500GB - 3.5" SATA Hard Drives - Ideal for 24/7 continuous recording

The 500GB - 3.5" SATA Hard Drives for 24/7 continuous recording (SKU HDD-500GB-Pre-installed) is the internal disk a CCTV recorder saves its footage to. Without a drive in the recorder, nothing is stored.

What the specs mean

• 500GB – the storage capacity. This is the space available for recordings.
• 3.5" – the physical size of the disk. The recorder's drive bay needs to take this size.
• SATA (Serial ATA) – the connection between the disk and the recorder. The recorder must support it.
• Internal – it sits inside a DVR (digital video recorder) or NVR (network video recorder), not beside it.

Where it is used

It works as a replacement for a failed or worn drive in an existing recorder. It also adds recording storage to a DVR or NVR supplied without a hard drive.

What else you need

A compatible DVR or NVR. Before ordering, read the recorder's supported drive interface, physical size and hard drive requirements, and match them to a 3.5" SATA disk.

How long 500GB lasts

The disk size is fixed, but recording time is not. Camera count, video resolution, frame rate, compression settings and the recording schedule all affect it. Motion-triggered recording uses less space than continuous recording, so it is the first setting to look at if you want footage kept for longer.