Seagate SV35 Seagate Briefing: Optimizing Surveillance DVR Reliability (108K, - Page 4

Seagate Briefing: Optimizing Video Surveillance System Reliability and Performance performance for reading or writing video streams depends on reliable, predictable and timely command execution. Perhaps surprisingly, complete data integrity for video is not vitally important. That's because a small error introduced into a common video surveillance steam doesn't compromise the overall integrity of the visual image. While a small, perhaps imperceptible, flaw may occur, the overall video is still intact. However, today's surveillance systems more commonly feature advances in intelligent video analytics and megapixel image recording. In order to manage the vast amounts of video and related metadata in an intelligent or megapixel surveillance solution, a keyed relational database or similar traditional data organizational system is often used. It is absolutely critical that reads and writes for such systems employ the utmost levels of performance and error correction and detection to ensure data integrity isn't compromised. An important feature of the SV35 Series drive is its support of the ATA-7 streaming command set. ATA-7 is an extension of the industry-standard ATA command set for controlling hard drives. The streaming component of this standard enables the SV35 Series drive's reads and writes to be customized for either video or data payloads. Using the ATA-7 streaming commands, both of these requirements are elegantly met.2 Why is drive interface important? And why is the surveillance industry moving to SATA over traditional PATA? Ballooning file sizes in video surveillance are behind the insatiable hunger for greater storage capacity; such data can quickly fill even the most copious storage system. But sheer drive capacity isn't enough. Efficiently transferring these voluminous files demands drives with outstanding throughput, as well as robust error correction features to ensure data integrity is maintained during transmission. Parallel ATA (PATA) drives have done an admirable job of meeting these requirements, and now SATA drives are raising the surveillance storage bar even higher. The SATA interface takes advantage of recent breakthroughs in very large scale integration (VLSI) technology and high-speed serial transceivers, enabling SATA drives to deliver an unprecedented blend of performance, flexibility, data integrity and reliability. SATA storage devices have been embraced throughout the computing world, from OEMs to system builders/integrators and end users. Enormous sales volumes have helped drive down prices to very affordable levels. Couple this with the many compelling benefits of SATA and it's easy to see why SATA hard disk drives are attracting renewed interest from many surveillance manufacturers, system builders/ integrators and installers. For more information, see the Seagate technology paper: SATA Drives Raise the Surveillance Storage Bar. SV35 Series Summary The unique suite of features offered in the SV35 Series drive enables customers to immediately begin making incremental progress toward improved performance and reliability in video surveillance applications. The time-honored Seagate strategy of focusing product categories on specific storage platforms to drive continuous improvement should pay still higher dividends in the future. 2 For specific guidance and descriptions of how to implement the features of the SV35 Series hard drive, including the ATA-7 commands, see the SV35 Series Product Manual. AMERICAS ASIA / PACIFIC EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA Seagate Technology LLC 920 Disc Drive, Scotts Valley, California 95066, United States, 831-438-6550 Seagate Technology International Ltd. 7000 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, Singapore 569877, 65-6485-3888 Seagate Technology SAS 130-136, rue de Silly, 92773, Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex, France 33 1-4186 10 00 Copyright © 2008 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Wave logo are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. Barracuda, Pipeline HD and SV35 Series are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC or one of its affiliated companies in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. When referring to hard drive capacity, one gigabyte, or GB, equals one billion bytes and one terabyte, or TB, equals one trillion bytes. Your computer's operating system may use a different standard of measurement and report a lower capacity. In addition, some of the listed capacity is used for formatting and other functions, and thus will not be available for data storage. Quantitative usage examples for various applications are for illustrative purposes. Actual quantities will vary based on various factors, including file size, file format, features and application software. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications. TP553.2-0809US, September 2008