HDD from NVR on PC

[Medion]

Hi everybody!

I hope that someone can answer me on that question from Title.
So, what is all about. I want to know, if I take HDD from my NVR (HikVision)
and then connect him to PC trough SATA-to-USB adapter or HDD Docking
station, can I play and see all files with iVMS-4200 like it is in NVR??
So that I can lock certain video/s, make tags and so on.....just like I said,like
it is in NVR. And if yes, can somebody make me a tip how to do that.
My NVR is more hundreds km away, so I just want to change HDD but I want
to be sure if this is possible.

Thank you for advice/answers!

 

[wittaj]

Just bump your thread don't start a new one.

Hi everybody......need info.

So.....hi everybody. This is my first thread, and.......yep, I'm here because (for now) I have one question. Recently I've installed NVR with two cameras (all HikVision). I don't know if I must open another thread for my (this) question, but first, I'll write it here and if it's not good, let me...

ipcamtalk.com

It won't work easily because as soon as you connect it to a PC it will ask if you want the drive formatted because the NVR is Linux and the computer is Windows or Mac.

It might work with a Hikvision player software on the computer or it may not.

 

[IAmATeaf]

It will depend on the file system format that the NVR uses when formatting the HDD.

If the NVR is formatting using JBOD then each disk can be individually mounted, if the NVR has the disks in some sort of RAID config then it’s still possible but a bit more involved.

You might be able to get a 3rd party util that might be able to use in Windows to mount the file system or what I would do is download something like Ubuntu and get it onto a bootable USB, then boot up off the USB and hopefully you should be able to mount and see the files in the HDD.

 

[alastairstevenson]

It will depend on the file system format that the NVR uses when formatting the HDD.

From what I've seen - and it was a little while back, so things may have changed - Hikvision (assumed due to the iVMS-4200 reference) use a completely proprietary file system in their NVR HDDs.
I explored this when I bought a used NVR where the HDDs had been 'initialised' in the NVR prior to sale.
But when exploring the contents of big segments that I read directly from the HDD (easy with Linux), I could get an idea of how the data was organised.
It didn't match any common file system either Windows or Linux.
At the time - there were a few academic papers where as a project they'd reverse-engineered the structure.

What was interesting though, and fun, was that there is a fair selection of HDD forensic tools that can access even an NVR-initialised disc and extract video and other data from it to use as evidence.
You'd imagine that when criminal activity might have been captured on video, perpetrators might wish to hide video evidence from Law Enforcement.
And not know that getting the NVR to initialise the HDDs isn't sufficient to hide the data.
So there is a demand for such tools.

So I had a fascinating view of where the NVR had been used, it was part of a big system in an apartment block, with enough detail that it's location could be readily discovered.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Attached for interest by any curious or sad techies is one of the academic papers, from a while back, where Hikvision's HDD file system was analysed.

Knowing how current NVRs in their storage management menus now have facilities to re-index stored data, and also the big expansion in events types and other 'smart' capabilities, no doubt the way the Hikvision NVRs manage stored data will be much further developed now.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Oh right, didn’t know this, just assumed that it would be in ext3 format or something similar. I suppose it makes some sense else anybody could just attach the HDD to a desktop and access the content.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I suppose it makes some sense else anybody could just attach the HDD to a desktop and access the content.

Yes, you are right.
But you can do exactly that if the PC is running one of the commercial forensic tools designed to extract the video and events from an NVR HDD, possibly as part of an evidence discovery process.

 

[Medion]

Just bump your thread don't start a new one.

Sorry about that, but that question which I was wrote, and on which you referring to is in "New Member Introductions". And that was almost one week ago.
What did I wrote:

I don't know if I must open another thread for my (this) question, but first, I'll write it here and if it's not good, let me know where I have to post it.

Because I didn't got any answer or guideline in almost one week.......I asked here. There are not so many users who watch "New Member Int." to see if there
somebody needs help.

It won't work easily because as soon as you connect it to a PC it will ask if you want the drive formatted because the NVR is Linux and the computer is Windows or Mac.

Can be. Good point.

Like I see from above, you're talking about forensic software (3rd party software) if I want to see data from HDD. But that's not what I want. Hmmmm......so there is only (for now)
one thing what comes in my mind. Another NVR. What do you think? If I buy another NVR and just connect HDD from first NVR to another (second) NVR, can I see, and do
everything what I want like from first NVR? Or is it HDD somehow "locked" to NVR where is first time initialized? That makes no sense, but I'm asking. I don't want to risk and play
with HDD on Linux....not yet.

 

[wittaj]

When people first log in or hit the Home button, they see all the most recent threads, it doesn't differentiate between the subforums, so you simply posted the original one at a time that it got quickly bumped off the first page.

Yes, getting another Hikvision NVR would allow you in most cases to view that HDD. Best to have the same model, but at a minimum it should have the same number of channels and be capable of the same resolutions or you might not see them all.