
WD Purple Surveillance 3.5-inch Hard Drives
Built for Personal, Home Office or Small Business Surveillance Systems
WD Purple (5,400 RPM)
WD Purple (1TB)
1TB PURPLE SATA GB/S 5400 RPM
- Capacity: 1 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 64 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (2TB)
2TB PURPLE SATA GB/S 5400 RPM
- Capacity: 2 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 64 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (3TB)
3TB PURPLE SATA GB/S 5400 RPM
- Capacity: 3 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 64 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (4TB)
4TB PURPLE SATA GB/S 5400 RPM
- Capacity: 4 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 64 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (6TB)
6TB PURPLE SATA GB/S 5400 RPM
- Capacity: 6 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 64 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (8TB)
8TB PURPLE SATA 3.5IN
- Capacity: 8 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 256 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (10TB)
10TB PURPLE SATA 210MB/S 5400
- Capacity: 10 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 5,400 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 256 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (7,200 RPM)
WD Purple (8TB)
8TB PURPLE SURVEILLANCE SATA
- Capacity: 8 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 7,200 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 256 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (10TB)
WD PURPLE 10TB SURVEILLANCE HD
- Capacity: 10 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 7,200 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 256 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
WD Purple (12TB)
WD PURPLE 12TB SURVEILLANCE HD
- Capacity: 12 TB
- Interface: SATA 6 Gb/s
- Rotational Speed: 7,200 RPM (nominal)
- Buffer Size: 256 MB
- Form Factor: 3.5 Inch
Overview:
WD Purple Surveillance Storage is built for 24/7 always-on surveillance in high-definition security systems that use up to eight hard drives and up to 32 cameras. Exclusive AllFrame™ technology works with ATA streaming to reduce error pixilation and video interruptions that occur when desktop hard drives are incorrectly used as storage in security systems.
The smart choice for surveillance
WD Purple Surveillance Storage offers exclusive AllFrame technology to bring you premium reliability and peace-of-mind when installing your home or small to medium business security system. WD Purple’s exclusive firmware upgrades work with ATA streaming to reduce error pixilation and video interruptions that occur when desktop hard drives are incorrectly used as storage in security systems. WD Purple Surveillance Storage is built for 24/7, always-on, high-definition surveillance security systems that use up to eight hard drives and up to 32 cameras.
Choose a drive that is designed and engineered for home and business surveillance systems and enjoy the peace-of-mind you can only get from a surveillance-class hard drive.
Desktop drives vs. surveillance-class storage
You wouldn’t use a bicycle to transport cargo across the country because it’s not the right tool for the job. You also shouldn’t use a desktop hard drive in your surveillance security system because it wasn’t designed for that application.
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.
Surveillance storage for peace-of-mind
Whether you’re protecting your personal assets and loved ones or monitoring the business you worked hard to build, you can rely on surveillance-class storage built by one of the largest hard drive manufacturers in the world. WD Purple Surveillance Storage is designed for high temperature, always-on, surveillance security systems to ensure reliability and quality video play back when you need it most. Experience the security of knowing you’re using a surveillance–class drive designed by a leader in the hard drive industry.
Improve performance with AllFrame
WD Purple surveillance-class hard drives are equipped with AllFrame technology which works with ATA streaming to reduce 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.
Key benefits:
- Reduces video frame loss with surveillance-class storage.
- Specifically tuned for surveillance security systems.
- Caching algorithms are tuned for write-intensive, low bit rate, high stream count applications that are typical of surveillance applications.
- Priority change for write allocations and preemptive caching policies.
- TLER & ATA streaming support.
- Supports up to eight drives.
Engineered for compatibility
WD Purple surveillance hard drives are built for compatibility with industry-leading chassis and chip set manufacturers for seamless integration into your new or existing video surveillance system. Check out our compatibility selector to find out what surveillance drive is right for you.
