Do I really need a WD Purple HDD?

[BugSTi]

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Just got a new machine from the Dell Outlet - Got an incredible deal on an i7 Haswell with 16Gb of ram.

Anyway, I upgraded the standard HDD with a SSD, and am wondering if I really need the Purple for my setup.

I have 6x 3MP IP cams, and likely wont record 24/7. Most likely will record on threshold or movement, but I am still tinkering.

I don't think I will really go back and watch 7-10 days of recorded content per cam to see if anything is up. At most, I could justify 10 days of recording, but not currently.

So, should I still get a WD Purple to record to? Or do you think I am ok with a "Standard" HDD? What size would you recommend?

I'm all ears, and thank you in advance!

 

[Michelin Man]

I will add my 2 cents worth.

Surveillance data is fairly disposable so if you lose it, it's not such a big deal. Unless it dies on you when you need it, and sometimes it's just a coincidence. In which your surveillance system may as well not have existed.

I got a WD purple for my NVR set on motion detection, but again it is running 24/7 I could have saved a bit of money by going with a WD green but I got something made for this purpose.

Peoples experiences do vary, as well as their usage.


For size, I would say the biggest you can afford especially with 6 cameras, you never know when you need to go back that far to find something. I went with a 3TB because it seemed like the best bang for the buck, to go 4TB i had to pay AU$100 more, whereas the 2TB was only $40 dollars less than the 3TB.

 

[Zorac]

I record 24/7 so my scenario is a little different. Given a consume drive was failing me roughly every 18 months I went to wd reds and so far so good. They would just fail either, they would make the computer go unstable forna while before they completely failed and it was always a hassle to figure out which one and the computer would usually have some serious down time during that period. Better hard drives is worth it for me to not have to do that as regular.

 

[BugSTi]

I will add my 2 cents worth.

Surveillance data is fairly disposable so if you lose it, it's not such a big deal. Unless it dies on you when you need it, and sometimes it's just a coincidence. In which your surveillance system may as well not have existed.

I got a WD purple for my NVR set on motion detection, but again it is running 24/7 I could have saved a bit of money by going with a WD green but I got something made for this purpose.

Peoples experiences do vary, as well as their usage.


For size, I would say the biggest you can afford especially with 6 cameras, you never know when you need to go back that far to find something. I went with a 3TB because it seemed like the best bang for the buck, to go 4TB i had to pay AU$100 more, whereas the 2TB was only $40 dollars less than the 3TB.

Thanks for the input - I found a deal from Frys for a 4TB for $139 USD after 15% discount on sale. 2TB is not on sale for $89 USD.

Sounds like I will hop on that deal.

I record 24/7 so my scenario is a little different. Given a consume drive was failing me roughly every 18 months I went to wd reds and so far so good. They would just fail either, they would make the computer go unstable forna while before they completely failed and it was always a hassle to figure out which one and the computer would usually have some serious down time during that period. Better hard drives is worth it for me to not have to do that as regular.

Thanks for your input. Luckily, having two physical drives should alleviate any instability, if the recording drive goes. I have my OS/BI on the SSD

 

[Michelin Man]

If only the aussie dollar was higher, would have loved to get the 4TB sounds like an awsome deal. That's what I would have gone with if it was cheaper, I plan to run 6 cameras as well at 2MP. On continuous recording I think it worked out to be about 7 days at 8192kbps bit-rate on every camera. So on motion detection it would be even longer, and I worked that out on a 3TB drive.

 

[Zorac]

Thanks for your input. Luckily, having two physical drives should alleviate any instability, if the recording drive goes. I have my OS/BI on the SSD

the system can still go flaky even though its not the os drive that goes. easy enough to fix, but took me a few hard drive failures to figure out the pattern of how they failed!

 

[BugSTi]

If only the aussie dollar was higher, would have loved to get the 4TB sounds like an awsome deal. That's what I would have gone with if it was cheaper, I plan to run 6 cameras as well at 2MP. On continuous recording I think it worked out to be about 7 days at 8192kbps bit-rate on every camera. So on motion detection it would be even longer, and I worked that out on a 3TB drive.

Yeah, I was in store on Friday and had a 2TB drive in my hand, but set it down since I wasnt sure. Then the sale started on Sunday! Win for me!

I have double coverage from 4 of the cameras (2 cams cover the front of my house from the edges, and 2 cover from the center out.) Maybe I will record 2/4 (getting the full coverage) and leave the other 2 for motion. Having 4 cams record instead of 6 gives me 33% more recording length, if recording 24/7.

the system can still go flaky even though its not the os drive that goes. easy enough to fix, but took me a few hard drive failures to figure out the pattern of how they failed!

Good to know. I have only been through one HDD failure, and that was on my MacBook Pro. After a few Mac versions of the BSoD, i took the clue, and upgraded to a SSD.

 

[Del Boy]

For home and especially for motion only then IMHO WD Green (same drive, different firmware) is fine (or other makes, just I prefer WD sorry).

