"Hard drives for video surveillance must operate continuously and reliably", Toshiba Electronics

Lorenzo Martinez-Palomo, Vp. of Toshiba Electronics Europe and General Manager of its Storage Products Division, explains the advantages and possibilities offered by hard drives in applications for video surveillance in reliability, Performance and handling of large workloads.

Video surveillance hard drives promise significant performance advantages and reduce maintenance time, compared to standard models. What is its differential in terms of reliability and service life??

In most video-monitored areas, a recording is made 24/7, This means that the hard drives selected for image storage must continuously operate reliably and meet high workload requirements..

The reliability of the HDD is, therefore, a key factor and rests on aspects such as mean time to failure or MTTF (mean time to failure). Hard drives designed specifically for video surveillance offer just that, with an MTTF of one million hours, which corresponds to an annual error rate of 0,88% in continuous operation 24/7.

For example, in a deployment with a thousand hard drives, The failure rate is around nine units per year; a very high level of reliability compared to standard PC hard drives, who have an MTTF of 600.000 Hours.

What specific technical characteristics make hard drives suitable for video surveillance applications? How do you ensure the maximum reliability required?

At this point it is necessary to consider several factors. The hard drive not only has to be robust enough for an operation 24/7 and offer a high MTTF, It must also be able to handle large workloads.

This is because surveillance cameras provide a continuous flow of data and, frequently, These installations involve multiple cameras.. That's why, Specific hard drives for video surveillance are rated to handle up to 180 TB of data per year, A volume more than remarkable if we take into account that the classification of standard hard drives is 55 TB per year.

In addition, Video surveillance hard drives are designed to withstand higher operating temperatures. This aspect is also very important., as video recorders often contain multiple units and systems can be located in facilities that do not have air conditioning.

Moreover, it should be stressed that if a Toshiba surveillance hard drive fails, Offers a three-year warranty compared to standard hard drives, which usually offer two years.

In installations with video surveillance systems it is necessary to store large amounts of data in the shortest possible time. What performance do hard drives dedicated to this environment offer and how many cameras can record simultaneously??

Toshiba S300 video surveillance hard drive models achieve a data transfer rate of up to 184 MB/s, while the S300 Pro models provide up to 248 MB/s.

All Toshiba video surveillance HDD models are available with capabilities between 2 And 10 Tb, and designed to support up to 64 Cameras. For its part, The most basic model, the S300 1 Tb, Supports up to 32 Cameras.

With the large number of NVR/DVR system suppliers on the market, as well as server solutions. What about compatibility?

Effectively, There are many different suppliers of video surveillance systems, and each of them has its technical requirements. At Toshiba, we work closely with manufacturers to develop the right tests to ensure the compatibility of our hard drives..

In addition, Video surveillance system manufacturers usually provide information about approved hard drives in the form of compatibility listings..

It is also essential the work carried out by integrators of video surveillance systems and the specialized channel. And, in this sense, I want to highlight the agreement we have recently signed with the Spanish company Visiotech, One of the leading wholesalers of video surveillance products, Intrusion, access and presence control, Smart Home & Fire Control (more data in Digital Security).

In the area of video analysis, sharp images and fast access times are important. How can you make sure videos are always available? ad hoc No frame loss?

To avoid frame drops, ensure that the hard disk specifications match the requirements of the applications.

The hard drive must not only be compatible with the recorder and cameras used, It also has to offer sufficient storage capacity and be able to handle the corresponding workloads.. If required, In addition, Fast and advanced video analysis, Toshiba's recommendation is to use the S300 Pro models.

In addition to video surveillance, What other applications are these specific models of Toshiba hard drives suitable for??

Since it is necessary to respond to similar operational requirements, Video surveillance hard drives are also suitable for recording and playback of videos in set-top boxes and video storage applications in the audiovisual and media sector, For example, in the film post-production process.

In this sense, and while S300 hard drives should not be used in a RAID array, S300 Pro models are equally suitable for use in RAID systems.

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