Is there a particular kind, brand, model drive I should be using with my NV4108E-A2?
When I first got it I had to try 3 different WD Red 3TB drives before it picked one it liked and showed up in the web console.
That drive worked ok until last night when playback wouldn't seek and the video looked corrupted. The drives pass smart tests.
I put a WD Blue 1TB drive in today and it will also not detect it.
I have had a fair amount of issues with this NVR. The one in my old house was RMAd 3 times.
Is there a higher end model that someone could recommend? Maybe I'm just buying too cheap of a system.
Drive issues
Re: Drive issues
So a Nas drive is normally good in a DVR/NVR if you are going to keep it to a lot of read and write within your devices. I personally wouldn't use anything in my Security system that is used for Critical Storage other then WD Purple..
So here is what I mean, I will start with the simple one first.
WD Purple or the Seagate Equivalent (SkyHawk) with these HDD they are designed to have loads of cameras being written to the HDD on a constant bases. Like my system with 2 HDD I have setup with 2 Purples and have them working in 2 different ways. With HDD 1 taking all the Event Footage from the cameras be it Motion or AI driven and the second HDD I have it recording all the full time footage from the cameras and storing all the JPG's. Purple drives are great for this type of DVR/NVR setup because systems are always spinning the HDD and always recoding. Then when playback is needed the HDD is able to keep working without issues as a bottle neck because the HDD is to slow or not built for full time recording. However the Purple keeps working well even with full time recording and a few times asking for playback at the same time.
WD Red is a Great NAS HDD and or the Seagate Equivalent (Ironwolf) They offer normally a longer warranty and is one reason why some people prefer them, However for the NAS they are great because NAS normally is designed to work as a Back Up system or a Storage system for a network of computer to store and access data. This can be one of a good few ways setup. Raid normal and such. They run like a 50/50 of read and write and while they will work great for a constant read and write they can also deal with the low load or no load while in standby. Where a Security drive is always being written to even if you have a DVR setup to only work in motion. Why people don't see is that the HDD is always spinning because normally there is a pre event record time setup. What this means is in truth is that all the channels setup are always writing to the HDD it isn't until the event starts that the software sets a Start mark. Remember not able to go back in time if the HDD wasn't already being recorded to it would only be able to have recording start once event has already started. SO if there was no event on the recorder there is still a record of the history just no way to start it without the software placing a start and stop mark in the HDD..
Sorry hard to explain. My mind knows what I mean just hard to put it into writing so others understand what I mean lol..
In Shorts though, Purple is best for Security full time HDD being written too where the NAS Red drive works well and can do the loads needed for a few cameras however is really designed for a 50/50 of the read write for best results.
About a Better NVR. I would look into the 4208E-AI NVR has better options and does cost a little more. However might be better for your needs. I know my 4216E-AI is much better quality NVR then my 4116E-HS NVR in many ways besides just the offering of the AI but in quality of build as well
So here is what I mean, I will start with the simple one first.
WD Purple or the Seagate Equivalent (SkyHawk) with these HDD they are designed to have loads of cameras being written to the HDD on a constant bases. Like my system with 2 HDD I have setup with 2 Purples and have them working in 2 different ways. With HDD 1 taking all the Event Footage from the cameras be it Motion or AI driven and the second HDD I have it recording all the full time footage from the cameras and storing all the JPG's. Purple drives are great for this type of DVR/NVR setup because systems are always spinning the HDD and always recoding. Then when playback is needed the HDD is able to keep working without issues as a bottle neck because the HDD is to slow or not built for full time recording. However the Purple keeps working well even with full time recording and a few times asking for playback at the same time.
WD Red is a Great NAS HDD and or the Seagate Equivalent (Ironwolf) They offer normally a longer warranty and is one reason why some people prefer them, However for the NAS they are great because NAS normally is designed to work as a Back Up system or a Storage system for a network of computer to store and access data. This can be one of a good few ways setup. Raid normal and such. They run like a 50/50 of read and write and while they will work great for a constant read and write they can also deal with the low load or no load while in standby. Where a Security drive is always being written to even if you have a DVR setup to only work in motion. Why people don't see is that the HDD is always spinning because normally there is a pre event record time setup. What this means is in truth is that all the channels setup are always writing to the HDD it isn't until the event starts that the software sets a Start mark. Remember not able to go back in time if the HDD wasn't already being recorded to it would only be able to have recording start once event has already started. SO if there was no event on the recorder there is still a record of the history just no way to start it without the software placing a start and stop mark in the HDD..
Sorry hard to explain. My mind knows what I mean just hard to put it into writing so others understand what I mean lol..
