Hard drive Setup

What’s this?

Unlike a VCR which records to a tape, your DVR records footage to the internal hard drive. Therefore, it’s an important first step when configuring your DVR to make sure that the hard drive (HDD) options are correctly set. Think of it like inserting a really, really long tape that you don’t have to rewind.

All the options we’re configuring here you’ll find in the HDD SETUP submenu.

HDD Status (status of the currently installed hard drive)

If the hard drive is not installed properly you will see a message saying NO DISK FOUND. Hopefully, though, it will say OK. In LIVE

VIEWING mode, you will see the icon on the bottom of the top left display if the hard drive is not installed correctly. If you’re having problems with this, have a look at the steps for changing the hard drive on page 39.

The HDD SETUP screen will show you:

TOTAL SPACE - Total size of the hard drive currently installed.

FREE SPACE - Total amount of freespace available on the hard drive currently installed. USEABLE REC. TIME - Free space currently available in hours.

 

Additionally, there are some options that need to be configured. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s what.

 

OVERWRITE

 

 

When set to ENABLE the DVR will record over

 

 

the oldest files on the hard drive. This is the

 

 

default setting, and probably the most useful, as

 

 

the DVR will always be able to record events as

 

 

they happen. However, it does mean that you’ll

 

 

need to get important events off the HDD before

 

 

they’re overwritten.

 

 

If overwrite is set to DISABLE the DVR will stop

 

 

recording once the DVR is full. Whilst you won’t

 

 

lose old footage, you run the risk of missing new

 

 

events as they happen. Be sure you want to do

 

 

this before selecting it.

 

 

HDD FORMAT

 

 

Formatting the HDD will erase all data (i.e. foot-

 

 

age) which is stored on it, and re-create the FAT

 

 

(file allocation table).

 

 

There are some times when using the format

 

 

option is very useful. For example, if the value

 

 

displayed in TOTAL SPACE is not correct for the

 

 

HDD you’ve installed, or the DVR is displaying

 

 

errors when trying to write to the hard drive,

 

 

then a format might fix the problem.

 

 

Additionally, if you have a USB flash drive

ALL DATA WILL BE ERASED, ARE YOU

 

connected to the DVR, you can format that, too.

 

This will also erase all the data on the drive, but

SURE YOU WANT TO FORMAT?

 

make the flash drive compatible with the DVR

 

 

for backing up footage. To do this, click the USB

 

 

FORMAT button and click OK.

 

10

After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

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Swann DVR8-2500 manual Hard drive Setup, What’s this?