About us



Drive Headquarters, Inc., Storage - Data, San Ramon, CA


CameraFTP stands for "Camera For Total Protection". It offers cloud recording, remote playback and remote monitoring services. Unlike services offered by ADT and other security companies, our service truly targets the mass market. It is extremely easy to setup, the cost is extremely low, and with our cloud-based technology, you can remotely monitor the scene or play back the recorded images from anywhere on any devices. Because the data is stored in our secure data center, it is far more secure than traditional security cameras.


Today, network security cameras are no longer expensive or complicated. By utilizing low-cost network cameras and CameraFTP service, consumers and businesses can enjoy better service than traditional CCTV security systems at a much lower cost. CameraFTP also offers software based security camera for free. With our software, you can turn a webcam or a smartphone into a network security camera at no cost!


Under the hood, CameraFTP offers a special FTP service that is fully optimized for network security cameras. It supports almost all network cameras and software-based security cameras. CameraFTP is operated by Drive Headquarters, Inc. (DriveHQ). Based in Silicon Valley, DriveHQ is the first Cloud IT Solution provider, offering a wide range of cloud IT services. DriveHQ is also one of the largest FTP hosting service providers. We developed our own highly scalable FTP platform. A conventional FTP server that runs on a Linux or Windows server cannot support tens of thousands of users; however, our FTP server can easily handle tens of millions of users. Moreover, our FTP system is seamlessly integrated with DriveHQ Cloud IT system. Users can use any FTP client software to access our FTP service, they can also use DriveHQ FileManager, Online Backup, Mapped Drive or DriveHQ.com to access DriveHQ services.


CameraFTP is different from any regular FTP services. A network camera may automatically upload images to the FTP server every second. Compared with a regular person, who probably only uploads a few files per day, a network camera can create 100 times or even 1000 times more load than a regular person. To support millions of network cameras, an FTP system must be extremely efficient and scalable. Built on DriveHQ’s highly scalable FTP platform, CameraFTP offers more optimized services to network camera users. Our service is more reliable, more efficient, more functional and more secure than any regular FTP services.

Security Camera Basics
  • Security Cameras

    Security cameras, also known as surveillance cameras, are used to monitor homes, businesses, and other types of properties. Typically, they are connected to a recording device such as a tape recorder or a disk. In the last few years, IP-based security cameras have become increasingly popular. Security cameras enable you to remotely monitor a scene and play back recorded images.

  • Analog CCTV Cameras

    Analog Closed-Circuit Television cameras record pictures or videos as analog signals. Most of old surveillance cameras are analog cameras. This type of camera records directly onto a video tape recorder. In order to save recordings to a PC, the analog signal must be converted to a digital format; this can be done with a video capture card.

  • Digital CCTV Cameras

    Digital CCTV cameras directly capture images and videos as digital signals. The signals are compressed and encoded into a standard video format such as MPEG. Digital CCTV cameras usually record videos onto a hard drive or a storage server.

  • IP / Network Cameras / Webcams

    An Internet Protocol camera or network camera is a type of digital video camera that can send and receive data via a computer network. This type of camera has become increasingly popular among homeowners and business owners in the last few years because of steep price drop. A webcam can also be considered as a network camera because it can send or receive data via a computer.

  • Security Camera Vulnerabilities

    Security cameras themselves are not completely secure. They can fail due to dust, smoke, fog, loss of power, or damage. They are also easily susceptible to tampering. If a security camera records data onsite, both the camera and the recorded data can be destroyed – by intruders, burglars, or anyone else who wants the data gone forever.

  • Camera Features
  • Motion Detection

    Many security cameras now support motion detection - a technology that triggers recording only when something changes in the scene. Motion can be detected by image changes or sound changes. Many security cameras can only detect image changes. As minor scene changes can occur due to events such as natural light changes or wind changes, many security cameras allow you to configure a “threshold”. By setting a higher threshold, minor scene changes will be ignored and only scene changes that reach the “threshold” will be recorded. Motion detection is very useful if you want to significantly reduce bandwidth and storage usage.

  • Night Vision Cameras

    One of the main usages of a security camera is to monitor night-time scenes. If the scene is not well lit, it is recommended that you use a camera with night vision capability. Those cameras use an infrared spectrum of light at night and can take pictures of objects in the dark.

  • Wireless Security Cameras

    Wireless security cameras transmit video and audio signals wirelessly to a receiving device. There are analog and digital types of wireless cameras. Digital security cameras have become much more popular recently because they can be accessed over the Internet.

  • FTP Cameras

    FTP cameras are a type of IP cameras that support uploading of recorded images and videos to an FTP server. Almost all modern IP cameras support FTP upload. FTP offsite storage is by far the most popular way to store image and video files from a security camera.

  • Camera Storage & Image Size
  • Security Camera Storage

    Most security camera systems can store recorded images and videos to a tape, hard drive, or onsite storage server. However, storing data in this manner leaves it susceptible to tampering and damage by intruders. For better protection and security, offsite storage is the best solution.

  • Storage Requirement

    The required amount of storage is dependent on your camera’s image resolution, frame rate, compression ratio and days of retention. Setting up your camera to use motion detection can significantly reduce storage usage.

  • Camera Retention Time

    Security cameras can generate a large amount of data. The amount depends on the compression ratio, images captured per second, and image size. Most cameras provide a limited amount of storage space; therefore, recordings are usually kept for a preset amount of time before being overwritten by new images.

  • Camera Image Resolutions

    An analog security camera usually supports PAL (768x576 Pixels) or NTSC (720x480 pixels) format. A digital security camera can support many different image resolutions, e.g. 320x240, 640x480, 800x600, 1280x960, and more.

  • CameraFTP.com Service
  • Offsite Recording

    Offsite recording addresses one of the biggest vulnerabilities of a security camera. Instead of storing recorded data onsite, recorded images are uploaded to DriveHQ FTP server in real-time. Even if an intruder destroys a security camera, he cannot destroy the recorded data, which can be immensely helpful for tracking down the intruder.

  • Remote Play Back

    Once a security camera uploads the recorded images to DriveHQ FTP server, you can play back the recorded images from anywhere using DriveHQ’s CameraShow feature. The CameraShow feature is a browser-based feature and works on PC, MAC, tablets and even smart phones.

  • Real-time viewing

    DriveHQ Camera FTP service supports real-time viewing of a scene using the CameraShow feature. Many IP cameras can support real-time viewing; however, such feature usually only works at the same location. With DriveHQ’s Camera FTP service, you can view images over the internet from anywhere.

  • Camera FTP Setup

    Your IP camera should have a web-based configuration wizard where you can enter cameraftp.drivehq.com as the FTP server. The FTP port number is the default port number 21. For username and password, put your CameraFTP.com username and password. Please note that accounts on cameraftp.com are not the same as accounts on DriveHQ.com. Your DriveHQ username and password will not work on CameraFTP.com.