Western Digital WD Purple WD40PURZ 4TB 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 WD40PURZ is the 4TB model in the range, one of the most popular sizes for a 4 to 8 camera system.

Who this is for

As a rough guide, four 4MP cameras recording continuously use around 168GB per day between them, so 4TB gives roughly three and a half weeks of continuous recording from four cameras, or around twelve days from eight 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. 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? Any HiLook, Hikvision or Dahua NVR or DVR with a free SATA bay will accept this drive, subject to the recorder's maximum supported capacity.