Western Digital, a leading hard drive manufacturer has recently announced their latest hard drive for surveillance, the WD Purple Surveillance Hard Drives. The WD Purple, although may look similarly to a regular desktop hard drive (except for the color), is specifically designed for surveillance systems only. It is the perfect storage solution for home, SOHO and small business environments with up 32 HD video cameras using up to 8 of these WD Purples drives. Check out the rest of its features, specifications, price and availability below.
According to Matt Rutledge, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s Storage Technology group: “By expanding our ‘Power of Choice’ product portfolio with WD Purple, we make it simple for our VARs, integrators and consumers to select the right drive engineered for their application and validated with our industry leading surveillance partners,” “WD optimized the WD Purple line of hard drives for surveillance applications to improve high-definition video playback, and operate in 24×7 workloads of surveillance environments.”
WD Purple surveillance-class storage has been tested to be compatible in a wide-range of security systems. These drives are designed to replace standard desktop drives that were not designed for the harsh 24/7 always-on, high-definition surveillance environment. Desktop drives are built to run for only short intervals and are not engineered to withstand high-temperature fluctuations and equipment vibrations found in a typical surveillance application.
The WD Purple drives primarily features AllFrame and Advanced Format Technology (AFT). AllFrame technology which works with ATA streaming reduces frame loss, improve playback and increases the number of drive bays supported. AllFrame reduces video interruptions that commonly occur when desktop hard drives are incorrectly used as storage in security systems. Missed frames and lost footage is a serious problem when an event occurs and surveillance footage needs to be retrieved. WD Purple with AllFrame provides the confidence you should expect when it’s time to play back and review critical surveillance footage.
Built for easy integration into new or existing video surveillance systems, WD Purple hard drives are designed and tested to surveillance-class standards and are compatible with industry-leading chassis and chip-sets. Without a current industry standard, WD worked closely with surveillance partners to develop a proprietary benchmark to define and demonstrate performance in surveillance systems. Tests of WD Purple hard drives indicate superior performance to competitive surveillance-class brands of storage, especially as cameras, channel count and workloads increase.
WD Purple Specifications
| Specifications | WD40PURX | WD30PURX | WD20PURX | WD10PURX |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interface | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s |
| Rotational Speed | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower |
| Buffer Size | 64 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Load/unload Cycles | 300,000 minimum | 300,000 minimum | 300,000 minimum | 300,000 minimum |
| Transfer Rates | 6 Gb/s (Max) | 6 Gb/s (Max) | 6 Gb/s (Max) | 6 Gb/s (Max) |
| Capacity | 4 TB | 3 TB | 2 TB | 1 TB |
| Form Factor | 3.5 Inch | 3.5 Inch | 3.5 Inch | 3.5 Inch |
| User Sectors Per Drive | 7,814,037,168 | 5,860,533,168 | 3,907,029,168 | 1,953,525,168 |
| Dimensions | 147mm x 101.6mm x 26.1mm | 147mm x 101.6mm x 26.1mm | 147mm x 101.6mm x 26.1mm | 147mm x 101.6mm x 26.1mm |
| Weight | 0.68 kg | 0.64 kg | 0.64 kg | 0.45 kg |
| Operating Shock (Read) | 65G, 2 ms | 65G, 2 ms | 65G, 2 ms | 65G, 2 ms |
| Non-operating Shock | 250G, 2 ms | 250G, 2 ms | 250G, 2 ms | 250G, 2 ms |
| Idle Mode | 26 dBA (average) | 23 dBA (average) | 23 dBA (average) | 21 dBA (average) |
| Seek Mode 0 | 27 dBA (average) | 24 dBA (average) | 24 dBA (average) | 22 dBA (average) |
| Operating Temperature | -0° C to 65° C | -0° C to 65° C | -0° C to 65° C | -0° C to 65° C |
| Non-operating Temperature | -40° C to 70° C | -40° C to 70° C | -40° C to 70° C | -40° C to 70° C |
| Power Dissipation Read/Write Idle Standby Sleep | . 5.10W 4.5W 0.50W 0.50W | . 4.40W 4.10W 0.60W 0.60W | . 4.40W 4.10W 0.60W 0.60W | . 3.30W 2.90W 0.70W 0.70W |
| Compatibility | Windows/Mac | Windows/Mac | Windows/Mac | Windows/Mac |
Price and Availability
The WD Purple surveillance-class hard drives are available in four different capacities, and are shipping now through select distributors and resellers, and are covered by a three-year limited warranty. Below are their respective prices:
WD Purple 1TB (WD10PURX) – $89.99 $66.61
WD Purple 2TB (WD20PURX) – $119.99 $94.99
WD Purple 3TB (WD30PURX) – $159.99 $129.00
WD Purple 4TB (WD40PURX) – $199.99 $185.99
