVR video recovery software.
  • Method 3: Recover footage from a data recovery center, in case the hard disk of the surveillance camera or CCTV is physically damaged.

How to restore CCTV videos from backup

If your security camera videos and photos have been backed up to the Cloud or another external drive, it can be easily restored from there.

How to use CCTV/DVR recovery software

CCTV DVR Recovery Software - Stellar Photo Recovery always comes to the rescue when there is no backup of lost videos or photos from surveillance camera, it helps to recover CCTV videos and photos from any data loss situation, The program can scan CCTV hard disks up to 6 TB and recover all DVR/NVR formats of photo and video files. Lost video clips can also be recovered from Wi-Fi security cameras. Below is a step-by-step method for recovering CCTV footage:

  • Run Stellar Photo Recovery.
  • Select the location you want to recover from, then click Scan to start the scanning process.
  • The scanning results display CCTV images and videos, and they can be previewed in the right pane. If the required footage is not found in the list, the deep scanning option can be chosen at the bottom.
  • Then select the files you want to restore and click on them.
  • In the dialog box, select the location to save the videos, and click Save.
  • All CCTV files are saved to the specified location.

How to recover DVR/NVR videos from data recovery center

This method is considered a last resort when the DVR/NVR drive is found damaged. When the security camera's hard drive is physically damaged, private photos and video recordings can be recovered at an ISO certified data recovery center. These centers are able to safely recover lost data from Physically damaged CCTV HDD.