Low power consumption is crucial in high-temperature always-on surveillance environments. With exclusive IntelliSeek technology, WD Purple drives calculate the optimum seek speeds which lowers power consumption, noise and vibration that can damage and cause desktop drives to wear out more quickly. When you invest in a premium surveillance-class drive you worry less while enjoying the benefits over a longer period of time.
Optimized performance for up to 32 HD cameras
WD Purple hard drives are optimized to support up to 32 high-definition surveillance cameras, giving you the flexibility to upgrade and expand your security system in the future.
Trust a company with the confidence to stand behind their surveillance storage products with a 3-year limited warranty worldwide.
Recommended use
WD Purple storage is tested and recommended for use in surveillance and security systems up to 8 bays and optimized for 32 HD cameras. For additional surveillance capacity, look at WD datacenter hard drives. WD Purple is not recommended for use in NAS environments, please consider using WD Red hard drives for desktop RAID and NAS environments or WD datacenter hard drives for rackmount or large RAID configurations.
Features:
Improve performance with AllFrame
WD Purple surveillance-class hard drives are equipped with AllFrame technology which works with ATA streaming to reduce 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.
Engineered for compatibility
WD Purple surveillance hard drives are built for compatibility with industry-leading chassis and chip set manufacturers for seamless integration into your new or existing video surveillance system.
Optimized performance for up to 32 HD cameras
WD Purple hard drives are optimized to support up to 32 high-definition surveillance cameras, giving you the flexibility to upgrade and expand your security system in the future.
Lower power consumption
Low power consumption is crucial in high-temperature always-on surveillance environments. With exclusive IntelliSeek™ technology, WD Purple drives calculate the optimum seek speeds which lowers power consumption, noise and vibration that can damage and cause drives to wear out more quickly. When you invest in a premium surveillance-class drive you worry less while enjoying the benefits over a longer period of time.
3-year limited warranty (worldwide)
Trust a company with the confidence to stand behind their surveillance storage products with a 3-year limited warranty worldwide.
1 million hours MTBF
Best-in-class reliability for mainstream 3.5-inch form-factor surveillance storage*.
The WD Advantage
WD puts our products through extensive Functional Integrity Testing (F.I.T) prior to any product launch. This testing ensures our products consistently meet the highest quality and reliability standards of the WD brand. WD also has a detailed Knowledge Base with more than 1,000 helpful articles as well as helpful software and utilities. Our customer support lines have longer operational hours to ensure you get the help you need when you need it.
* Based on a surveillance usage of <60 TB/year transferred at 25°C ambient environment with up to 16 cameras.
Specifications:
Examples of the number of photos, songs, videos and any other files that can be stored on a hard drive are provided for illustrative purposes only. Your results will vary based on file size and format, settings, features, software and other factors.
Photo: Figures represent the average number of photos taken with a 6 megapixel camera in high-resolution JPEG mode with an average file size of 3.5 MB per photo. The actual number of images will vary by camera model and compression setting.
Hours: The DV format, regardless of its mode (miniDV, DVCAM, DVC-Pro) has a data rate of approximately 25mb/s (mega-bits per second). In storage terms, this translates to approximately 3.5MB/s (Megabytes per second) or 13GB/hr (Gigabytes per hour)
Song: Music capacity is based on 4 minutes per song. MP3 capacity is based on 128 Kbps bit rate and 11:1 audio compression ratio. Uncompressed CD quality is based on 1:1 audio compression ratio.

As used for storage capacity, one megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, and one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. As used for buffer or cache, one megabyte (MB) = 1,048,576 bytes. As used for transfer rate or interface, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second, megabit per second (Mb/s) = one million bits per second, and gigabit per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second.
