rclone
A command-line sync tool that copies folders to the server over SFTP, resumes after a dropped connection and can cap bandwidth during office hours, so an overnight upload of a day's rushes does not choke the studio internet.
Video storage server in Kenya
A server that holds every shoot, not just the last one
Camera cards fill up, editing drives fail and clients ask for a clip from a shoot two years ago. A storage server gives your production house, channel or church media team terabytes of space off-site, with full root access to run the transfer and sharing tools you choose.
40 hours
We suggest
Storage S2
KES 5,000/mo
Around 55 hours at 60 GB per hour is about 3.3 TB of the 4 TB disk. Enough for a small production house keeping a year of client work.
Order Storage S2Why footage needs a home outside the edit suite
Most Kenyan production teams we talk to keep footage on a pile of USB drives labelled by client and month. That works until a drive is dropped on set, a laptop is stolen in traffic, or nobody can remember which drive holds the 2023 corporate shoot the client now wants re-cut.
A storage server fixes the structure problem first. Every project gets a folder on one large disk pool, named the same way, reachable from the office, from an editor working at home or from a hotel during a shoot upcountry. Finished projects move off expensive fast drives in the edit machine and onto capacity you rent by the month.
Be clear about what this server is for. It uses SATA disks: excellent for keeping many terabytes at a fair price, not fast enough to edit multi-camera 4K directly over the internet. Edit from local SSDs, then push camera originals, project files and exports to the server. For a church streaming every Sunday, that means each service is archived the same week and can be shared with members or the diaspora congregation through a link.
The problem
Where media teams lose footage
One drive, one copy
The camera card was formatted after copying to a single external drive. When that drive clicks and stops mounting, the only copy of a wedding, an advert or a documentary interview is gone, and recovery labs charge heavily with no guarantee.
Nobody can find the old shoot
Footage lives on whichever drive was free that week. Finding a two-year-old clip means plugging in ten drives and guessing. A single archive with a consistent folder scheme turns that afternoon into a quick search.
Delivering large files to clients
Free transfer services cap file sizes, expire links quickly and compress previews. Sending a broadcaster or agency 80 GB of masters often ends with someone driving a hard disk across town in traffic.
Editors in different places
Freelance editors, colourists and sound people rarely sit in the same room. Without a shared, permission-controlled store, versions multiply across WhatsApp, flash disks and personal cloud accounts, and nobody is sure which cut is final.
What runs on it
Tools media teams run on a storage server
You get full root access, so you install the stack that suits your workflow. These are common, well-documented choices.
Syncthing
Keeps a project folder in step between an editor's machine and the server without a central account. Useful for freelancers who should only see the projects you share with them.
Nextcloud
A self-hosted file platform with a web interface. Create password-protected download links with an expiry date, so clients collect masters and graded exports directly from your own server.
Kopia
Snapshot backup with encryption and deduplication. Point it at your project drives and it uploads only changed data, keeping dated snapshots you can restore from if a project file is corrupted or overwritten.
FFmpeg
Run it on the server to create small H.264 proxies or preview files from archived footage, so a producer can review an old shoot in a browser without downloading the full camera originals.
Sizing
How much footage fits on each plan
Move the slider to the hours of camera-original footage you want to keep. We assume about 60 GB per hour, typical of 4K H.264/H.265 camera files, and keep roughly 20% of the disk free.
- 5–13 hours Storage S1 About 13 hours at roughly 60 GB per hour is close to 800 GB, which fits the 1 TB disk with headroom. Suits a creator or church archiving a few months of services.
- 18–55 hours Storage S2 Around 55 hours at 60 GB per hour is about 3.3 TB of the 4 TB disk. Enough for a small production house keeping a year of client work.
- 60–110 hours Storage S3 Roughly 110 hours comes to about 6.6 TB on an 8 TB disk. The extra cores also help if you generate proxies with FFmpeg on the server.
- 115–165 hours Storage S4 About 165 hours at 60 GB per hour is close to 10 TB of the 12 TB disk, leaving space for project files and exports alongside the footage.
- 170+ hours Storage S5 Up to about 220 hours fits one 16 TB plan with headroom. Beyond that, split clients across two servers or keep only selects and masters for older projects.
This is an estimate: ProRes, RAW and 8K formats use several times more space per hour than the 60 GB assumed here, while 1080p footage uses far less.
Storage S1
KES 2,000/mo
- 1 core
- 2 GB RAM
- 1 TB SATA storage
- 2 TB transfer
Storage S2
KES 5,000/mo
- 2 cores
- 8 GB RAM
- 4 TB SATA storage
- 8 TB transfer
Storage S3
KES 7,000/mo
- 4 cores
- 16 GB RAM
- 8 TB SATA storage
- 16 TB transfer
Storage S4
KES 15,000/mo
- 6 cores
- 24 GB RAM
- 12 TB SATA storage
- 24 TB transfer
Storage S5
KES 20,000/mo
- 8 cores
- 32 GB RAM
- 16 TB SATA storage
- 32 TB transfer
Before you go live
Setting up a footage archive properly
0 of 8 done. Tick them off as you go.
Built for Kenya
Working with footage from Kenya
Upload speed sets the pace
Most business fibre lines in Kenya download much faster than they upload. Check your real upload speed before planning, and seed a large back catalogue in stages over nights and weekends. rclone and Kopia both resume where they stopped after an outage.
Pay as you grow, in shillings
Plans are billed monthly in Kenya shillings and paid by M-Pesa or card, so you can start on a small plan while you sort old drives and move up when a big client or a busy wedding season adds terabytes.
People in your footage have rights
Interviews, events and congregations show identifiable people, which makes the footage personal data under the Data Protection Act, 2019. Restrict who can open raw folders, keep release forms with the project, and delete footage you no longer have a reason to keep.
Questions
Video & media: your questions, answered
Can my editors edit 4K footage directly from the storage server?
Not comfortably. The server uses SATA disks and is reached over the internet, so latency and your line speed limit playback. The practical workflow is to edit from local SSDs, then archive camera originals, project files and exports to the server. FFmpeg proxies stored on the server are fine for remote review.
How long will it take to upload a day of shooting?
Divide the data size by your real upload speed. For example, 200 GB over a line that uploads at 50 Mbps takes roughly nine hours, assuming the line is otherwise idle. Run a speed test at the time you plan to upload, because shared office lines vary through the day.
Can clients download finished videos from my own server?
Yes. Install Nextcloud or a simple file browser and create share links with a password and an expiry date. The client downloads from your server, and every plan includes a monthly transfer allowance that you can check against the size and number of deliveries you make.
Is this a good place for our church livestream recordings?
It works well as the archive behind the stream. Your streaming platform handles live delivery, and after each service you upload the recording to the server, where it is kept in dated folders. Members or partners can then be given links to specific services without relying on a single social media account.
Does HostingKE back up my footage for me?
No. A storage plan is a server under your control, and you decide what is copied there and how. That is why we recommend tools such as Kopia, rclone or Syncthing with a schedule you set. Keep at least one other copy, for example on local drives in the office.
What happens when the disk fills up?
Uploads start failing, so set an alert well before that point. You can move to a larger plan, archive older projects to local drives, or delete intermediate renders you can regenerate. Many studios keep camera originals and final exports only, which frees a lot of space.
Also on Storage Hosting
Backup storage for what you need to keep
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Plans from KES 2,000 a month, paid by M-Pesa or card.
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