One of the first “smart” doorbell camera systems was Doorbot, which was later rebranded as Ring and launched in 2013. Since then, they’ve been used to keep track of your kids’ comings and goings, capture spectacular weather phenomena, thwart porch pirates, capture delivery driver rants, and record houses exploding. Then, of course, we have the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie, which made national headlines and brought into focus questions like where exactly the camera’s video is stored and who has access to it.

Today, nearly 59 million American homes have a doorbell camera. Essentially, there are only two ways to store the video footage they capture. Many systems automatically send it to the manufacturer’s secure cloud-based servers in some unknown remote location. Others use a microSD card — either installed internally in the camera itself or on a separate, free-standing device somewhere in the home. The latter makes the video more secure than leaving it exposed in the camera itself, where an unscrupulous ne’er-do-well could easily access it.

Regardless of use, the last thing you want to do in an emergency — a frantic time when you really need to scrutinize footage quickly — is scramble around trying to figure out how to access it. That depends entirely on the camera system being used. So the how, where, and who should all be asked before you actually make the purchase, because the answers will almost certainly influence which brand you go with.

Cloud storage may seem more convenient, but it comes with conditions, not the least of which is a monthly subscription fee that determines how long the video will remain on the company’s servers and who has access to it. According to Consumer Reports’ Dan Wroclawski, a company will only keep camera footage temporarily for customers without a monthly subscription, then delete it once that time limit is reached (which varies by company policy). And while it might be possible to recover the deleted footage, it’s a slow, tedious process.

Meanwhile, footage stored on an internal microSD card (in the camera or another device entirely) offers more control and privacy and all but eliminates the monthly subscription fee. What‘s more, in an emergency where time is of the essence, having the video footage at your fingertips helps law enforcement avoid delays associated with navigating privacy issues with the camera manufacturer. Using the right kind of microSD card is also important. Don’t opt for standard cards typically used for smartphones or handheld cameras; instead, use one specifically designed to handle the continuous read/write cycles of security cameras.

That said, law enforcement can compel companies to hand over cloud footage by presenting a search warrant, or request it without a warrant in life-threatening emergencies. Even if you keep the footage locally, you can be served a court order to turn it over. With more and more wireless doorbell cameras on the market today, DIY installation has become far more prevalent, making it much easier for the general buying public to install one on their own.