Storage Management Recommendations for Continuous Recording

[belmont]

I would recommend two primary storage options that will enable users to effectively manage continuous recording:

Main storage:
High-Speed Storage (SSD, NVMe, M.2, SAS): These are more expensive and typically come with limited capacity—usually around 1-2 TB per virtual machine. This type of storage is ideal for keeping the most recent recordings, such as those from the last few days. Due to its high speed, it ensures that recording several cameras simultaneously does not result in significant delays or data loss.

Long-Term Storage:
(NAS with Spinning HDDs): For users looking for longer retention periods at a lower cost per GB, Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems equipped with spinning hard disk drives are an excellent choice. These devices offer significantly more storage capacity and are considerably cheaper than SSD alternatives. They are best suited for long-term archiving of recordings—up to 30 days or even longer.

Rationale Behind the Recommendations:

High Importance Recordings: Recent events, which are often of higher importance (e.g., security incidents), benefit from faster storage solutions that ensure quick access and retrieval.

Lower Priority Data Retention: Older recordings, such as checking whether a delivery person visited 23 days ago, can be stored on slower, more cost-effective NAS systems. These less critical records do not require the same level of speed or accessibility.

Implementation Strategy:

To optimize storage usage without compromising recording quality:

Initial Recording Stage: Utilize high-speed SSDs for all active camera streams. This ensures that there is no delay in capturing video data and prevents buffer overflows.

Data Migration Plan: After a defined period (e.g., 5 or 10 days), automatically transfer the recordings to NAS storage on a regular basis. This process should be seamless, minimizing disruption to continuous recording operations.

By implementing this dual-storage strategy, users can effectively balance performance and cost while ensuring that all recorded data is securely stored for as long as necessary.

This dual-storage strategy is primarily aimed at users who are managing multiple cameras and utilizing a dedicated computer for frigate equipped with a dedicated GPU and TensorRT for high-speed processing. These users also would like to maintain long-term retention of their video recordings while keeping costs low (NAS).

[NickM-27]

This is a duplicate of #3673