Not only the depth of the video archive depends on the choice of a storage device, but also the stability of the data storage process, so neglecting the correct selection can cause various problems. To avoid them, you can use the recommendations of technical experts from the TRASSIR Team.
First of all, we do not recommend to use the HDDs which are designed for Home/Office PCs - such drives are not designed for round-the-clock recording, but only for 8-9 hours a day. You should use HDDs specially designed for video surveillance systems or for server-type storages (RAID edition HDDs).
TRASSIR technical specialists have conducted tests of CCTV purposed HDDs, among them - Seagate Skyhawk, Western Digital Purple and Toshiba Surveillance series. We have prepared a list of specific hard drive models that we were testing in Trassir:
Attention!
Seagate Archive series drives, namely models ST5000AS0011, ST6000AS0002, ST8000AS0002 are not recommended for use in video surveillance systems.
If you are planning to use HDD models not from the list, we have common recommendations of HDD characteristics:
- MTBF (mean time between failures) >= 1 million hours for 2-6 TB drives // >= 2 million hours for >=8 TB drives and higher workload.
- Working load >= 180 TB/year for 2-6 TB drives // >= 550 TB/Year for over 8 TB drives.
- TBF >= 500 P/E cycles at 24/7 recording.
- Spindle speed is not so critical, but 7200 rpm is preferable.
- S.M.A.R.T. technology support.
- Support of multi-thread recording technology, like AllFrame / AllFrame AI .
- SMR (magnetic tiled disk writing technology) is not recommended for high-load systems and Drives over 8 TB.
- 3.5" form-factor, as the mounting points in the most of NVRs are made for this format. Choosing 2.5" (Laptop-type HDD) will cause vibrations.
Be sure to contact Trassir team
If you're not sure whether the HDD will fit the system, you can always contact Trassir Technical Support for the consultation. In fact, we even recommend doing this to make sure that the power consumption of the hard drives does not exceed the capacity of the Trassir server's power supply.
Also, we can help to calculate the archive depth, if you are ready to provide the info:
- How many channels will be recorded.
- How many days of recording are needed.
- The resolution of cameras
- The FPS of cameras
- Intensity of movement in the frame, or the scene description - where the cameras will be used.
- Codec
- Type of recording - constant 24/7 , be the detector (specify how often will it be triggered), by schedule
2nd, 3rd and 4th paragraphs are not needed if you know the bitrate of the cameras.
The link to contact Trassir Technical Support - https://support.trassir.com/plugins/servlet/theme/portal/16/group/46
Other recommendations:
- Provide the cooling or heating in the place, where the recording device is installed, according to the min/max temperature characteristics of the drive.
- Install SSD instead of HDD in the recording device which is planned to be used in harsh conditions in terms of vibrations, for example - in transport.
- We also recommend to use SSD in the database server with high worload on it. For example, the database, that combines information about License plate numbers from 200 surveillance cameras.
- Do not order NVRs/DVRs with already installed HDDs.
Trassir Software recording technology has it's peculiarities to be taken into account:
- It is better to use multiple disks than a single one. Let's say instead of one for 4 TB, we recommend using two for 2 TB.
- The drive size difference should not be more than 2 times! 2 and 8 TB, for example. Firstly, not all the space will be used on the larger drive. Secondly, it will slow down the archive recording and viewing.
- If new drives are added to an already working system with an archive, you will not get an instant increase in statistics. The software needs time to recalculate how much the archive will last now. The most accurate value of the archive depth will be obtained after passing through 2 recording rings (recording ring = current archive depth).
- In the Windows OS, the maximum number of physical disks is 25 (corresponds to the number of characters in the English alphabet, in total it is 26 - the system disk is not accounted, since the TRASSIR software does not record archive to it), and it is not recommended to use more than 30 disks in Trassir ( e.g. together with iSCSI).