Building Blue Iris Computer, Have some Questions

[onyxlinkia]

Hi, I've decided to build a Blue Iris computer to replace my existing NVR and upgrade the cameras (plan to have about 8).

Thanks for the suggestion, I bought an used HP Elitedesk 800 G4 (i5-8600), it doesn't come with OS and HDD. I have the following questions:

1) For storage, should I go with SSD or just a 4TB WD Purple? Should I get an used WD Purple? What is the lifespan of WD purple?
2) Is 8GB RAM enough or I should go to 16GB?
3) where to buy Blue Iris at better price?
4) For windows 10 installation, I read somewhere that I might get lucky that the license key might be embedded in the hardware? how to verify this?

Thanks.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

<$.02>
1) No SSD for storage... No used drives.... New WD Purple
2) For Windows... more RAM is better. If the wallet allows... go with 16GB
3) IPCT sells the license for about 20% off. Added bonus being... if your system crashes (knock knock) or your upgrading your BI box, you can lookup your license here
</$.02>

 

[onyxlinkia]

Thank you, SpacemanSpiff.

<$.02>
1) No SSD for storage... No used drives.... New WD Purple
2) For Windows... more RAM is better. If the wallet allows... go with 16GB
3) IPCT sells the license for about 20% off. Added bonus being... if your system crashes (knock knock) or your upgrading your BI box, you can lookup your license here
</$.02>

 

[fenderman]

Hi, I've decided to build a Blue Iris computer to replace my existing NVR and upgrade the cameras (plan to have about 8).

Thanks for the suggestion, I bought an used HP Elitedesk 800 G4 (i5-8600), it doesn't come with OS and HDD. I have the following questions:

1) For storage, should I go with SSD or just a 4TB WD Purple? Should I get an used WD Purple? What is the lifespan of WD purple?
2) Is 8GB RAM enough or I should go to 16GB?
3) where to buy Blue Iris at better price?
4) For windows 10 installation, I read somewhere that I might get lucky that the license key might be embedded in the hardware? how to verify this?

Thanks.

it will install windows for free. Might as well install 11 at this point. Nothing to verify, use the MS media creation tool. It will install and activate

 

[onyxlinkia]

Thanks fenderman, yea, windows 11 now than later.

it will install windows for free. Might as well install 11 at this point. Nothing to verify, use the MS media creation tool. It will install and activate

 

[AndrewNorCal]

Just to be clear, SSD for your main drive and BI database. Purple drive for writing of actual video files. Or at least have your DB on a different drive than your video files. Two drives really at a minimum . . . one OS, the other for video files. You don't want your OS drive to fail from massive use.

I just set up a BI box and I used 16GB. RAM is pretty cheap these days. Better too much than too little.

Andrew

 

[looney2ns]

On the SSD, which should be the C drive, put Windows, Blue Iris and Blue Iris data base.

On a new WD Purple Drive only put video files from Blue Iris.
Set this drive as D drive.

 

[samplenhold]

You did not mention how many cams you have. Realize that 4Tb is really not that big. Amazon has the 10TB for $225 and B&H has it for $237.

 

[Flintstone61]

Yeah $224.50 from Best IP Solutions on ebay 8TB non Pro is priced ok as well.

WD Purple 8TB Internal Hard Drive 256MB 7200RPM Surveillance HDD 3.5" WD85PURZ | eBay

Western Digital Purple 8TB, Internal Hard Drive, WD85PURZ, 3.5"/256 MB/5400 RPM. Built for 24/7, always-on, high-definition security systems. WD Purple Surveillance. The WD Purple Drive Is designed for both DVR and NVR security systems and is compatible with many of the leading surveillance and...

www.ebay.com

Western Digital Purple Pro 10TB Surveillance Hard Drive 3.5" WD101PURP | eBay

Western Digital Purple PRO 10TB, Internal Hard Drive, WD101PURP, 3.5"/256 MB/7200 RPM. WD Purple PRO Surveillance. WD Purple Pro drives also feature enterprise-class performance, data integrity and drive reliability, especially in larger-scale systems and enclosures where operational vibration...

www.ebay.com

 

[weigle2]

FWIW - I bought a 14TB WD Purple Pro thinking Blue Iris would consume this much space in about 30 days. Couldn't be more wrong, as the advent of sub-streams really reduces how much space is actually used. I retain 40 days of video, and still only use 6.5TB of space before it gets deleted. This is with 12 cameras most of which are 4MP. And I still have plenty of space to add more cameras. Very happy with going to BI, as my dahua NVR has (3) 4TB WD Purple drives that get filled in about 12 days.

