Please select Into the mobile phone version | Continue to access the computer ver.
Storing of video footage
1516 13 2024-1-17
Uploading and Loding Picture ...(0/1)
o(^-^)o
VinceG
lvl.2
Flight distance : 1134662 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

Hi everyone

I have a question to anyone that stores any footage they take on their drones, which I imagine is most people.

I have taken a fair amount of footage with the drones Ive owned. I currently have a DJI Mini 4 Pro and tend to keep any footage that I take. But now I have filled up 2 x 4TB external drives and am wondering what to do. I hear you say, well delete some unwanted footage to make space for your new footage. And that would be a solution, but would get to a point where there wasnt anything you really wanted to get rid of.

I have been researching archival devices to store any footage for long term storage, but these devices start from around £2000 minimum.

I was wondering what other drone fliers that take footage, do with their footage and if anyone has any suggestions for long term storage, that doesnt involve buying more external SSD drives.

Thanks in advance

Vince
2024-1-17
Use props
The Ollie
lvl.4
Flight distance : 140187 ft
Germany
Offline

Ask yourself why you want to keep all the material.
Usually you cut the footage into a film with the best scenes, which you then enjoy watching again. So how useful is it to keep the outtakes? Or does it happen that you revise the film again later? Then you have to keep everything.
It's similar with clothing: you own 100 shirts, but you only wear 5 of them regularly and 2 on special occasions. What do you do with the rest or do you like collecting shirts? Then you need a larger closet.

But about your case. I would periodically go through the old footage and sort through it as your skills are constantly evolving. The rest should then be stored on a NAS, ideally with RAID so that your data is not lost if a drive breaks.
Unfortunately, spending money on a drone isn't enough; In addition, there are usually additional costs for PC and storage.Another question would be: Is your footage so well organized that you would find what you are looking for even after years?

I've done a lot of photography so far, so it wasn't that important, but the more 4K video I shoot, the more I have to face the same problem.
2024-1-17
Use props
Jan Spacil
lvl.4
Flight distance : 115299 ft

Czechia
Offline

IMHO the solution is simple, for archive purposes try to use cheaper mechanical HDD (SATA, even 5400RPM), they are cheaper and cheaper (respectively for the same price is higher capacity). Maybe some NAS with RAID1 could be the best solution.
2024-1-17
Use props
VinceG
lvl.2
Flight distance : 1134662 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

Jan Spacil Posted at 1-17 04:25
IMHO the solution is simple, for archive purposes try to use cheaper mechanical HDD (SATA, even 5400RPM), they are cheaper and cheaper (respectively for the same price is higher capacity). Maybe some NAS with RAID1 could be the best solution.

Hi Jan

Thanks for your response. I understand where you are coming from and The Ollie said much the same. Although I was under the assumption that NAS drives were specifically for accessing data across a LAN, not necessarily for archiving of data. But I do think you are right about using slower HDD for archival purposes. I was looking into tape storage solutions, but they are either too lower capacity to be useful or just too expensive, as mentioned £2000 upwards. And that is before any media is purchased.

I appreciate your input.
2024-1-17
Use props
The Ollie
lvl.4
Flight distance : 140187 ft
Germany
Offline

VinceG Posted at 1-17 07:28
Hi Jan

Thanks for your response. I understand where you are coming from and The Ollie said much the same. Although I was under the assumption that NAS drives were specifically for accessing data across a LAN, not necessarily for archiving of data. But I do think you are right about using slower HDD for archival purposes. I was looking into tape storage solutions, but they are either too lower capacity to be useful or just too expensive, as mentioned £2000 upwards. And that is before any media is purchased.

In former times I used streamer Tapes (250 MB ... yes Megabytes) for data storage. Okay ist long time ago but in this times the file sizes of picture files were smaller tan today. These tapes were slow and is was unconvinient so search for a file and after 10 years the tapes were mostly dead and not readable anymore. My files survived beacuse I always had another copy on external HHD.
I also think that a NAS with reliable non-expensive (not slow) HDDs are a good choice for you.
2024-1-17
Use props
VinceG
lvl.2
Flight distance : 1134662 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

The Ollie Posted at 1-17 03:11
Ask yourself why you want to keep all the material.
Usually you cut the footage into a film with the best scenes, which you then enjoy watching again. So how useful is it to keep the outtakes? Or does it happen that you revise the film again later? Then you have to keep everything.
It's similar with clothing: you own 100 shirts, but you only wear 5 of them regularly and 2 on special occasions. What do you do with the rest or do you like collecting shirts? Then you need a larger closet.