Drive Size | 10 TB | 8 TB | 6 TB | 4 TB | 3 TB | 2 TB | 1 TB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Specifications | |||||||
Model Number1 | WD100PURZ | WD80PURZ | WD60PURZ | WD40PURZ | WD30PURZ | WD20PURZ | WD10PURZ |
Interface | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s |
Formatted Capacity2 | 10 TB | 8 TB | 6 TB | 4 TB | 3 TB | 2 TB | 1 TB |
Form factor | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch | 3.5-inch |
Advanced Format (AF) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
RoHS Compliant3 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Performance | |||||||
Data transfer rate (max) Buffer to host host to/from drive (sustained) |
6 Gb/s 210 MB/s |
6 Gb/s 178 MB/s |
6 Gb/s 175 MB/s |
6 Gb/s 150 MB/s |
6 Gb/s 145 MB/s |
6 Gb/s 145 MB/s |
6 Gb/s 110 MB/s |
Cache (MB) | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 | 64 |
Rotational Speed (RPM) | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower | IntelliPower |
Reliability/Data Integrity | |||||||
Load/unload cycles4 | 300,000 | ||||||
Non-recoverable read errors per bits read | <1 in 1014 | ||||||
Limited warranty (years)5 | 3 | ||||||
Power Management | |||||||
Average power requirements (W) | Read/Write: 6.2 Idle: 5.0 Standby: 0.5 Sleep: 0.5 |
Read/Write: 6.4 Idle: 5.7 Standby: 0.7 Sleep: 0.7 |
Read/Write: 5.3 Idle: 4.9 Standby: 0.4 Sleep: 0.4 |
Read/Write: 5.1 Idle: 4.5 Standby: 0.4 Sleep: 0.4 |
Read/Write: 4.4 Idle: 4.1 Standby: 0.4 Sleep: 0.4 |
Read/Write: 4.4 Idle: 4.1 Standby: 0.4 Sleep: 0.4 |
Read/Write: 3.3 Idle: 2.9 Standby: 0.4 Sleep: 0.4 |
Environmental Specifications6 | |||||||
Operating Temperature | 0 to 60° C | ||||||
Non-operating Temperature | -40 to 70° C | ||||||
Shock (Gs) | |||||||
Operating (2 ms, read/write) | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 |
Operating (2 ms, read) | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
Non-operating (2 ms) | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 350 |
Average acoustics (dBA)7 | |||||||
Idle mode | 20 | 20 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 21 |
Performance seek mode | 29 | 29 | 26 | 26 | 24 | 24 | 22 |
Physical Dimensions | |||||||
Height (in./mm, max) | 1.028/26.1 | ||||||
Length (in./mm, max) | 5.787/147 | ||||||
Width (in./mm, ± .01 in.) | 4/101.6 | ||||||
Weight (lb./kg, ± 10%) | 1.43/0.65 | 1.43/0.65 | 1.65/0.75 | 1.50/0.68 | 1.40/0.64 | 1.40/0.64 | 0.99/0.45 |
1 Not all products may be available in all regions of the world.
2 As used for storage capacity, one megabyte (MB) = one million bytes, one gigabyte (GB) = one billion bytes, and one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. As used for buffer or cache, one megabyte (MB) = 1,048,576 bytes. As used for transfer rate or interface, megabyte per second (MB/s) = one million bytes per second, and gigabit per second (Gb/s) = one billion bits per second. Effective maximum SATA 3 Gb/s transfer rate calculated according to the Serial ATA specification published by the SATAIO organization as of the date of this specification sheet. Visit www.sata-io.org for details.
3 WD hard drive products manufactured and sold worldwide after June 8, 2011, meet or exceed Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) compliance requirements as mandated by the RoHS Directive 2011/65/EU.
4 Controlled unload at ambient condition
5 The term of the limited warranty may vary by region. Visit http://support.wd.com/warranty for details
6 No non-recoverable errors during operating tests or after non-operating tests.
7 Sound power level.
WD Surveillance Storage:
Safety and security are always a concern. Governments, corporations and even individuals must protect themselves and their assets. One of the most popular methods employed to enhance security and safety is with video – one of the most storage-intensive fi le formats around. As the affordability of high-defi nition surveillance cameras has declined and their widespread use has been adopted, the demand for reliable and scalable storage has skyrocketed. As a result - according to IHS - the market for enterprise storage solutions in security is forecasted to grow by a 14.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next fi ve years.1 As evidenced by the data, increased presence and enhanced requirements of modern surveillance systems, there is a pressing need for specialized hard drives that offer more storage capacity and advanced features designed specifi cally for DVRs, NVRs, CCTV, IPTV and other surveillance mediums.
