Read this guide if you’re getting an HDD error on your Hikvision DVR or NVR. This type of error may show simply as “error” or as “HDD not detected”.
In other cases, you may get the message “not exist” or “unformatted HDD” on the status column on the HDD management settings.
Generally speaking, a Hard Drive that has not detected error message indicates a hard disk drive (HDD) issue within your Hikvision DVR or NVR system.
There are a few things you can do to solve this type of HDD error. You may get these error messages showing up on your Hikvision recorder:
- HDD not exist
- HDD not detected
- HDD not detected
- HDD failure
- HDD not available
- Unformatted HDD
Fixing the Hikvision HDD error
Hard Drive is faulty
If the hard drive is bad or faulty, the Hikvision recorder will not be able to detect it. Is the hard drive a newne? Check it out on a desktop computer. Is the hard drive old and was used by a different kind of device?
That may be a problem, especially if the hard drive is 5-7 years old. Another thing you need to keep in mind, desktop hard drives have a short life span compared to the hard drives intended for security systems. So, make sure to get hard drives rated for CCTV systems (such as Seagate or WD purple)
The Hard Drive’s size is unsupported
Make sure your Hikvision NVR (or DVR) supports the size of the hard drive. Read the specs of your Hikvision unit and confirm that the installed hard drive is supported by the recorder.
Let’s say you have installed a 6TB hard drive, while the recorder supports 4TB max. In this case, the recorder will not detect the hard drive (or show “not exist).
Power adapter doesn’t provide enough power
This is another issue that causes the hard drives not to be detected. The power adapter that powers up the whole recorder is not able to power on the hard drive as well. We’ve seen this kind of situation, especially in cases where the hard drive is made for desktop use.
The desktop hard drive may withdraw too much juice from the power adapter. Or the power adapter has gone bad (instead of providing 5 Amps, it’s outputting 2Amps only).
Check the cables
It happens quite often that the cables are loose and the hard drive cannot be detected by the system. To make sure everything is okay, turn off the Hikvision recorder, open up the top cover of your unit and locate the hard drive(s).
There should be two cables coming out of the hard drive: one is the data cable (SATA cable), and the other one is the power cable (which gets power from the motherboard).
Check out those two cables and make sure they’re properly connected (not loose). In a few rare cases, the power cable may be bad or even the SATA data cable. It’s not very common, however, we should mention it. Ensure your cable is not damaged.
Transfer the Hard Drive to another slot
Usually, the Hikvision recorders are able to support at least two hard drives. Turn off the recorder and disconnect the hard drive from its slot and plug it into the other slot (just to test it out).
Reconnect both the power cable and the data cable to new sockets on the motherboard. Turn on the recorder and go back to the HDD settings and check the HDD status.
Thanks – saved the day – 12v supply was low voltage and HDD was not detected – all good now
It was the same in my case. I changed the charger with a new one and detected the HDD!
Thank you for tip. DVR producers should mention that in the manuals / troubleshooting chapter
How will i know if my HDD is bad, i have HDDs in a 32 channels NVR
How will i know if any of it is bad?
Your response will go a long way
Navigate to the HDD section of the NVR’s local interface, and check the status of your hard drives. If it’s good, it should say “Normal”, anything else indicates that there’s an error with HDD. Additionally, some NVRs offer an HDD scan option that will inspect the hard drive and display any found errors on the screen.
Thanks for the helpful post! I’m trying to export video from a Hikvision DS-7200HGHI-SH Series DVR to a 18 TB Seagate external hard drive. The DVR recognizes the hard drive (I have to select it though, rather than it being the default), but whenever I perform the export I get an error that simply reads “Export Failed” with no code.
Any advice? From your post above I wondered if this drive is too large to use, but I couldn’t see anything about that in the manual for the DVR and I’m hoping that’s not an issue.
Hi. How about if the scenario is this, when a HDD is connected to the DVR, it won’t boot. But if I disconnected it, it will continue boot and I can navigate to the system. I checked the HDD at it can be detected on a Windows machine. Appreciate your feedback on this. Thank you!
You need to check the power supply powering up the recorder. Or replace the hard drive. One of them is causing the reboot (HDD or power supply unit).
Out of the blue our DVR started to beep. I took out the Hard drive which in the config it says NO HDD and using the software I could not initialise it either because the system was not detecting the HDD. I put it in my PC and saw that the HDD had no data on it and was not even initialised!
I can create a new simple volume on it and format it using Windows software.
What could the problem be if the HDD is okay?
Thank you! Turned-out to be a power adapter problem. Causing a failure of the HDD start. When I switched to another 12V adapter, it worked instantly.
After a power surge my HD has been wiped and shows this message in the log:
Operation-‘Local Operation: Intialize HDD
Is this normal or would it have been done on purpose? By someone?