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Replacing an existing hard drive

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Comments

  • EveryWhere
    EveryWhere Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    arciere - thank you for the advice. Yes it's a dvr



    everywhere - thank you for posting the link. This is a dvr not a pc and the HD is running out so I need to replace it and there's no room for extra I don't think. Thanks for your response.


    googler - hi, I am trying to replace a 1tb hd with a 3tb hd on a dvr which is currently running out of storage and I'd like to keep the hd with the footage on it instead of deleting it. I was going to get a new box but it cost £180 so I looked up online abot HDs, how to replace them etc. so I am going that route but I am a bit overwhelmed with all the info I've absorbed in the last 24 hours and I don't want to screw it up. I have tried to attach a photo using that method but it still returns the same error of not being allowed to post a link


    It would be more informative if you posted the brand name and model number of the device.
  • Rodders53
    Rodders53 Posts: 2,708 Forumite
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    EveryWhere wrote: »
    It would be more informative if you posted the brand name and model number of the device.
    Agreed.

    It's not always simple to swap HDDs in recording devices for the same size, let alone increase capacity!

    Also many desktop PC drives (as linked to) really don't suit being used in such video recording devices.
  • arciere
    arciere Posts: 1,361 Forumite
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    That will work just fine, not sure what you are expecting to see on the manual, apart from the SATA version and the max size?
  • EveryWhere
    EveryWhere Posts: 3,249 Forumite
    arciere wrote: »
    That will work just fine, not sure what you are expecting to see on the manual, apart from the SATA version and the max size?

    Checking to see if any particular formatting needs to be done. Also if it is easy to retrieve the data from the old HDD...
  • arciere
    arciere Posts: 1,361 Forumite
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    EveryWhere wrote: »
    Checking to see if any particular formatting needs to be done. Also if it is easy to retrieve the data from the old HDD...
    Ok, that makes sense, my reply was actually for Rodders53, I doubt that the DVR requires a specific model of HDD.
  • molerat
    molerat Posts: 34,830 Forumite
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    Best advice would be to find a forum that deals with that specific brand / type of device. It is not always just a simple hdd swap and the file format of the stored recordings may not be easily saved or recognised by a pc.
  • arciere
    arciere Posts: 1,361 Forumite
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    There's nothing complicated about replacing a drive in a simple DVR device. This is a normal 3.5" SATA drive, which can have a maximum size of 4TB, according to the manual.

    Being able to read (or not) the content of the existing drive on a computer is another story, independent from the HDD upgrade.

    Worst case, OP can put the original drive back in and save the footage using alternative options (USB port, integrated DVD writer, etc.).
  • Rodders53
    Rodders53 Posts: 2,708 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    arciere wrote: »
    There's nothing complicated about replacing a drive in a simple DVR device.
    Wrong.
    It might be easy or really, really complicated.

    PC hard drives don't always like running 24/7 and can fail early (cf proper surveillance/server/consumer electronics drives that are designed for that purpose.

    PC drives can also tend to try to do error correction on the typically glitchy data streams from live TV broadcasts, and some camera streams, which is not needed and typically not done with surveillance and CE drives. :eek: Note the Toshiba drive linked to is one for such video usage.

    Then throw in whether the data is encrypted (or not) which depends on the device the HDD is in.

    Lets wait for the OP to come back and then give them some more accurate advice?:)
  • Hard drives for general purpose PC use aren’t recommended for CCTV and PVR use. The drive type you need is typified by the Western Digital Purple series, although other makers will have similarly robust drives.
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