Surveillance storage for peace-of-mind
As a worldwide storage leader, WD strives to design drives to exceed the demanding requirements of digital video surveillance. With design, development, manufacturing and industry-leading customer support services, WD’s surveillance partners receive best-in-class products with innovative feature sets, ensuring that digital video surveillance systems equipped with WD drives are optimized for maximum performance. Whether you’re protecting your personal assets and loved ones or monitoring the business you worked hard to build, you can rely on surveillance storage built by one of the largest hard drive manufacturers in the world. WD surveillance hard drives are designed for high temperature, always-on, surveillance security systems to ensure reliability and quality video playback when you need it most.
WD gives you the security you want at the scale you need
Standard desktop hard drives are designed to operate approximately eight hours a day for five days per week. Consider now that a DVR or high-end surveillance system typically runs 24 hours per day, for seven days per week recording numerous simultaneous video streams. What’s needed for applications like these is another type of drive, a WD surveillance drive.
WD has designed a storage lineup perfect for digital video surveillance and its many unique environments and application sets. WD’s surveillance drives enable DVR, NVR, CCTV, IPTV and other digital video surveillance systems. These purpose-built drives deliver a comprehensive range of features and capabilities such as high-resolution image quality, streaming video from multiple high-definition cameras, video archiving with ultra-fast data access and on-demand video playback.
Regardless of the surveillance environment, whether it’s banking, casino, retail, commercial, residential, corporate, government or law enforcement, WD surveillance drives deliver the performance, capacity and reliability that surveillance applications require.
Desktop Drive Limitations
- Not designed for 24/7 surveillance environments
- No RAID support with error recovery controls
- Suboptimal power efficiency
- Not designed or tested for surveillance environments
- Potential integration and upgradability difficulties
- Minimal or no power backup in the event of power loss
Surveillance Hard Drive Benefits
- Built for 24/7 surveillance environments
- Supports multiple bays and multiple camera streams
- Engineered for compatibility in wide range of surveillance systems
- Enables upgrades & expansion of existing surveillance systems
- Lower power consumption
Understanding today’s surveillance market
The surveillance market is splitting into two primary types of systems; DVR – primarily analog systems that have cameras directly connected to the system, and NVR – digital systems that have cameras connected via IP (internet protocol). Due to the fact that DVRs have a finite number of cameras that can be physically attached, the number of streams and maximum workload on the hard drives can be determined. Since NVRs theoretically can have an unlimited number of cameras attached to the system, the number of streams, workload on the hard drive, and the system’s retention period can scale beyond that of a DVR.*
*There are limitations, primarily tied to system capability, so NVRs are not infinitely scalable.
Choosing the right surveillance-class drive
WD offers a complete line of surveillance-class storage designed for home, small to medium business or mission critical security systems. These hard drives are engineered to support the rigorous 24/7, always-on, high-definition video requirement set unique to surveillance security systems. Choose a hard drive that is designed and engineered for surveillance systems and enjoy the peace-of-mind you can only get from surveillance-class storage.
