A photo might be 3-5 megabytes. A 10-minute 4K video? Try 3-5 gigabytes. That's a thousand times bigger.

If you shoot videos whether it's family memories, YouTube content, or professional work you've probably noticed that storage fills up FAST. Let's talk about why video storage is different and how to handle it.

Why videos are storage nightmares

Size is the obvious problem

A single minute of video:

• HD (1080p): About 150MB
• 4K: About 375MB
• Professional 4K: 700MB+

Record an hour of 4K video? That's 20-40GB. A wedding videographer can easily shoot 200GB in one day. A YouTube creator might have terabytes of footage.

But it's not just size

Multiple versions: You don't just have the final video. You have:

• Original raw footage
• Edited versions
• Different quality exports (4K, 1080p, 720p)
• Backup copies
• Old project files "just in case"

What started as 100GB of footage becomes 400GB of files.

Speed matters: Video editing requires fast storage. Slow drives make editing painful stuttering playback, long rendering times, crashes. You can't edit 4K video off a cheap USB drive.

You need access quickly: Unlike old documents you rarely open, you might need ANY video file at ANY time. That vacation video from 3 years ago? You want it NOW, not "let me find which drive I put it on."

The storage challenge tiers

Active projects (need it NOW, need it FAST)

What: Current videos you're working on

Requirements:

• Fast storage (SSD ideally)
• Easily accessible
• Local (not cloud)

Solution: Internal SSD or fast external SSD

Cost: $150-500 for 1-2TB

Recent projects (might need soon)

What: Recently completed videos you might need to modify

Requirements:

• Reasonably fast
• Accessible within minutes
• Somewhat local

Solution: External hard drives or fast NAS

Cost: $50-200 per TB

Archive (probably never need again, but just in case)

What: Old finished projects, raw footage from years ago

Requirements:

• Cheap
• Reliable long-term
• Okay if access takes time

Solution: Large external drives, cloud storage, or tape backup (yes, tape still exists for archives)

Cost: $15-30 per TB

Practical strategies for regular people

Strategy 1: The tier system

Step 1: Work on fast local storage (internal SSD)

Step 2: Move completed projects to external hard drive

Step 3: Archive old stuff to cheap storage or cloud

Step 4: Delete raw footage once you're sure you don't need it

Result: You keep costs reasonable while having fast access to current work.

Strategy 2: The cloud + local hybrid

Current work: Local SSD (fast editing)

Finished videos: YouTube, Vimeo, or Google Photos (free or cheap hosting)

Important raw footage: Cloud backup (Google Drive, Dropbox)

Everything else: External drives or delete it

Result: Important stuff is backed up, finished videos are accessible anywhere, you're not paying to store everything forever.

Strategy 3: The ruthless editor

Keep:

• Finished videos (uploaded to YouTube or similar)
• Truly irreplaceable footage (wedding, once-in-a-lifetime events)

Delete:

• Duplicate takes
• Unused B-roll after 6 months
• Raw footage once video is finished and you're sure you won't re-edit

Result: Dramatically less storage needed, much cheaper.

For content creators and professionals

Working storage: Speed is everything

What you need: 2-4TB of FAST storage

Options:

• Internal NVMe SSD (fastest)
• High-speed external SSD via Thunderbolt or USB-C
• RAID 0 array for maximum speed (but keep backups!)

Cost: $300-1,000 depending on capacity

Why: Editing 4K video on slow storage is torture. This is where you need to spend money.

Project storage: Accessible but not breaking the bank

What you need: 10-20TB of reasonably fast storage

Options:

• Multiple external hard drives
• NAS (network storage) with multiple drives
• RAID 5 or RAID 10 for speed + protection

Cost: $500-2,000

Why: Recent projects you might need to revisit. Fast enough to work with, affordable enough for lots of storage.

Archive: Cheap and reliable

What you need: As much as you can afford

Options:

• Large external drives in fireproof safe
• Cloud storage (Google Drive, Backblaze)
• LTO tape backup (for serious professionals)

Cost: $15-30 per TB

Why: Old projects you probably won't need but can't delete. Optimize for cost per terabyte.

Cloud storage for videos: The honest truth

Pros:

• Access from anywhere
• Automatic backup
• Don't need to manage physical drives

Cons:

• EXPENSIVE for large amounts (1TB can be $10-20/month = $120-240/year)
• Uploading is slow (100GB can take hours or days)
• Downloading to edit is slow
• Ongoing cost forever

Best use: Finished videos (upload to YouTube) or critical backup of important raw footage. Not great as your primary video storage.

What professionals actually do

Wedding videographers:

• Fast SSD for current weddings
• RAID array for recent weddings (1 year)
• Archive to cheap drives + cloud backup
• Delete raw footage after 2 years (or charge clients for long-term storage)

YouTube creators:

• Fast SSD for current projects
• External drives for recent videos (in case they need to re-edit)
• Finished videos live on YouTube (free hosting)
• Delete raw footage after video is published

Film/TV production:

• High-end RAID arrays for active projects
• Massive archive systems (petabytes)
• Never delete anything (costs too much to recreate)
• Dedicated storage specialists managing it all

Practical advice for different situations

Family videos (vacations, kids growing up)

Keep: Finished edited videos

Upload: To YouTube (private/unlisted), Google Photos, or similar

Backup: One copy on external drive, one in cloud

Delete: Raw footage once edited video is finalized

Cost: Almost free if using free tiers of services

Hobbyist YouTube/TikTok creator

Need: 2TB fast storage + 4TB backup storage

Strategy: Edit on SSD, move finished projects to external drive, upload finals to platform

Cost: $300-500 one-time

Pro tip: Delete raw footage after videos are published. You probably won't remake that video.

Semi-professional (weddings, events, corporate videos)

Need: 4-8TB fast storage + 20-40TB archive

Strategy: RAID for active projects, large external drives for archive, cloud backup for critical stuff

Cost: $2,000-5,000 one-time + $100-300/year for cloud backup

Pro tip: Charge clients for long-term storage or have a policy (e.g., "raw footage deleted after 1 year")

The bottom line

Video storage is expensive because videos are huge. The key is having a strategy:

Hot storage (current work): Fast and expensive Warm storage (recent projects): Moderate speed and cost
Cold storage (archive): Slow and cheap

Most people's mistake: Trying to keep everything on the fastest storage. That's needlessly expensive.

Smart approach:

1. Edit on fast local storage
2. Move completed projects to slower, cheaper storage
3. Archive old stuff to very cheap storage or cloud
4. Delete what you truly don't need

The 3-2-1 backup rule for important videos:

• 3 copies total
• 2 different types of storage
• 1 offsite (cloud or drive at different location)

Videos will always eat storage. But with a smart strategy, you can manage it without going broke or losing precious footage.

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For sharing videos without storage hassles: NotesQR transfers files directly, no upload needed.

Questions? Connect on LinkedIn or X.com.