When it comes to selecting the optimal hard drive for surveillance systems, it’s crucial to understand the distinctions between surveillance grade drives and standard desktop drives.
Surveillance drives are engineered specifically for the rigorous demands of continuous video recording, offering enhanced reliability, durability, and performance. Traditional, desktop hard drives are made to operate only for 8 hours a day and 6 days a week. So, the overall workload will be at the most 10%-20% and their performance will be low to moderate. Therefore, they usually exhibit low mean time between failures.
In this article, we’ll explore three leading surveillance hard drives: Western Digital (WD) Purple, Seagate SkyHawk, and Toshiba S300, providing insights to help you understand the importance of the drives we use.
Many consumers, and companies assume that a normal desktop hard drive is fine for their surveillance needs. They go with this logic thinking that all hard drives are same and operate in a similar manner. But this assumption of them is very wrong.
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.
UNCOMPROMISING STORAGE
Surveillance Drives vs. Desktop Drives
Desktop hard drives are designed for general-purpose computing tasks, handling intermittent data transfers with idle periods in between. In contrast, surveillance hard drives are built to operate 24/7, managing high-definition video streams from multiple cameras simultaneously. Key features that set surveillance drives apart include:
• Reliability: Surveillance drives are optimised for continuous operation, reducing the risk of failure during critical recording periods.
• Workload Rating: These drives support higher workload rates, measured in terabytes written per year (TB/year), accommodating the constant writing demands of video surveillance.
• Firmware Optimisation: Surveillance drives feature firmware tuned for write-intensive operations, ensuring smooth recording and minimizing frame loss.
Western Digital Purple
WD Purple drives are renowned in the surveillance industry for their reliability and performance. They are designed to support up to 64 HD cameras, making them suitable for a wide range of security setups.
Key specifications include:
- Capacity: Up to 18TB
- Workload Rating: 180 TB/year
- Firmware: AllFrame technology reduces frame loss and improves playback.
- MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): 1 million hours
Seagate SkyHawk
Seagate’s SkyHawk drives are engineered for DVR and NVR systems, offering robust performance tailored for surveillance environments.
Notable features include:
- Capacity: Up to 16TB
- Workload Rating: 180 TB/year
- Firmware: ImagePerfect firmware supports smooth, clear video streaming.
- MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): 1 million hours
Toshiba S300
Toshiba’s S300 series provides high-performance surveillance storage solutions, designed for both home and business security systems.
Key features include:
- Capacity: Up to 10TB
- Workload Rating: 180 TB/year
- Firmware: Optimised for 24/7 video recording with minimal frame drops.
- MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures): 1 million hours
Reliability and Performance Statistics
According to Backblaze’s 2023 Hard Drive Reliability Stats, the annualised failure rates (AFR) for hard drives have been on a gradual rise over the past three years. Despite this trend, surveillance-grade drives continue to demonstrate resilience under continuous operation. For instance, certain Seagate models reported zero failures over significant operational periods, highlighting the importance of selecting drives designed for surveillance purposes. 
Conclusion
Choosing the right hard drive for your surveillance system is pivotal to ensuring data integrity and system reliability. WD Purple, Seagate SkyHawk, and Toshiba S300 drives each offer unique features tailored to meet the demands of continuous video recording. By understanding their specifications and performance metrics, you can select a drive that aligns with your specific surveillance requirements, providing peace of mind and robust security for your property.
Remember, if you are the user, it is your duty to ask the vendor or installer, regarding the components and hardware used in the surveillance installation. You should insist on a solution, which is highly customisable, scalable, reliable and easy to manage. If you are speaking to a company who is unable to answer any of the questions about the components contained within your CCTV system, look elsewhere.
We’re always here for advice should you need it, feel free to call us on 0800 772 0822.
