Hard drive suggestions

[Bentley]

Hello

Looking for some input on a way to remotely storage video from Blue Iris. Not cloud storage. I want to keep it local. I was thinking a separate USB connected hard drive. If I purchase a hard drive case and hard drive can I connect it to a computer and have BI storage files on this drive. I figure if someone's going to steal the visual equipment they might miss this drive if it's hidden. Thanks Bentley

 

[bp2008]

A Western Digital MyCloud drive might serve your needs. It is essentially a small, inexpensive NAS built into an external hard drive. You would get better performance out of a more expensive NAS with some WD Red or Purple drives in it, but it would cost more and be physically larger.

NAS = Network Attached Storage. Connect it to power and ethernet and put it anywhere on your network. Does not have to connect directly to the PC.

 

[OldStyle]

I am in the same boat. Would like an external hard disk drive enclosure that can hold a drive or two. I have no interest in accessing it from the internet, but just want a way to back up all my files and possibly all my surveillance footage. I suppose a NAS could do this?

 

[Daffy]

I use this.

http://www.amazon.com/BUFFALO-DriveStation-Performance-Optimized-HD-WH4TU3R1/dp/B00M77UEHS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1433850316&sr=8-4&keywords=buffalo+nas+4tb

Use it as my media server as well.

 

[Bentley]

I've been doing a little research and can't seem to find a reasonable NAS with a good rating. The Wd my cloud sounded great but Amazon gives some pretty poor ratings along with good ones. Very confusing. I was told that a remote hard drive via cable is very problematic and not a good choice. It was suggested to stick to a Network device. Anyone using the WD my cloud or similar product care to comment?

 

[OldStyle]

I've been doing a little research and can't seem to find a reasonable NAS with a good rating. The Wd my cloud sounded great but Amazon gives some pretty poor ratings along with good ones. Very confusing. I was told that a remote hard drive via cable is very problematic and not a good choice. It was suggested to stick to a Network device. Anyone using the WD my cloud or similar product care to comment?

I keep going back to the Synology NAS devices...

 

[Bentley]

Question about that NAS and others. Are you require to purchase a license for each camera you intent to use. I see some say yes and others no. It appears the licenses are quite expensive especially if you use lots of cameras.

 

[OldStyle]

Question about that NAS and others. Are you require to purchase a license for each camera you intent to use. I see some say yes and others no. It appears the licenses are quite expensive especially if you use lots of cameras.

Are you referring to Synology? I believe two are included these days (used it be only one) and you pay $50 per extra camera license. Not only are the licenses expensive, you also need a Synology device that can push them all. Pay special attention to the amount of frame rates these things can support. If you have eight 1080p cameras running at 10 fps, you'll need a DS414j. Then purchase four drives. Plus six additional licenses:

DS414J: $400
2TB WD Red: $400
Six cam licenses: $300

Total: $1,100

 

[Bentley]

Thanks much not what I'm looking for, well yes but to expensive, using only for home use. Alternatives?

 

[fmflex]

Hi Bentley

Although not used for storing surveillance data, I bought a data hard drive dock with a network interface which I use to hold data which I expose to the internet. The benefit of it is you can pretty much use any hard drive you like it in, and the drawback is it's not as neat as a fully enclosed solution. Like bp2008 suggested above, all it needs is power and a network interface and you've got storage. Map it to the computer with blue iris and it'll function like it was directly connected.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks much not what I'm looking for, well yes but to expensive, using only for home use. Alternatives?

Bentley, since you are using blue iris, the camera licence fee is not applicable...its only applicable if you wish to use synology's own NVR software built into the NAS - surveillance station.

 

[MikeSav]

Are you referring to Synology? I believe two are included these days (used it be only one) and you pay $50 per extra camera license.

To clarify. If you are using a Synology as a storage device only, and not using the built in Synology Surveillance Station application, you need a total of zero licenses. Your Synology would function as a network hard drive, and you would be limited by network speeds, and disk speed. Same deal for Qnap.

I don't use Blue Iris, but all you should have to do is enable Windows File Service on the Synology, use Windows to map a network drive to your Synology, and point Blue Iris to that mapped network drive.

I have a DS-213J. Handy little device. I bought it for network backups, and as a file server. I also use it as a VPN server, a PHP server, an NTP time server, and a log server. I use DS Audio to stream music for my whole extended family, inside or outside the home. I am currently using Surveillance Station with two cameras as I transition to an NVR.

 

[mkkoskin]

We have tested the bigger model TS-420, and it works great, has iSCSI support and all the media server stuff you'd ever need. If you add it to your BI PC as an iSCSI drive, it shows as normal physical drive, but is connected via ethernet, and you can hide it where ever you can pull a cable.

TS-220

iSCSI Guide