Western Digital WD Purple WD82PURZ 8TB 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 WD82PURZ is the 8TB model in the range, suited to larger camera counts or extended retention periods.

Who this is for

As a rough guide, eight 4MP cameras recording continuously use around 336GB per day between them, so 8TB gives roughly three and a half weeks of continuous recording from eight cameras, or considerably longer on motion or AcuSense event recording. 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 — older NVRs and DVRs sometimes cap out below 8TB. 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 an 8TB drive — some older or lower-end recorders are limited to smaller capacities.