In Shorts though, Purple is best for Security full time HDD being written too where the NAS Red drive works well and can do the loads needed for a few cameras however is really designed for a 50/50 of the read write for best results.
About a Better NVR. I would look into the 4208E-AI NVR has better options and does cost a little more. However might be better for your needs. I know my 4216E-AI is much better quality NVR then my 4116E-HS NVR in many ways besides just the offering of the AI but in quality of build as well
Be Safe.
Re: Drive issues
Thanks. I'm surly using better drives then what Amcrest ships with their units. I can't imagine they are using WD Purple drives.
I can't bellieve 3 of my Red drives won't work, or an HGST 4TB nas drive.
I can't bellieve 3 of my Red drives won't work, or an HGST 4TB nas drive.
Re: Drive issues
Decided to call their support. The guy was very nice. He said they only suggest using seagate barracuda drives. I just looked over the product page and documentation again and there is no reference to drive brand, only size.
He said if I wanted to keep trying my drives I can try connecting them to a computer and formatting as fat32 and see if the nvr picks them up then.
soooooo I guess i'll try that and call them back.
He said if I wanted to keep trying my drives I can try connecting them to a computer and formatting as fat32 and see if the nvr picks them up then.
soooooo I guess i'll try that and call them back.
Re: Drive issues
Wish you luck on your HDD issue. You asked a Question and I offered my Unbiased first hand opinion of what works without fail in my systems. This means for my systems that I have with WD Purple installed I don't have to worry about road blocks that happens when the HDD is full and the system starts to over write the old footage. In the past I have had issues with systems with lower quality HDD's, others have also talked about them having issues with the systems if left to over write. In practice I have since moved to making sure that I keep my Drives Formatted before full. However I have also a 16ch NVR with 14 cameras that I let run without formatting the HDD and that system has not failed. However if I install any of the lower HDD that I have into my recorder as soon as that HDD becomes full and starts to over write it only takes a day or 2 before I get failed recordings to no recordings to the system rebooting to many errors and only 1 common issue in each of my tested devices the HDD were anything other then a Purple WD drive. Sure I have a 2010 DVR that had a WD Purple HDD 5years old fail but this didn't happen until 2019 I will admit that was a HDD that had over 43k hours of use and 209 restarts. That is less then once a week because it wasn't until 2015 that I started weekly reboots. I have since started doing nightly reboots so my Restart counts are much higher these days.
I don't work for Amcrest and I don't deal with Product offered at Amcrest but I can tell you that if you look on the products pages on Amcrest they ONLY OFFER Seagate barracuda drives so yeah they are going to tell you that is all they want you to buy. So here I looked up the Seagate product and maybe reading the their own Datasheet to the Conclusion should shed some light to their thoughts on a Budget HDD in a DVR/NVR. I let them speak for them self.
https://www.seagate.com/files/www-conte ... 1403us.pdf
However a Compute Drive is just for that a Computer. Even my gamming Laptop from Asus didn't come with a Computer grade HDD it came with a Gamming WD Black.
I don't work for Amcrest and I don't deal with Product offered at Amcrest but I can tell you that if you look on the products pages on Amcrest they ONLY OFFER Seagate barracuda drives so yeah they are going to tell you that is all they want you to buy. So here I looked up the Seagate product and maybe reading the their own Datasheet to the Conclusion should shed some light to their thoughts on a Budget HDD in a DVR/NVR. I let them speak for them self.
https://www.seagate.com/files/www-conte ... 1403us.pdf
However a Compute Drive is just for that a Computer. Even my gamming Laptop from Asus didn't come with a Computer grade HDD it came with a Gamming WD Black.
Be Safe.
Re: Drive issues
Check both the power and data cables and the connectors on the main board. Any junk drive should at least be detected and accept formatting from the NVR unless it has inherent problems of its own.
FAT32 is the predominant file system for DVRs/NVRs and what an Amcrest device will typically use.
FAT32 is the predominant file system for DVRs/NVRs and what an Amcrest device will typically use.
Re: Drive issues
I pulled the WD Red drive out and did a manual ntfs format on it with diskpart. Put it back in the nvr and it worked fine. So I'm not sure if it matters or not in this case. I guess the drive just filled up and messed up the nvr when doing overwrites.
I'll try setting the delete expired files after xx days so the drive doesn't fill up.
I'll try setting the delete expired files after xx days so the drive doesn't fill up.
Re: Drive issues
Good deal. Let us know how it works out.
I have a NV4108-HS with a desktop drive in it that just keeps humming along -- for now..., and probably right up until I need some video from it. LOL
I have a NV4108-HS with a desktop drive in it that just keeps humming along -- for now..., and probably right up until I need some video from it. LOL