Disk Setup for Windows CCTV server

[Nazbit]

Hi,

I'm going to be building a Windows machine to act as a CCTV server. It will be required to record 5-8 IP cameras in 1080p 24 hours a day.

The chassis only has space for 4 internal disks and I am wondering how best to configure them.

1. The first question is about RAID. I will have a full off site backup to a NAS in my parents house, but I'd like the convenience of being able to hot swap a drive in the event of single drive failure. So is RAID 5 my best bet? Or is that too much of an overheard when writing data 24/7?

2. Baring in mind I'm limited to 4 bays, which of the following is the best option for the system disk:

• Use 1 drive for system and 3 for cctv storage (waste of 1 drive bay and no redundancy of system drive?)
• Run 4 drives in RAID and create a small partition for system and partition remainder for video?
• Run Windows from USB and use all 4 drives in RAID for storage

3. What 4TB sata drive would you recommend?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Nazbit]

Yes you're right about the WAN I wasn't thinking about that. I was just thinking I'd include it in my overnight batch with everything else, it will of course be far too large.

I want to store 1080p locally but I'd need to compress the streams significantly for the offsite backup, but that means transcoding all of those streams and probably transferring throughout the day.

Need to think the backup situation through a bit more.