Hard Drives
Surveillance-grade hard drives are purpose-built for the continuous write demands of NVR recording. Standard desktop or enterprise drives are not designed for 24/7 video recording and will fail prematurely in NVR systems.
10 products in this category · installed by our security camera installation in Chicago crew
Hard Drives models we install
Western Digital
WD Purple 2TB
The WD Purple 2TB surveillance hard drive is purpose-built for 24/7 NVR + DVR continuous video recording with AllFrame AI technology, supporting up to 64 cameras. The entry-tier capacity for Chicago small-business + HOA single-camera-position NVR deployments — typical 30-day retention at 1080p / 4-camera builds.
Western Digital
WD Purple 4TB
The WD Purple 4TB surveillance hard drive is the standard small-business capacity in Western Digital's WD Purple line — purpose-built for 24/7 NVR + DVR continuous video recording with AllFrame AI technology, supporting up to 64 cameras. The most-installed capacity for Chicago small-business + HOA 8-camera NVR deployments — typical 30-day retention at 1080p / 8-camera builds or 4-camera 4K builds.
Western Digital
WD Purple 6TB
6 TB NVR hard drive with AllFrame AI — two in a dual-bay recorder give a 16-camera HOA building 12 TB of storage.
Western Digital
WD Purple 10TB
10 TB WD Purple surveillance drive with AllFrame AI — enough capacity for a 16-camera 4K NVR keeping 60 days of video.
Western Digital
WD Purple 14TB
14 TB surveillance hard drive rated for 24/7 NVR duty — the size we install when a 16-camera 4K system needs 90-day retention.
Western Digital
WD Purple 18TB
Pro-tier 18 TB surveillance hard drive rated 550 TB/year — built for AI NVRs that write video plus metadata around the clock.
Western Digital
WD Purple 22TB
The biggest surveillance drive in the WD Purple Pro line — 22 TB per bay for 64-channel AI recorders holding six months of video.
Seagate
Seagate SkyHawk 4TB
The Seagate SkyHawk 4TB surveillance hard drive — purpose-built for 24/7 NVR / DVR continuous video recording with ImagePerfect firmware, supports up to 64 cameras at 1080p / 4K. The standard small-business surveillance drive at 4 TB for Chicago NVR deployments — Seagate alternative to WD Purple at the standard small-business capacity tier.
Seagate
Seagate SkyHawk 10TB
10 TB surveillance hard drive rated for 24/7 NVR duty — the capacity a 16-camera 4K system needs to hold 60 days of footage.
Seagate
Seagate SkyHawk AI 18TB
18 TB AI-tier surveillance hard drive — 550 TB/yr sustained workload for 32-64 camera NVRs writing 4K video and AI metadata around the clock.
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About Hard Drives
Surveillance-grade hard drives are purpose-built for the continuous write demands of NVR recording. Standard desktop or enterprise drives are not designed for 24/7 video recording and will fail prematurely in NVR systems. WD Purple and Seagate SkyHawk drives are engineered specifically for this workload — with firmware optimizations for streaming video, vibration tolerance for multi-drive systems, and rated duty cycles that match the always-on nature of security recording.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a regular hard drive in my NVR?
We strongly recommend against it. Standard desktop drives are not designed for the continuous write operations that NVR recording demands. Surveillance-grade drives like WD Purple and Seagate SkyHawk have firmware and hardware optimizations that prevent frame drops, reduce vibration impact, and dramatically extend drive lifespan in recording systems.
How many hard drives does an NVR need?
It depends on your retention requirements. A small system might use a single 4–8TB drive. Larger deployments with more cameras and longer retention periods may need multiple drives in a multi-bay NVR — sometimes 4–8 drives totaling 20–80TB.