Western Digital Purple WD180PURZ 18TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 512MB 3.5in internal hard drive

Purpose-built surveillance storage

The Western Digital Purple WD180PURZ is an 18TB 3.5in internal hard drive engineered for continuous video recording. It spins at 7200 RPM over a SATA 6.0Gb/s interface with a 512MB cache and uses CMR recording technology inside a helium-sealed enclosure. The drive is rated for 24/7 operation and supports up to 64 HD cameras in NVR or DVR systems.

Ideal for multi-camera arrays.

This unit suits installers building large-scale surveillance arrays, AI-enabled analytics platforms or enterprise NAS deployments that demand sustained write throughput. It is not intended for laptop upgrades, external enclosures without 3.5in bays or systems that only need a small-capacity boot drive. Buyers needing a 2.5in form factor or a lower-capacity desktop drive should look elsewhere.

Steady throughput under constant write load

The helium-sealed design and tarnish-resistant components maintain a sustained transfer rate up to 272 MB/s during round-the-clock recording. Workloads spread across many streams stay consistent because the 7200 RPM spindle and large cache absorb bursts without throttling. The drive is built to keep that pace day after day rather than peaking only in short benchmarks.