For business and 24/7 then best solution is 2x WD Purple in Raid, then 2x WD Green (or alternative) in Raid, then 1x WD Purple not in Raid, then 1x WDG/Alternative not in Raid. WD Purple is still mechanical and still has failure rates.

 

[BugSTi]

For home and especially for motion only then IMHO WD Green (same drive, different firmware) is fine (or other makes, just I prefer WD sorry).

For business and 24/7 then best solution is 2x WD Purple in Raid, then 2x WD Green (or alternative) in Raid, then 1x WD Purple not in Raid, then 1x WDG/Alternative not in Raid. WD Purple is still mechanical and still has failure rates.

Thanks - I just picked up a 4TB WD Purple drive today. I'm just waiting for the stupid Dell HD Caddy to arrive (Tomorrow) before I install.

 

[SyconsciousAu]

For home and especially for motion only then IMHO WD Green (same drive, different firmware) is fine (or other makes, just I prefer WD sorry).

I killed my Greens very quickly in my now aborted attempt at a really low power NVR. They couldn't handle the load. Been running WD reds for nearly three years now.

 

[Del Boy]

I killed my Greens very quickly in my now aborted attempt at a really low power NVR. They couldn't handle the load. Been running WD reds for nearly three years now.

What's really funny is that WD say that Reds (yes Reds specifically, no mention of Greens) should not be used with NVRs!

I don't know but I'm guessing Reds are the same drive too, just firmware tweaks. How long before we get our own Hikvision-style firmware hack for WD Greens to make them Purples?

I've killed loads of drives with different applications, I don't jump on the "don't buy xxxx make because mine died" bandwagon. All drives die. Sure Seagate had a bad bunch with 3TB ones but no-where near as bad as Backblaze made out.

If you need the surveillance for work (i.e. shop), then get it raided irrespective of drives!

Updated: Not a dig at you SyconsciousAu, was just my general advice. Thanks for letting people know your experiences. (added this bit after I re-read it and thought it sounded arsey!)

 

[SyconsciousAu]

If you need the surveillance for work (i.e. shop), then get it raided irrespective of drives!

Ill second that. Mine are in Raid 1.

 

[zero-degrees]

Toms hardware did a nice review on WD Purple Drives. If you bounce around the forums you will notice several people mention that they were seeing lost frames/time segments (2-5 seconds) with there green drives. The green drives are supposed to be energy savings drives thus run slower and try to save power when they can - thats what there designed to do. Not exactly what you want in a 24/7 recording environment. Everyone has an opinion on this just like any topic. My personal feeling is "Why chance lost time segments/missing frames if it results in a criminal getting away..." If someone broke into your house and you had motion recording turned on - if the drive takes to long to spool up and misses the critical seconds are you going to still be happy you saved $50?

None the less - below is a great writeup on WD Purple, Red, Yellow drives.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/surveillance-hard-drive-performance,3831.html

 

[Del Boy]

Toms hardware did a nice review on WD Purple Drives. If you bounce around the forums you will notice several people mention that they were seeing lost frames/time segments (2-5 seconds) with there green drives. The green drives are supposed to be energy savings drives thus run slower and try to save power when they can - thats what there designed to do. Not exactly what you want in a 24/7 recording environment. Everyone has an opinion on this just like any topic. My personal feeling is "Why chance lost time segments/missing frames if it results in a criminal getting away..." If someone broke into your house and you had motion recording turned on - if the drive takes to long to spool up and misses the critical seconds are you going to still be happy you saved $50?

None the less - below is a great writeup on WD Purple, Red, Yellow drives.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/surveillance-hard-drive-performance,3831.html

WD test shows that WD Purple (which they market heavily and sell at a premium) beats the WD Red (which they specifically say don't use for NVRs). Shock, horror! Next I'm going to find out that VW emissions tests are rigged too.

WD Green can do 60MB/s minimum. 16x4MP cameras isn't going to use even half of that. Running slower is a massive red-herring, a 4200rpm 2.5" drive will be fine for most.

Green drives aren't slower physically than Purple drives. Mechanically the same (which is why Tom's praised the low power of Purples). The firmware is better optimised on the Purples, but for general use, I doubt you'd notice the different. Where does it say anything about spin-up and motion detection? I haven't noticed that with any of the WD Purples or Greens that I've used? I had a 500GB HDD on death's door and I never noticed that either.

I will still say 2x in Raid is best option, then WD Purple, then WD Green or similar. WD Green is fine for 99% of us with homes. 2x WD Green in Raid is fine for 99% for business, but I would say if it's a shop or somewhere where you have trouble then invest in 2x WD Purple.

Bit disappointed by that write-up because I always liked Tom's.

Oh, slightly off topic but valid advice: If someone broke into your house and you had it on motion record despite me and lots of others here ranting on about how important having at least 1 main camera on 24/7 and you miss it (either through the HDD spinning up or dialling out too many false positives) then you've learnt a very expensive lesson.