For many businesses, 30 days of security camera footage is a reasonable starting point.
It is long enough to investigate many thefts, workplace incidents, property damage claims, alarm events, and customer complaints. However, 30 days is not automatically enough for every organization.
A business may need 60, 90, 120, or even 365 days of recorded video depending on:
The right question is not simply, “How much storage can we afford?”
It is:
How long could it take before we realize that something happened and need the footage?
For a typical office, retail property, warehouse, apartment complex, or small commercial facility, 30 days may be enough when incidents are usually discovered quickly.
A broken window is noticed the next morning. A customer complaint arrives within a few days. An employee reports missing property before the end of the month. In those situations, 30 days gives the business a practical investigation window.
The risk increases when incidents are discovered late.
Consider these examples:
When delayed discovery is realistic, 60 or 90 days may be a safer operational choice.
These are planning ranges rather than universal legal requirements:
| Organization or risk level | Practical starting point |
|---|---|
| Small office or general commercial property | 30 days |
| Retail, apartments, warehouses, or cash-handling locations | 30 to 60 days |
| High-value inventory or delayed incident reporting | 60 to 90 days |
| Schools and childcare facilities | 30 to 90 days |
| Healthcare and behavioral-health facilities | 30 to 90 days |
| Municipalities and public facilities | 30 to 90 days, plus records-policy requirements |
| New Mexico cannabis facilities | At least 30 days, with longer retention for certain incidents |
| Major incidents, claims, investigations, or litigation | Preserve separately until formally released |
A business does not necessarily need to retain all video for a year simply because one incident may need to be kept that long.
A better approach is often:
That approach controls storage costs without allowing important evidence to disappear.
Most commercial camera systems use rolling retention.
When the available storage becomes full, the system deletes the oldest footage and uses that space for new recordings. A camera configured for 30 days will normally maintain the most recent 30 days while footage older than that is progressively overwritten.
This is convenient until someone waits too long to report an incident.
Once footage has been overwritten, it generally cannot be recovered. That is why every organization should have a clear process for preserving video involving:
The person reviewing the incident should archive the relevant period immediately, including enough time before and after the event to show the full context.
Two systems may both advertise 30-day retention while using very different storage designs.
A traditional camera system normally sends footage to a central network video recorder, server, or storage appliance.
The amount of footage the system can retain depends on:
Increasing retention may require larger drives, additional drives, another recorder, or an external storage appliance.
Hard drives are mechanical components with a finite operating life. They require monitoring and eventual replacement. A failed drive, degraded RAID array, full recorder, or incorrectly configured storage pool can reduce the actual footage available when an incident occurs.
Traditional storage can work well, but someone must own the maintenance responsibility.
Some camera providers store most or all recorded video in the cloud. This can reduce the need for an onsite recorder, but retention is often tied to the purchased subscription or storage tier.
Longer retention may result in an additional recurring charge for each camera. The organization should also understand:
“Cloud-based” does not always mean unlimited storage is included.
With onboard storage, each camera records video directly inside the camera rather than sending all footage to one central recorder.
This can reduce reliance on a central NVR and eliminate one large storage device as a single point of failure. It can also allow cameras to continue recording during an internet interruption, depending on the platform.
Verkada uses this type of hybrid architecture. Its standard camera option includes storage for 30 days of continuously recorded video on the camera, and camera models are available with onboard retention ranging from 30 to 365 days. A previously connected Verkada camera can continue recording to its onboard storage when internet service is unavailable and index that footage after connectivity returns.
This is different from a traditional NVR design because the primary recording storage is distributed across the cameras which can protect the footage from multiple fail points.
Verkada provides several ways to address retention without requiring a traditional onsite recording server.
Most standard Verkada cameras include enough onboard storage for 30 days of continuous recording. Longer-retention models are available for organizations needing 60, 90, 120, or as much as 365 days of recorded video.
Because the retention capacity is associated with the camera model, the organization can select longer retention where it matters most.
For example:
Not every camera necessarily needs the same retention period.
Verkada camera licenses currently include 30 days of cloud backup capability for most camera models. Extended cloud backup is available in additional 30-day license increments for cameras that require longer cloud retention.
Cloud backup is separate from the camera’s onboard storage. This distinction matters when comparing systems. A camera may record locally while also backing up selected or continuous footage to the cloud.
Verkada Command software licenses include unlimited storage for archived video clips. An authorized user can select footage connected to an incident and preserve it separately from the camera’s normal rolling retention.
Archived clips can be:
This allows an organization to maintain 30, 60, or 90 days of routine footage while preserving important incidents for much longer without keeping every minute from every camera indefinitely.
That combination is one of the practical advantages of Verkada’s approach:
Predictable onboard retention for routine video, with cloud-based preservation for the incidents that actually need to be kept.
