When install Hard Drive for DVR/NVR, some customers may use a normal desk top hard drive for their surveillance DVR/NVR needs. But this is quite wrong.

  • Traditional, desktop hard drives are made to operate only for 8 hours a day and 6 days a week. So, the overall work load will be at the most 10%-20% and their performance will be low to moderate. Therefore, they usually exhibit low mean time between failures.
  • While a surveillance hard drive forms a central component to the digital storage of surveillance video. It can be used in a DVR, NVR, Video Server or a Video Management System in order to work 24 hours a day and 7 days week. These hard drives need to be always active, in order to keep video evidence live.
  • Generally, a surveillance hard drive usage will be moderate to high and any kind of hard drive disruption will affect multiple users. Therefore, hard drives makers offering such drives will often offer them with high mean time between failure ability. Some hard drive makers like Seagate will also offer a firmware, as a rescue service plan to recover the data from the failed hard drive caused due to mechanical failure or accidental damage. For Surveillance Hard Drives, you can choose Seagate or Western Digital brand.
  • Before choosing a hard Drive, you also need to consider the following aspects which will decide the storage capacity for your DVR:

          1.)  The number of cameras you are using will affect the appropriate DVR or NVR hard drive size.

          2.)  The resolution of these cameras (low, medium or megapixel), the higher the camera resolution, the better the video quality, and this will increase the storage requirements.

          3.)  The Frames per Second rate you select for each camera (7.5, 15, 20 or 30 fps), for the higher the frame rate the more storage is needed.

          4.)  The length of time you wish for the DVR to record (one, two, three weeks or more). Once you have assessed the number of cameras, the resolution and frame rate, determined how much time you can record before the oldest day is deleted, you will be able to decide which size hard drive is best for your video surveillance needs.