Installing and formatting your hard drive on your dvr

Installing and formatting your hard drive on your dvr

The following video details how to install a HDD on a standard DVR:

Installing the hard drive

You will need to first remove the screws to remove the cover of the dvr.  Before you remove the cover you will want to unplug the power and remove all video camera cables from the back of the dvr.  There are usually 2 screws on the right side of the dvr, 2 screws on the left side of dvr, and between 1 and 5 screws on the back of the dvr.  Once the cover is removed you will connect the data and power cable to your sata hard drive.  You will want to put the hard drive in the brackets and put 1 or more screws securing the hard drive into the bracket.  Most dvrs will not recognize a hard drive that is less then 100gb or larger than 2tb.  Also if you do not use a dvr rated hard drive then the hard drive will probably go bad in 3 to 6 months.

Formatting the hard drive

                To format the hard drive you will need to disconnect all the video camera cables from the back of the dvr and reboot the dvr before you can get started.  You will then go to the main menu, then to device, then to hdd.  You will then select the box that is under select and then choose format hdd.  The dvr will say formatting please wait. Once it has finished the dvr says format finished and asks you to choose ok.  Once you have chose ok you will unplug the power from the dvr, connect all the cameras and then plug the power back in.  Your dvr should start recording immediately.

How to get a dvr rated hard drive

There are 2 companies that sell dvr rated hard drives. One is Western digital and the other is Seagate. Western Digitals is labeled "AV-GP” and Seagates is labeled "Pipeline”.  You can purchase one of these hard drives from Best Buy,  Radio Shack, New Egg, and many other locations that sell hard drives.