ray_uk 0 Posted August 19, 2013 Hi Last month I purchased an 8 chan cctv recorder on ebay. Over the las week I noticed the recorder getting very hot. It would then shut down. Wait a few mins and it will work perfect again. This may last a few days, then shut down again. Ive been in touch with the seller, and he replied its the hardrive faulty. Its a western digital 1 Ter drive. Ive tested the drive in my pc and is working fine. I then put the drive into a backup caddy and is working 100%. So I presume my hardrive is ok. I told the seller this and Im not happy in what he said.. He told me that PC hardrives wont work in CCTV Recorders. Ive never ever heard of this. Hope you can help me. Here is the reply below. Many thanks Ray. Hi Ray, A PC hard drive only works when you press "save" on a PC... in a dvr they are working 24 hours a day (even if you have motion detection set up, the dvr constantly records to the hard drive and overwrites every 30 seconds or so)... Hence a PC hard drive is not recommended for a DVR - if they were, then manufacturers would not make purpose built CCTV hard drives... As advised previously, if you want us to test the unit, we are happy to do so. If we find the fault is not related to the hard drive, then we will replace / refund, but obviously we need to test the unit before we can decide what is at fault. Same for the remote control, if you want to return that, we can test it. Our return details are: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
milkisbad 0 Posted August 20, 2013 Run it for a few days without the harddrive, if it doesn't shut down, then you'll know the HD was causing it to shut down. If it still shuts down, then you know its the DVR. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ray_uk 0 Posted August 20, 2013 Hi Thanks for reply. The seller is still saying Im putting in a wrong hardrive Getting confused. What is the difference between a PC Sata Drive and a CCTV drive. Ray Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted August 20, 2013 Hence a PC hard drive is not recommended for a DVR - if they were, then manufacturers would not make purpose built CCTV hard drives... Hi the guy is talking crap. what came first the DVR or AV drive ...... we still have 10 year old standard drives in DVRs the only thing you have not talked about is what cooling your DVR has. ?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ray_uk 0 Posted August 20, 2013 Hi The hardrive is in perfect working order tested in my computer for a week and in a caddy, perfect. Ive run the recorder as you say and seems to work ok. With the back off the heat sink on the power supply is extremely hot. I will leave it on overnight and see what happens. The trouble is the fault is intermittent, and may work for days. Owing to the heat, could be a solder fracture. Im sending it back. Thanks all Ray Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
the toss 0 Posted August 20, 2013 HiLast month I purchased an 8 chan cctv recorder on ebay. Over the las week I noticed the recorder getting very hot. It would then shut down. Wait a few mins and it will work perfect again. This may last a few days, then shut down again. Ive been in touch with the seller, and he replied its the hardrive faulty. Its a western digital 1 Ter drive. Ive tested the drive in my pc and is working fine. I then put the drive into a backup caddy and is working 100%. So I presume my hardrive is ok. I told the seller this and Im not happy in what he said.. He told me that PC hardrives wont work in CCTV Recorders. Ive never ever heard of this. Hope you can help me. Here is the reply below. Many thanks Ray. Hi Ray, A PC hard drive only works when you press "save" on a PC... in a dvr they are working 24 hours a day (even if you have motion detection set up, the dvr constantly records to the hard drive and overwrites every 30 seconds or so)... Hence a PC hard drive is not recommended for a DVR - if they were, then manufacturers would not make purpose built CCTV hard drives... As advised previously, if you want us to test the unit, we are happy to do so. If we find the fault is not related to the hard drive, then we will replace / refund, but obviously we need to test the unit before we can decide what is at fault. Same for the remote control, if you want to return that, we can test it. Our return details are: Your seller is partly right. DVRs have run for years on PC hard drives however there were reliability issues because of the higher duty cycle for a DVR (as your seller mentioned). HDD for DVRs are designed for a higher duty cycle. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MarchW 0 Posted August 24, 2013 My hard drive in my CCTV sytem died just outside of it's warrenty. It lasted just over a year. I've replaced it with one from Maplin, hope it lasts longer. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
luckyfella 0 Posted August 24, 2013 I buy every one of my recorders without hard drives and I go to Microcenter and buy a PC hard drive and slap it in. I've never had a problem with any of my recorders or hard drives. Send the dvr back to the seller and demand a new one. If he resists, contact ebay customer support. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites