Medical video recording

The last step in video recording is saving the file on a suitable medium. The recording software provided the correct data format and the appropriate storage container was selected. Video files are usually quite large (from a few MB to several GB). They can be saved on several types of media. You can mention here:

• external drives (also classic hard drives or SSDs),
• all types of pendrives, i.e. popular pocket Flash memories connected to the USB port,
• writable optical media: CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray.

Here, you should consider the issue of direct recording (real-time recording) and subsequent archiving and backup.

Direct recording

In direct recording, it is critical to keep the system as low as possible to delays. In the case of important material, recording directly to optical media is better to exclude - minimal delays related to defects on the board, accidental shocks (e.g. when taking off the device) and the inability to verify the correctness of the recording disqualify this solution. The use of external drives also increases the failure rate (for example, the cable is accidentally torn out of the socket), and in the case of drives connected via USB, it also unnecessarily increases the load on the processor.

In direct recording, the only sensible solution is saving to an internal disk. Modern hard drives and SSDs provide performance ready to record even several video streams at the same time. The only problem could be the size of file. If there is a possibility that the recording will be very long and the file may become large, make sure that both the video container and the file system on the disk can handle such large files. Among the file systems supported by the Windows NT system can be distinguished:

• FAT (FAT16) – with maximum file size 2 GB,
• FAT32 – with maximum file size 4 GB,
• NTFS – with a file size limited only by the partition size on the disk,
• exFAT (only in Windows XP Service Pack 2 and newer systems, primarily intended for removable media) – with a file size limited only by the partition size on the disk.

In the case of an AVI container, the file size is generally limited to 4 GB (for AVI 1.0), however older implementations (e.g. in Video for Windows) may limit it to as much as 2 GB. Therefore, this size (2 GB) should be taken as a safe limit for the size of files. Recording software should propose appropriate safe solutions if this size is exceeded.

Archiving and backup

In the case of archiving and making backups (backups), the possibility of minor downtime is not important. It is also possible to verify the correctness of the saved data. All media are allowed. However, all the characteristics of the media should be taken into account and the data movement function should also be considered.

CDs

They are currently the oldest practically useful removable media. They provide sufficient security, and in many situations their size is enough to keep even a long film. However, using them to archive or back up a large set of video files from your hard drive is an unrealistic idea. A modern 1 TB disk (i.e. 1000 GB or 1024 GB) would then require about 1500 CDs, which would take up the entire cabinet, and recording them would take about 100 hours. Therefore, CDs are only suitable for storing small amounts of data.

DVDs

They are not much younger and not much more technologically advanced than CDs. They provide a little more capacity (to protect 1 TB of data you need to spend about 200 plates and 40 hours of time), but unfortunately, due to the high sensitivity of plates written in recorders (not factory-pressed plates) to external conditions, fungi and bacteria, as well as Due to the low quality of most of the available boards (even from reputable manufacturers), their use should be very limited. In the case of most of such tiles, one should also remember to leave a large (about 10%) of the edge part of the tile empty, because the degradation of the carrier occurring in these regions sometimes makes it impossible to read this data, even immediately after recording! In summary, writable DVDs shouldn't actually be used for anything these days, not even data transfer.

Blu-ray discs

They have nearly 10 times the capacity of DVDs, which would make it a potentially good option to be used as an archive or backup. This technology, however, is little proven and it would be necessary to make sure that it is free from the disadvantages of DVD.

Pendrive

Increasing capacity makes these media ideal for carrying video data. However, attention should be paid to the surprisingly high unreliability and the possibility of recording errors. In the case of saving important data on such a medium, the correctness of the recording should always be verified by reading the data and comparing it with the original (for example an attempt to play the film). You should also pay attention to the correct safe disconnection of such a device from the system by first clicking the appropriate icon on the Windows taskbar (against the assurances about the possibility of quick disconnection of pendrives with the FAT32 file system).

External drives

This is ideal for archiving and backup. Lack of permanent connection to the computer allows you to keep the data also in the event of a serious failure of the computer, e.g. related to overvoltage in the power network. With caution (no shocks) and sufficient cooling for prolonged use, the external drive should provide reliable data archiving and backup.