A CCTV recorder saves video to its hard drive 24 hours a day, from every camera at once. The drives on this page are made for that job. We stock WD Purple drives from 1TB to 12TB and Toshiba S300 drives from 2TB to 10TB. All of them fit standard NVRs and DVRs, including Hikvision and HiLook.

How long will a hard drive record?

It depends on three things: how many cameras you have, their resolution, and the video format the recorder saves in. Here is the estimated recording time for one camera on a 1TB drive, recording all day and night:

Estimates based on Hikvision's recommended H.265 settings at 25 frames per second. Real results depend on your cameras, settings and scene. *H.265+ figures use Hikvision's own average saving (about a third of the space of H.265).

What do H.265, H.264 and H.265+ mean? They are the formats a recorder uses to shrink video before saving it.

• H.264 is the older format. It uses about twice the space of H.265.
• H.265 is the newer format, supported by current Hikvision and HiLook cameras and recorders.
• H.265+ is Hikvision's smart version of H.265. It saves the most on quiet scenes, such as a driveway at night. On a busy road the saving is much smaller.

How many days will my system record?

Find your cameras in the left-hand column, then read across to see the estimated number of days each drive size lasts. These figures assume continuous recording in H.265, with the H.264 figure in brackets:

Example: four 4MP cameras would need about a 6TB drive to keep a month of footage in H.265, or about a 12TB drive in H.264.

You will get more days if:

• the recorder uses H.265+
• it only records when there is motion, or when AcuSense spots a person or vehicle
• the cameras run at a lower frame rate.

You will get fewer days on busy scenes. Roads, trees in the wind and crowds all push the figures down.

These are estimates based on Hikvision's recommended H.265 settings at 25 frames per second, the UK standard, rounded down. Real results depend on your cameras, settings and scene. When a drive is full, the recorder records over the oldest footage first, so choose a size with room to spare.

Which drive should I choose?

WD Purple and Toshiba S300 Pro drives carry a 3-year manufacturer warranty.

• Check your recorder first. Every recorder has a maximum drive size, listed on its datasheet. For example, the HiLook NVR-104MH-C/4P and NVR-108MH-C/8P accept drives up to 8TB, so a 10TB or 12TB drive will not work in them.
• Need more space than one drive gives? Choose a recorder with two or more drive bays. The recorder uses the space on all its drives together.
• Use a surveillance drive, not a normal computer drive. WD rates WD Purple for up to three times the workload of its desktop drives.

Fitting a hard drive

Every drive here is a standard 3.5-inch SATA drive. It fits inside NVRs (for IP cameras) and DVRs (for coax cameras). Once it is fitted, format it from the recorder's own storage menu, not on a computer. Recorders in our CCTV kits can be supplied with a drive already fitted.

Not sure which recorder you need? Read which HiLook NVR, or call our Wolverhampton trade counter on 01902 902251.

Questions

How long will a 1TB hard drive record CCTV?

As an estimate, for one camera recording all the time in H.265: about 45 days for 2MP, 22 days for 4MP and 11 days for 8MP (4K). Hikvision says H.265+ uses about a third of the space on average, so on a quiet scene it can be around three times longer. With several cameras, divide by the number of cameras.

What size hard drive do I need for CCTV?

Find your cameras in the table above and pick the drive that gives you the number of days you want to keep, for example 30 days. Our storage calculator does the maths for any setup.

What happens when the hard drive is full?

With overwrite switched on, the recorder deletes the oldest footage to make room and keeps recording. You always have the most recent days, up to what the drive can hold.

Can I use a normal computer hard drive?

It may work, but it is not built for recording around the clock. Surveillance drives like WD Purple and Toshiba S300 are made and rated for that workload.

Why does my 4TB drive show as 3.6TB on the recorder?

Drive makers and recorders count storage in slightly different ways. It is the same amount of space, just a different number on screen. Nothing is missing.