Source-media release
Memory Card Rotation Planner
Find the card pool required when copy verification, a limited nightly window, and an extra hold policy delay formatting.
Rotation status
Release timing
Decision guide
Keep exposed cards unavailable until release is earned
What this tool helps you decide
This planner tests whether an owned memory-card pool can support repeated capture days without formatting media prematurely. It combines daily card consumption with the duration of a verified offload, the hours available for processing during each cycle, and any extra hold rule. The result is a minimum simultaneous card count and a surplus or shortfall. It turns a verbal instruction such as “keep yesterday's cards” into a quantity that can be packed and audited.
Before you start
Enter total primary data captured each day and conservative usable capacity per card. Bring the complete offload duration from a rehearsal or the offload planner, including every required destination and integrity check. State how many hours the operator can actually work on offloads before another duty or call time interrupts the process. Extra hold days begin after the modeled processing allowance and should reflect a written release policy, not a vague preference.
How the calculation works
Safe card capacity applies formatted usability and the chosen reserve. Cards consumed per day equal daily primary capture divided by that safe amount, rounded upward. Processing days equal verified offload hours divided by the available window, again rounded upward; every day beyond the first becomes backlog allowance. The rotation interval includes one active capture day, backlog days, and extra hold days. Multiplying daily card consumption by that interval produces the required pool.
How to interpret the results
Ready means the entered pool meets this model, not that any particular card has passed verification. Shortfall states the additional quantity needed to honor the policy during continuous production. Processing days expose a schedule mismatch: when verified work cannot fit into one available window, an additional day's cards remain locked. The conservative release time is a policy boundary. Actual release still requires completed copy reports, resolved errors, correct destination custody, and an authorized format decision.
Worked example
Daily capture of 420 GB on 128 GB cards, planned at 93% usable capacity with 10% reserve, consumes four cards per day. A six-hour verified offload with only four hours available spans two processing cycles and creates one backlog day. Holding verified sources for one additional full day produces a three-day rotation interval. The minimum pool is therefore twelve cards. Owning ten would show a two-card shortfall even though one day's capacity appears ample.
Assumptions and limitations
The model treats each day's payload and card capacity as one pooled requirement; mixed card types or camera-specific custody may need separate runs. It assumes work advances by the stated daily window and does not schedule individual card completion times. A failed verification, damaged destination, power loss, missing operator, or slower-than-planned copy can extend the lock. The calculation does not authorize erasure, assess card health, or establish a professional production's legal chain of custody.
Next steps
Write the release condition beside the physical card-state system and assign the person allowed to change a card from verified to reusable. If processing creates backlog, revisit parallel readers and destination throughput in the Media Offload Time Planner before simply removing verification. Pack the calculated pool using the Memory Card Quantity Planner, and document each batch with the copy-status checklist.