How long will my UniFi Protect recordings last?

Retention depends on total storage capacity, number of cameras, resolution, and recording mode. Continuous recording uses 2-3x more storage than motion-only. For example, 8 cameras at 1080p High with motion-only recording on a 2 TB drive gives roughly 14-21 days of retention. This calculator shows exact retention estimates for your configuration.

What hard drive size do I need for UniFi Protect?

UniFi NVRs use 3.5" SATA drives. For small deployments (4-8 cameras at 1080p), a single 4 TB drive is often sufficient for 30 days of retention. Larger deployments with 4K cameras may need 8-16 TB drives in RAID configuration. This calculator recommends the optimal drive size and RAID level for your setup.

How does recording quality affect UniFi storage?

Quality settings dramatically affect storage. Moving from Medium to High quality roughly doubles storage usage, and Ultra (4K) can quadruple it. Motion-only recording can reduce storage by 50-70% compared to continuous. The most efficient setup for most businesses is High quality with motion-only recording.

What's the difference between UNVR and UNVR Pro?

The UNVR holds up to 4 hard drives and supports approximately 20 cameras at 1080p. The UNVR Pro holds up to 7 drives with a more powerful processor, supporting 50+ cameras with 4K recording. For deployments with more than 15 cameras or heavy 4K usage, the UNVR Pro is recommended.

Right-size the NVR before you order the drives.

Run your camera fleet against the recording policy you actually want, and get an honest number — not a vendor heuristic. Storage, bandwidth, PoE, and a recommended UNVR class in one panel, with PDF and CSV exports for the quote.

Open the calculator →How it works

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Surveillance array · retention3 × 8 TB · RAID-5

24 TB usable · ~74% projectedrecording

4 cameras

1 model · 22.0 Mbps · 28 W PoE

design is cleanall checks pass

Camera count is within the recorder limit, RAID is supported, and the chosen drives leave adequate headroom. Confirm the line item with the customer and ship.

System parameters · 4 controls30d · JBOD · 4 TB

RetentionHow long footage lives before it loops. Insurance carriers commonly require 30+ days for a valid claim.

30days1–180d range

Recording mode~35% duty cycle

RAIDNo redundancy. A single drive failure destroys all footage.

DrivesBay capacity and media type. Larger drives extend retention but slow rebuilds.

Why this recorder, and not the others4 candidates evaluated

Take it with you

Cameras

4 units · 1 model

In design · 1 camera type

G4 Bullet

5.5 Mbps · 7 W · 30 fps · high

Add from catalog · 33 models

4 cams · 2.9 TB required

Three numbers decide the size.

Storage sizing is rarely the hard part of a Protect deployment. It just gets ignored until it's expensive. The model above reflects how we size storage on a real job before any hardware gets ordered.

Bitrate × time × cameras

Each Protect camera writes H.265 video at a model-specific bitrate. The math is bitrate Mbps × seconds × camera count ÷ 8000 for GB — adjusted for the quality preset, FPS override, and motion-only vs. continuous policy.

NVR bays decide your ceiling

UNVR holds 4 bays; UNVR Pro holds 7; Cloud Key holds 1. With RAID-1 or RAID-5 the usable storage drops below the raw total. The calculator reports the headroom against the device you actually pick, not the marketing spec.

PoE + bandwidth, not just storage

Sizing storage in isolation hides the next two failures: a PoE switch that can't feed every camera, and an upstream link that can't carry peak bandwidth during motion bursts. The output panel reports all three so the order goes out clean the first time.

The terms above, in one paragraph each.

Skip if you live inside Protect every day. Useful if you're reading this for the first time, or if the spec sheet jargon needs unpacking before a stakeholder conversation.

Bitrate

Megabits per second a camera writes to disk. Variablein modern Protect cameras — the calculator uses the model's rated peak then adjusts for the quality preset and FPS you pick. Higher resolution, more motion in the frame, and higher quality presets all push it up.

Retention

How many days of footage the system keeps before the oldest day rolls off. Some industries have legal floors (cannabis retail, NYC bodegas, regulated finance lobbies). Most commercial clients are happy at 30 days; 90 days is the common compliance ceiling.

RAID-1 / RAID-5

Mirroring (RAID-1) gives half the raw storage as usable but survives a single drive failure with zero data loss. Parity (RAID-5) gives more usable storage (N-1)/N but requires three or more drives and rebuilds slowly. Default to RAID-1 on UNVR; consider RAID-5 on UNVR Pro for large deployments.

