What You Need to Know When Choosing the Best Hard Drive for Cameras

Vũ Khôi

Author at Wotech Electronics Blog

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Deciding to install a professional surveillance system is also the moment we should be prepared for a whole series of choices, because a CCTV system involves far more than just cameras. The HDD hard drive is also one of the most important components. To get the best performance from a camera system — with images and videos stored fully and for the long term — we need to choose a dedicated hard drive that suits both our needs and our budget. For that reason, KBVISION would like to share some points customers should keep in mind when choosing a hard drive for their CCTV system:

Consider the drive's storage capacity and your own usage needs

Depending on how long users want to store footage, the provider or consultant will offer suitable options.

Typically, users need to factor in many parameters — such as image compression standard, image resolution, recording quality, number of cameras, frames per second per camera, hours of recording per day, number of recording days, and so on — before arriving at the most accurate estimated capacity.

Therefore, the quickest way to resolve questions about camera storage capacity is to ask your provider or technical consultant for complete information about the CCTV system. These are the people with the expertise to answer quickly and accurately.

However, the most important issue still comes down to "cost" — how much the user is willing to spend on the camera installation, how long footage needs to be stored, and at what level of certainty.

Pay attention to durability

While users cannot dictate a hard drive's capacity, they can decide its durability by choosing the right brand.

Some well-known hard drive brands offering genuine products with guaranteed quality and durability include Seagate, Toshiba, Western, Samsung, and Hitachi. The three most popular are Seagate, Toshiba and Western, all of which are famous for their durability.

Don't use a PC hard drive as a substitute

We tend to use whatever is on hand to save time and money. However, applying that habit to a camera system is not advisable, ESPECIALLY when it comes to hard drives.

Although a PC hard drive can store camera footage, it will reduce system performance and wear itself out during large-volume storage, becoming overloaded for the following reasons:

• Operating function: an ordinary PC hard drive is designed around the assumption that the user's PC runs for limited hours (8h/day, 5-6 days/week) and has rest periods. A drive dedicated to a video recorder, by contrast, must operate around the clock, 24/7, recording and storing footage at all times.

• Spindle speed: a PC hard drive is required to run at a fairly high spindle speed of up to 7200rpm (because it must handle fast direct read-write operations), whereas a camera recorder only needs a drive running at a stable speed of around 5400rpm (since it only writes data). As a result, the lifespan of a dedicated drive in a recorder is also longer than that of PC-oriented drives.

• Automatic power adjustment: a hard drive dedicated to camera recorders usually has an automatic power-adjustment function that saves energy and keeps its operating temperature compatible with the recorder around the clock. A standard PC drive, on the other hand, is optimized for reading, so it overheats when pushed too hard, shortening its lifespan.

• Read-write ratio: a hard drive dedicated to camera recorders is usually designed to prioritize writing data over reading it (80% write – 20% read). This fully meets the recorder's needs and maximizes its functions. A standard PC drive, meanwhile, has a ratio of 64% read – 36% write.

• Data storage technology: a recorder-dedicated drive integrates powerful dual processing along with an optimized write cache, allowing data to be stored longer with smooth, consistent image retrieval.

BUY HARD DRIVES AT UNBEATABLE PRICES

Choosing and using a hard drive with the right functions and reliable durability therefore ensures the operating quality of a surveillance system at home, in the office, or across a facility — effectively and economically.

** To buy the best hard drives from the famous SEAGATE and TOSHIBA brands, customers can contact the hotline: (028) 3973 2222 to reach KBVISION's customer support for more details*

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