CST Storage & Retention Management Flashcards

Under US federal guidelines, what should a surveillance system operator do with footage that may be evidence in a legal investigation?

Answer: Preserve it beyond the normal retention period and document the chain of custody

Footage relevant to a legal matter must be preserved as evidence with documented chain of custody, regardless of normal retention schedules.

What is the purpose of a 'legal hold' in a surveillance storage context?

Answer: A directive to preserve specific video records beyond normal retention for litigation

A legal hold suspends normal overwrite or deletion of specific footage to ensure it is available for potential litigation or investigation.

What does 'circular recording' mean on a DVR or NVR?

Answer: Recording in a loop where oldest footage is overwritten when storage is full

Circular (loop) recording automatically overwrites the oldest footage when the storage drive reaches capacity, ensuring continuous recording.

A business requires 30 days of continuous surveillance footage. When calculating storage, which formula is MOST appropriate?

Answer: Bitrate (Mbps) × 3600 seconds × 24 hours × 30 days × camera count ÷ 8

Multiplying bitrate by seconds per hour, hours per day, days retained, and camera count (then dividing by 8 to convert bits to bytes) gives total storage in megabytes.

What is the benefit of using cloud storage as a backup for on-site surveillance recordings?

Answer: It provides off-site redundancy so footage survives on-site theft, fire, or hardware failure

Off-site cloud backup ensures footage is preserved even if the on-site NVR is stolen, destroyed, or suffers a hardware failure.

Which file format is commonly used for exporting surveillance footage to be played on standard media players or submitted as evidence?

Answer: AVI or MP4

AVI and MP4 are widely supported video container formats that can be played on standard media players and accepted as evidence in legal proceedings.