PC HDD vs Surveillance HDD differences? NVR use

howardb

howardb

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Just got myself a stand-alone NVR for surveillance CCTV - is there any fundamental difference between the normal PC SATA HDD's and the "surveillance" drives? The specs all look the same to me, other than the 2 vs 3 year warranties (WD vs Seagate), but the costs differ greatly.

Does it really matter which HDD type you use in NVR's? For example, if I use a WD green instead of a WD purple will there be any issues?

I've been running my CCTV recordings via a dedicated PC for about 5 years now using WD green drives and have not experienced any drive failures or other issues... is there any specific reason I should then get "Surveillance" HDD's instead?
 
howardb said:
Just got myself a stand-alone NVR for surveillance CCTV - is there any fundamental difference between the normal PC SATA HDD's and the "surveillance" drives? The specs all look the same to me, other than the 2 vs 3 year warranties (WD vs Seagate), but the costs differ greatly.

Does it really matter which HDD type you use in NVR's? For example, if I use a WD green instead of a WD purple will there be any issues?

I've been running my CCTV recordings via a dedicated PC for about 5 years now using WD green drives and have not experienced any drive failures or other issues... is there any specific reason I should then get "Surveillance" HDD's instead?
Click to expand...

I don't think it's as much about reliability as it is about the sustained write/read speeds.
 
ODTech said:
I don't think it's as much about reliability as it is about the sustained write/read speeds.
Click to expand...

Thanks ODTech.
The new NVR can have 2x 4TB drives fitted, with 8x POE cameras - I currently have 4x 1080p cameras and will have 2 set to record on one HDD and 2 on the other. Recording will be on motion only, so not 24/7 recording.
Would sustained read/write speeds be crucial?
 
Which brand of Cameras are those? Any good? And is it wireless?
 
CamiKaze said:
Which brand of Cameras are those? Any good? And is it wireless?
Click to expand...

The cameras and NVR are from the Sunell brand/range; seemed to be the best price-vs-quality in the range; went with the 2MP cameras. Geovision were also good, but the price was more than double...
Got them from Eurobyte in Sunninghill last week (registered dealer with them), with the whole lot costing about R16k. All with a 3-year warranty.

No wireless on the cameras/NVR, using POE only - I ran all the POE cables a few years back for my older wireless Tenvis cameras - found the wireless signal was not too great and had video drop-outs, so changed over to POE - no issues, and it saved having to route power cables to each camera...the Tenvis are now slowly failing, so decided to replace the lot!

Currently running all 4 cameras in Full HD at 1080p 25 fps - picture is excellent during the day and good at night with the IR throw being about 20m-25m - more than sufficient for the monitored areas. The cameras are also vari-focal, from 2.8mm to 12mm (specs say 3.3-12mm) - I have mine set at 2.8mm all round.
 
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