Motion vs. continuous

Motion-only triggers a recording when the camera detects movement (with a pre/post buffer); continuous writes 24/7. Motion saves 50–70% of storage for typical commercial sites. Continuous is required for some regulated environments and for cameras pointed at critical assets where every second matters.

PoE budget

The total wattage a switch can deliver across all PoE ports. A USW-Pro-24-PoE budgets 400W total; a Lite-16-PoE budgets 45W. The calculator sums camera draw and reports headroom against the switch class you're planning to deploy.

UNVR / UNVR Pro / Cloud Key

Three classes of Protect recorder. Cloud Key Gen2+ handles ≤ 8 camsin a single bay; UNVR is the workhorse 4-bay unit; UNVR Pro's 7 bays plus more capable processor handles 4K-heavy or 50+ camera deployments. The calculator recommends the right class for your bandwidth and storage profile.

Four common mistakes with UniFi Protect, and how to avoid them.

Four mistakes that happen when a Protect install is ordered before it's designed. Each one is cheaper to catch on paper than after the truck rolls.

× NO-PLAN

Buying cameras before planning coverage.

Hardware first, design later. Pick the purpose per camera — identify a face, capture a plate, watch a gate — then pick the model. More cameras with tighter intentional views beats one ultra-wide trying to see everything.

× POE-UNDERSIZED

Underestimating PoE, switching, and cabling.

Cameras get ordered before the switch is sized. Sum the camera wattage, leave headroom (don't run a PoE switch at 95%), use solid copper cable, and protect outdoor runs. Built-in PoE on appliances is finite: UNVR Instant tops out at 6× 4K or 15× 1080p.

× WRONG-RECORDER

Buying the wrong recorder or storage size.

The NVR sets camera capacity, retention, redundancy, and headroom. Don't size for today's four cameras when next year's plan is eight on 24/7 with smart detections. Size for the system you'll have in 1–2 years.

× FLAT-NETWORK

Treating network and security setup as an afterthought.

Cameras on a dedicated Camera VLAN. MFA on the UniFi account. No NVR ports exposed to the internet. Tune motion zones, recording mode, and notification rules — a system that alerts constantly is one people stop reading.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

If your question is not here, send it — a senior engineer reads every inbound.

How much storage does a UniFi NVR need for 16 cameras?

At 1080p High with 30-day retention, expect roughly 12–16 TB for 16 cameras on motion-only. At 4K Ultra, 40–60 TB. The number depends heavily on motion in the frame and FPS — the calculator runs your exact mix instead of a rule of thumb.

Can I use 4K cameras with the UNVR?

Yes. The UNVR supports 4K, but storage fills faster — a single 4K camera on continuous record can use 1–3 TB per month. The UNVR holds 4 bays of 3.5" SATA, so usable capacity scales with whatever drive size you fit. For 4K-heavy fleets, the UNVR Pro's 7 bays give the retention room you actually want.

Motion-only or continuous — what should I pick?

Default to motion-onlywith a 5s pre-buffer. It saves 50–70% of storage with little practical loss for residential and small-business use. Pick continuous deliberately for cash registers, building exits, regulated environments, or any camera where you might need to prove a negative ("nothing happened in this hour").

How long will my recordings actually last?

Pick a target retention (30, 60, 90 days), and the calculator reports the headroom against the NVR class and drive pool you choose. If headroom is below ~20%, increase drive size, switch to motion-only, or step up to UNVR Pro before you order.

Is this calculator wrong for any deployment shape?

Yes — the model assumes averagemotion for commercial environments. A camera on a busy retail floor will write more than this estimate; a camera in a quiet stairwell will write less. When you need numbers you can hand to a buyer or a board, that's the point at which we run a real RF + storage survey.

How is this different from the UniFi sizing tool on Ubiquiti's site?

Ubiquiti's tool is fine for a back-of-envelope; ours runs the math against the recording policies, RAID levels, and PoE budgets drawn from real installs. It also exports to PDF/CSV so the BoM goes straight into a quote without retyping.

Want this turned into a real install plan?

We'll do the site walk, finalize the camera placement against an RF heatmap in Foresight, and hand back a written BoM with NVR, drives, switches, drops, and labor — everything the install crew needs to follow without guessing.

Talk to an engineer