Western Digital WD Purple WD121PURZ 12TB Surveillance Hard Drive

WD Purple drives are built specifically for CCTV recorders: unlike a standard desktop drive, they are designed to write continuously, 24 hours a day, from multiple camera streams at once. The WD121PURZ is the largest capacity in the range, for large camera counts, high resolutions or long retention periods on a commercial system.

Who this is for

As a rough guide, sixteen 4MP cameras recording continuously use around 672GB per day between them, so 12TB gives roughly two and a half weeks of continuous recording from sixteen cameras. Recording on motion or AcuSense events rather than continuously stretches this considerably further. See our full surveillance hard drive sizing table for other camera counts and resolutions.

Compatibility

A standard 3.5in SATA drive, compatible with HiLook, Hikvision and Dahua NVRs and DVRs. Check your recorder's maximum supported drive capacity before ordering — this is the largest capacity in the WD Purple range, and some lower-end or older recorders cap out below 12TB. Fit it before first power-up where possible — the recorder will prompt you to initialise it, and it needs formatting in the recorder itself rather than on a PC.

FAQs

Can I use a desktop hard drive instead? Not recommended — desktop drives are not built for the continuous multi-stream write load a CCTV recorder puts on them, and tend to fail well before a surveillance-rated drive.

Will this work in my recorder? Check your recorder's specification for its maximum supported drive capacity before ordering — this is the top capacity in the range and not every recorder supports it.