Hi Ollie

Thanks for your response.

I understand where you are coming from, but I am more of a leisure flyer. I fly not necessarily for the thrill of the flight, although I enjoy that side of it, but more for what I can capture with this tool. Yes, you are right there is a lot of redundant footage that might not be worth keeping. But, until I can unequivocally say I don't want it, I just want to store it until then and want to find a reasonably priced solution to do this.

I just thought there would be a fair few fliers out there that would be in the same predicament, but maybe I was wrong.
2024-1-17
Use props
FabioV
Second Officer
Flight distance : 2111709 ft
Italy
Offline

Probably the cheapest storage available in the market are based on mechanical HDD in external enclosure. In addition, I suggest to check the pricing of cloud storage services. For instance, on Amazon S3 there are cheap plans for storing files that you don't need to access frequently.
2024-1-17
Use props
VinceG
lvl.2
Flight distance : 1134662 ft
United Kingdom
Offline

FabioV Posted at 1-17 07:52
Probably the cheapest storage available in the market are based on mechanical HDD in external enclosure. In addition, I suggest to check the pricing of cloud storage services. For instance, on Amazon S3 there are cheap plans for storing files that you don't need to access frequently.

Hi Fabio

Thanks for your thoughts.

It looks like that might cost in the region of $23 per month for 50TB of space. Maybe if I was storing for just a short time this might be economical, but not sure how long it would be and uploading the files to the servers could take a fair while.
2024-1-17
Use props
FabioV
Second Officer
Flight distance : 2111709 ft
Italy
Offline

VinceG Posted at 1-17 08:45
Hi Fabio

Thanks for your thoughts.

The alternative for storing 50TB data in the cheapest way is on HDD. The bare HDD hardware will cost you more than 1.000 € (5 disks of 10TB). And probably you'd want to add a NAS, for managing your storage in an efficient way. The typical size is 4 bay at about 600 € each and you need at least two.
If you want to add some redundancy implementing a RAID architecture, you  to almost double that investment. Let's say 3.200€. To spend the same amount of money at 23€ per months it takes 11,5 years ...
In the meantime, probably some disks will need to be replaced. And they can get stolen, or damaged, if your house have some accident (fire, water, ...).
You need also to take into account the cost of energy and the space it takes in your house.
Taking into account all those consideration, you'll find that a cloud storage is not expensive at all. And it's very safe, compared to an in-house data storage.
The network bandwidth can be an issue. Not for me: I've 300 Mbit/s upload and 2.500 Mbit/s download.

2024-1-17
Use props
FabioV
Second Officer
Flight distance : 2111709 ft
Italy
Offline

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-17 10:28
If you want to store everything your best bet is to choose a 3.5" electro-mechanical hard drive.  It offers the best value in long-term storage with available capacities of 20+ TB.

If one of them crashes, 20 GB of data are lost. I’d prefer to use smaller sizes.
2024-1-17
Use props
FabioV
Second Officer
Flight distance : 2111709 ft
Italy
Offline

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-17 12:38
I prefer 4 in a RAID array.

Much better !
2024-1-17
Use props
Jan Spacil
lvl.4
Flight distance : 115299 ft

Czechia
Offline

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-17 12:38
I prefer 4 in a RAID array.

RAID10 variant is for backup only nonsence :].

I wouldn't worry about used CHIA mining drives either, as long as they are in RAID1, it shouldn't be a big security risk and the price is about a third of the price of new drives.

Oh and one more option, MS Office subscription, 4x individual licenses and then one family subscription, for five years there is a 5TB cloud for the most important data. And the total price is very low
2024-1-17
Use props
DJI Gamora
Administrator
Online

Hello, there. Thank you for sharing your query with us. You may also consider saving files through online platforms such as Google Drive. We hope you get the best recommendations that you may need. Please feel free to reach us if you need our assistance.
2024-1-17
Use props
KLRSKIR
Second Officer
Flight distance : 28675886 ft
  • >>>
United States
Offline

Dirty Bird Posted at 1-17 12:38
I prefer 4 in a RAID array.

Exactly what I do. WD EX4100 @ 72TB's. It's been a game changer. How much data do I store? I'm on my second 4 Red Pro drives.
2024-1-18
Use props
Advanced
You need to log in before you can reply Login | Register now

Credit Rules