New Mexico cannabis establishments have specific video requirements.
Current state rules require digital surveillance recordings to be kept for a minimum of 30 days. Recordings involving theft or certain security incidents must be kept for a minimum of 12 months. Video documenting cannabis destruction must be retained for at least 120 days.
The rules also require recordings to:
For a cannabis operator, choosing a “30-day camera” is only part of the solution.
The business must also have a reliable process for identifying security incidents and preserving the relevant footage for the longer required period.
Verkada’s onboard retention and incident archiving can help support that workflow, but the platform still needs to be configured and managed correctly.
There is no single federal rule requiring every school to retain all routine surveillance footage for a specific number of days.
However, video may become an education record under FERPA when it is directly related to a student and maintained by the school or a party acting for it. A hallway video used in a student disciplinary matter is one example. Videos created and maintained by a school law-enforcement unit for a law-enforcement purpose may be treated differently.
Schools should therefore separate:
A 30-to-90-day rolling retention period may be appropriate for routine coverage, but relevant footage should be archived as soon as the school knows it may be needed.
Access permissions are also important. Not every staff member who can view live cameras should automatically have the ability to download, share, or delete archived video.
Municipalities and other public bodies must consider more than operational security.
Depending on how video is created, used, requested, or preserved, it may become part of the organization’s public-records responsibilities. New Mexico provides records-retention guidance for counties, municipalities, and local public bodies, and those organizations should classify records according to their content and approved records policies.
A municipal retention plan should involve:
A routine overwrite period should not automatically delete footage that is subject to:
The camera platform should make it easy to preserve specific incidents without requiring the municipality to retain every camera continuously for years, resulting in large storage costs.
Healthcare organizations need to consider patient privacy, incident response, claims, and access to recordings.
Routine security footage is not automatically the same as a medical record. However, a recording that is maintained and used to make decisions about an individual may become part of a designated record set containing protected health information. HHS explains that records used to make decisions about individuals may fall within that designated record set regardless of whether they are stored onsite, remotely, or in an archive.
Healthcare facilities should establish clear policies covering:
Retention should be coordinated with the facility’s privacy officer, risk manager, legal counsel, and records policy rather than based only on available hard-drive capacity.
Keeping footage longer can be useful, but indefinite retention also creates responsibilities.
The organization must still control:
A camera system with a year of retention but weak user controls may create more risk than a well-managed system with 30 or 60 days of routine retention and a reliable archive process.
The objective is not to collect as much video as possible.
The objective is to retain the right footage for the right amount of time and make sure it can be found when needed.
Before selecting camera models or buying more storage, ask:
A busy retail store may know about an incident the same day. A remote utility site may not discover damage for several weeks.
Employee, customer, student, patient, or vehicle-related claims may not be submitted immediately.
Cannabis facilities have specific requirements. Public entities, schools, healthcare organizations, financial institutions, and contracted facilities may have different records or contractual obligations.
A system should allow authorized users to preserve an incident before routine footage is overwritten.
Retention is irrelevant if the camera, recorder, or storage device stopped recording and no one noticed.
The organization should know who can view, export, share, archive, and delete footage.
The answer depends on where the footage is stored, whether cameras have onboard storage, and whether the camera network has backup power.
Thirty days is a common starting point. Businesses with delayed incident reporting, high-value property, claims exposure, or regulatory requirements may need 60, 90, 120, or more days.
It may be enough when incidents are normally discovered and reported quickly. Properties with remote areas, monthly inventory reviews, delayed customer complaints, or frequent insurance claims should consider longer retention.
Yes. A strong system should allow an authorized user to archive the relevant video before the routine footage is overwritten. Verkada Command licenses include unlimited storage for archived video clips while the organization remains license-compliant.
No. Cloud retention varies by provider, plan, and camera. Some providers include a set retention period and charge additional recurring fees for longer storage. Organizations should distinguish between routine cloud recording, cloud backup, and storage for individually archived clips.
Verkada’s standard cameras primarily record to onboard storage. Organizations can also enable cloud backup, and selected incidents can be archived through Verkada Command.
A Verkada camera that has already been connected to Command can continue recording to its onboard storage during an internet interruption. Once the connection returns, the camera indexes the locally recorded footage and resumes normal cloud communication. The camera and network equipment still require power.
Routine surveillance footage must be kept for at least 30 days. Footage involving specified theft or security incidents must be retained for at least 12 months, and recordings of cannabis destruction must be retained for at least 120 days.
Choosing security camera retention should involve more than adding larger hard drives or selecting the cheapest cloud storage plan.
Auvra helps New Mexico organizations review:
The goal is to create a system that preserves the footage your organization is most likely to need without adding unnecessary complexity or storage expense.