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WD Purple | WD Purple NV | WD Re | |
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Summary | Balanced reliability, performance and cost storage. | Purpose built storage for NVR Surveillance systems. | Maximum reliability and performance storage for large business and mission critical surveillance. |
Form Factor & Capacity | 3.5-inch: 1 TB - 6 TB | 3.5-inch: 4 TB & 6 TB | 3.5-inch: 250 GB - 6 TB |
Application | Mainstream Surveillance | Mid-range and Small-Med Business Surveillance | High-end and Mission Critical Surveillance |
Usage Environment | Residential / SMB / Retail / Commercial | Residential / SMB / Retail / Commercial | Retail / Commercial / Banking / Casino / Corporate / Government / Law Enforcement |
Advantages |
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Number of Drive Bays | 1 to 8 Bays | ≥ 8 Bays (No Limit)* | ≥ 8 Bays (No Limit) |
Number of Cameras | 1 to 32 Cameras | 1 to 64 Cameras | No Limit |
Power on Hours | 24/7 | 24/7 | 24/7 |
RAID Support | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Limited Warranty | 3-Year | 3-Year | 5-Year |
* The specific number of cameras and hard drive bays that can be supported will be dependent on a number of criteria including but not limited to: types and capability of cameras installed (resolution, frames per second, additional features) and the system’s hardware and software capability
Estimated Capacity
There are an infinite number of different combinations of camera resolutions, live cameras, frames per second, and archive settings. WD understands the uniqueness of each combination and offers a full line of capacity products and points to fulfill the complex needs surveillance systems present.
Estimated Capacity Requirements, in TB based on follow system set up:
Standard Definition Camera Resolution: 0.3 megapixesl (640 x 480)
30 frames per second
Compression: H.264

Estimated Capacity Requirements, in TB based on follow system set up:
High Definition Camera Resolution: 2.1 megapixels or 1080p (1920x1080)
30 frames per second
Compression: H.264

Lower temperature means greater reliability
In addition to high levels of clarity, long-term reliability and low-power consumption are equally critical to surveillance systems. Designed for 24/7 operation, WD surveillance-class drives consume less power during spin-up and operation, minimize heat dissipation and vibration, and operate reliably without compromising performance. Reducing heat, noise, and vibration enables surveillance applications to operate more reliably over longer periods of time.
Thermal images taken at the WD labs demonstrate how much cooler WD drives are when compared to the competitors' standard 7200 RPM hard drives.
When a drive operates at a lower temperature its lifespan increases.
In addition to high levels of clarity, long-term reliability and low-power consumption are equally critical to surveillance systems. Designed for 24x7 operation, WD drives with WD GreenPower Technology™ consume less power during spin-up and operation, minimize heat dissipation and vibration, and operate reliably without compromising performance. Reducing heat, noise, and vibration enables surveillance applications to operate more reliably over longer periods of time.

Annual Failure Rate vs. Hard Drive Base Casting Temp
The illustration below demonstrates the annual failure rate and how it correlates to the hard drive base casting temperature and power on hours (POH). Failure rates significantly increase as temperature rises. In a system operating 24x7 the impact is substantial.
The evolution of of surveillance
Safety and security are always a concern. Governments, corporations, and even individuals must protect themselves and their assets. One of the most popular methods employed to enhance security and safety is digital video surveillance. With increased presence and enhanced requirements of modern surveillance systems, there is a pressing need for specialized hard drives with more storage capacity and advanced features designed specifically for SDVRs, CCTV, IPTV and other surveillance mediums. As a worldwide storage leader, WD continually strives to design drives to exceed the demanding requirements of digital video surveillance. With design, development, manufacturing, and industry-leading customer support services, WD's surveillance partners receive best-in-class products with innovative feature sets, ensuring that digital video surveillance systems equipped with WD drives are optimized for maximum performance.
Surveillance storage for peace-of-mind
Whether you're protecting your personal assets and loved ones or monitoring the business you worked hard to build, you can rely on surveillance-class storage built by one of the largest hard drive manufacturers in the world. WD Purple surveillance hard drives are designed for high temperature, always-on, surveillance security systems to ensure reliability and quality video play back when you need it most. Experience the security of knowing you're using a surveillance-class drive designed by a leader in the storage industry.
Drive Views:

Bottom View

Top Angle View

Right Angle View

Cover View
Documentation:
Download the WD Purple Surveillance Specsheet (PDF).