WD Purple Surveillance Hard Drive, 3.5 Inch SATA, 1 TB to 8 TB

Overview

WD Purple is a hard drive made for CCTV. It records video around the clock in network video recorders (NVRs) and digital video recorders (DVRs), where an ordinary desktop drive is built for shorter daily use. Choose the capacity from the option above; all sizes share the same surveillance design.

Is it right for you?

Choose it to fit or replace the drive in a home, shop or office CCTV recorder, or a business system with up to 16 drive bays. It suits mainstream camera systems that record around the clock. For AI recorders, video servers or larger systems, WD Purple Pro is the higher-workload option.

How to choose capacity: every camera adds to the amount of video written each day, so more cameras, higher resolution, higher frame rates or a longer history (retention) all need more space. A larger drive keeps more days of footage on the same cameras. The exact number of days depends on resolution, frame rate, compression (H.264 or H.265) and whether the recorder saves continuously or on motion only. Your recorder’s storage calculator gives a figure, or ask our team.

Key features

• Built for always-on recording, with the heat and vibration found inside recorders.
• Records from up to 64 HD cameras (one 1080p, H.265, 25 fps stream per camera at 3.2 Mbps).
• AllFrame firmware helps reduce dropped video frames and improves playback.
• Workload rating of up to 180 TB/year, for continuous writing of video.
• 5400 rpm class rotational speed (the 8 TB model runs at 5640 rpm) and conventional recording (CMR).
• Cache of 64 MB, 128 MB or 256 MB depending on the model you choose.
• RAID error recovery control to help reduce failures in supported recorders.
• Rotational vibration (RV) sensors and tarnish-resistant components on the 3 TB to 8 TB models, for multi-bay recorders.

What else you need

• A CCTV recorder (NVR or DVR) or video server with a free 3.5 inch SATA bay that accepts the capacity you choose.
• Cameras and cabling for your system; the drive only stores the video.

Installation

Switch off and unplug the recorder, fit the drive in a free bay and connect the SATA data and power cables. Start the recorder and format (initialise) the drive from its storage menu before recording. Formatting erases anything already on the drive. Then set the recording schedule and turn on overwrite so the oldest footage is replaced when the drive is full.

Before you buy

• Check the largest drive size your recorder accepts and how many bays it has. The 1 TB and 2 TB models are rated for recorders with up to 8 bays; the 3 TB to 8 TB models for up to 16 bays.
• Capacity is in decimal units (1 TB = 1 trillion bytes), so the recorder shows slightly less usable space.
• Camera counts assume one 1080p stream per camera. 4K cameras, several streams per camera or high bit rates reduce the number of cameras one drive can record.
• At 2 TB, 3 TB and 4 TB, WD makes two models in each capacity. They differ in cache size and power figures; both are listed as separate options so you can match an existing drive or a recorder’s compatibility list.