bigcatbobcat 0 Posted October 29, 2010 I've got sort of a generic, seemingly simple question: How do I pick a hard drive for a DVR? I saw in some literature that a particular company was using "video specific" or something along those lines. Does the cache matter? I know about size and RPM, of course you'd want higher numbers there but are there any other considerations I need to take into account? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted October 29, 2010 Couple of current threads on this: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22998&start=0 viewtopic.php?f=12&t=23024&hilit=evds Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
zmxtech 0 Posted November 2, 2010 make sure you buy a color hard drive you would not want to store in black n white...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Henry-f 0 Posted November 2, 2010 Just to confirm the last post was a joke (in case anyone is actually using this for genuine advice !!). Whilst they all look the same from the outside hard drives come in many different guises. The vast majority (and so read cheapest) are designed to go into computers. These are not suitable for use in DVR recorders. The reason is they are only designed to run for 8 hours a day and to process pockets of data. A DVR recorder runs 24 hours a day and has a high churn rate of it's data. It fills up completely then overwrites it's self. People often see hard drives as a weak point in a DVR and to be honest they shouldn't be. If you speak to the hard drive manufacturer's the design that goes into them is incredible and it makes you appreciate why getting exactly the right one is critical. Make sure you buy a good AV grade hard drive specifically designed for the job. We favour Western Digital drives and have found them to be excellent when compared to some others on the market. Hope that helps. Henry Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted November 2, 2010 Make sure you buy a good AV grade hard drive specifically designed for the job. We favour Western Digital drives and have found them to be excellent when compared to some others on the market. The WD AV drives dont work in all DVRs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted November 2, 2010 Make sure you buy a good AV grade hard drive specifically designed for the job. We favour Western Digital drives and have found them to be excellent when compared to some others on the market. The WD AV drives dont work in all DVRs. And in fact, not all drives are PHYSICALLY created equal. Check out this warning from QNAP's compatibility list: "The connector height of Maxtor 200GB (6L200M0) and 250GB (6L250S0) SATA hard disk drives (HDD) is slightly different from the HDD connector of TS-101. Installing these hard disk drives on TS-101 may break the HDD connector on the NAS." Also: "Since the design of the screw position of this hard disk drive model is slightly different from others, the hard disk drives of 2-bay and 4-bay Turbo NAS may not be detected properly. Please plug the hard disk drive tray into the drive bay until it clicks into place to avoid hard disk drive detection error." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnyviper 0 Posted November 6, 2010 I wouldn't recommend using anything less than a "Continuous" or "Server" grade drive. We prefer Segate drives. Although a hard drive can't be expected to last forever, a better drive will definitely pay off in terms of lifespan in a CCTV application. With that being said, I know of an installer who refuses to install any DVR without a Solid State Drive. Yes, it's a good idea, but for many jobs it can add a huge expense. A cheap home grade drive could also be fine for certain applications also. If reliability isn't a huge concern, and a new drive is readily available, you could definitely save some coin! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thewireguys 3 Posted November 6, 2010 I wouldn't recommend using anything less than a "Continuous" or "Server" grade drive. We prefer Segate drives. Although a hard drive can't be expected to last forever, a better drive will definitely pay off in terms of lifespan in a CCTV application. With that being said, I know of an installer who refuses to install any DVR without a Solid State Drive. Yes, it's a good idea, but for many jobs it can add a huge expense. A cheap home grade drive could also be fine for certain applications also. If reliability isn't a huge concern, and a new drive is readily available, you could definitely save some coin! What SSD drives are they using? I thought SSD drives have problems with write speeds and slowing down over time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
johnnyviper 0 Posted November 6, 2010 That's a good question! I asked the same thing, and didn't get clear answers. At that point he may have noticed that WTF look on my face. He just claimed it was for the reliability aspect. Now that you mention the life cycle or slowdown of these drives it really makes no sense at all.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thewireguys 3 Posted November 6, 2010 At some point I would like to order one and test it out myself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted November 6, 2010 SSD for the OS but not for the video recording, thats just more unreliable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bean00 0 Posted November 8, 2010 I've had it from two different storage solution manufacturers. SSD drives can't handle the continuous writing to the disk 24/7. They burn out rather quickly(I had estimates for an application recently where they said they won't guarrantee more than 6 months.). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thewireguys 3 Posted December 23, 2010 http://www.mxinstaller.com/blogspage.php?id=77 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