 

[JK200SX]

My BI pc is an elitedesk i5-9500T, so reasonably similar to yours. I installed Windows, Bueiris, the database and new clips less than 7 days old on the C-drive and in my case I have used an NVME SSD (Your pc will support these too). If you think the speed increase/responsiveness of a pc is amazing when you go from a spinning drive to a standard ssd, you will be blown away at the performance improvement using and NVME SSD vs a standard one.

I also have an std SSD for the for video files >7 days old, and 16GB RAM. I'm using Win11 and debloated its install as much as possible to eliminate non essential services running in the background. With 5 cameras, the CPU utilisation is typically hovering at 5%.

 

[wittaj]

My BI pc is an elitedesk i5-9500T, so reasonably similar to yours. I installed Windows, Bueiris, the database and new clips less than 7 days old on the C-drive and in my case I have used an NVME SSD (Your pc will support these too). If you think the speed increase/responsiveness of a pc is amazing when you go from a spinning drive to a standard ssd, you will be blown away at the performance improvement using and NVME SSD vs a standard one.

I also have an std SSD for the for video files >7 days old, and 16GB RAM. I'm using Win11 and debloated its install as much as possible to eliminate non essential services running in the background. With 5 cameras, the CPU utilisation is typically hovering at 25%.

You must not be using substreams because 25% for 5 cams is high for a 9th gen, even one with the T that is optimized to favor energy efficiency over performance. OR the CPU is struggling because it is trying to favor energy efficiency over performance.

People run 4th gen CPUs with 50 cameras less than your CPU%

 

[JK200SX]

My apologies, I accidently wrote 25% instead of 5%. I've now corrected the sentence.

 

[onyxlinkia]

Hi All, thanks for sharing your feedback. I have 4 cams now but might expand to 8 cams the most. I just need to keep the recording for 2 weeks before it got overwritten. I think 4TB is enough, don't want to get larger drive as i probably need to replace in another 5-6 yrs.

I bought a 2TB SSD NVME for OS, I think this is overkilled, was thinking of just getting 512GB.

 

[onyxlinkia]

Are they an authroized WD reseller? I try to order the drive from bigger sellers in case WD wants to deny warranty.

Yeah $224.50 from Best IP Solutions on ebay 8TB non Pro is priced ok as well.

WD Purple 8TB Internal Hard Drive 256MB 7200RPM Surveillance HDD 3.5" WD85PURZ | eBay

Western Digital Purple 8TB, Internal Hard Drive, WD85PURZ, 3.5"/256 MB/5400 RPM. Built for 24/7, always-on, high-definition security systems. WD Purple Surveillance. The WD Purple Drive Is designed for both DVR and NVR security systems and is compatible with many of the leading surveillance and...

www.ebay.com

Western Digital Purple Pro 10TB Surveillance Hard Drive 3.5" WD101PURP | eBay

Western Digital Purple PRO 10TB, Internal Hard Drive, WD101PURP, 3.5"/256 MB/7200 RPM. WD Purple PRO Surveillance. WD Purple Pro drives also feature enterprise-class performance, data integrity and drive reliability, especially in larger-scale systems and enclosures where operational vibration...

www.ebay.com

 

[Flintstone61]

Are they an authroized WD reseller? I try to order the drive from bigger sellers in case WD wants to deny warranty.

send the seller a msg. They sell them in bulk as well, so they might be

 

[camerafool]

I've had good luck with Samsung's cloning software so I've put OS for my various PCs on Samsung EVO SSDs of various generations 850 860 870. My boxes have easy swappable external 2.5" drive drawers. If something goes wrong I just shut down, swap the OS drive and reboot. Having different generations of EVO drives really helps know what is what when looking at the cloning software screen during cloning of known good drive.

 

[SpacemanSpiff]

“Hello Peter, what’s happening. I’m gonna need you to go ahead and come in tomorrow. So if you could be here at around….9 that’d be great. Oh, oh, and I almost forgot. Ahh, I’m also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too.” ― Bill Lumbergh

I've had good luck with Samsung's cloning software so I've put OS for my various PCs on Samsung EVO SSDs of various generations 850 860 870. My boxes have easy swappable external 2.5" drive drawers. If something goes wrong I just shut down, swap the OS drive and reboot. Having different generations of EVO drives really helps know what is what when looking at the cloning software screen during cloning of known good drive.

Clonezilla is a great resource for cloning drives and/or creating images from them for later use.