Is Your Dahua Security System Not Recording 24/7?
You've installed a professional Dahua CCTV system to provide constant surveillance, but what good is it if there are gaps in the footage? Discovering your system is only recording on motion—or not at all—can undermine your entire security setup. This issue is common and, fortunately, usually straightforward to fix.
This guide will walk you through the essential troubleshooting steps to solve the "no 24/7 recording" problem with your Dahua NVR or DVR, ensuring you have an unbroken record of events.
Why Continuous Recording is Essential
While motion detection is a useful feature for sending alerts, it's not foolproof. A slow-moving intruder or a subtle act of vandalism might not trigger a motion event. Continuous 24/7 recording is the only way to guarantee that everything is captured, providing you with a complete timeline you can review at any time.
How to Enable and Fix 24/7 Recording
The problem almost always lies within the system's configuration settings. Let's get it sorted.
1. The Recording Schedule: The Most Common Culprit
Your Dahua recorder (NVR or DVR) operates on a schedule that tells it when and how to record. Often, the default setting is for motion detection (MD) only. You need to change this to general, continuous recording.
- Log In to Your Recorder: Access your NVR/DVR's interface, either through a directly connected monitor or by typing its IP address into a web browser.
- Navigate to the Schedule: Find the main menu and go to Storage > Schedule.
- Select Your Camera: Choose the camera you want to configure from the dropdown list.
- Set the Schedule: You will see a timetable grid for the week. On the right, there will be options for "General," "MD" (Motion Detection), and "Alarm."
- Click the "General" button.
- Click and drag your mouse across the entire grid, from Sunday to Saturday, 00:00 to 24:00. The entire grid should turn green, which represents general/continuous recording.
- Apply and Save: You can use the "Copy" function to apply the same schedule to other cameras. Crucially, click "Apply" or "Save" to make the changes take effect.
2. Check Your Hard Drive (HDD) Status
If the schedule is correct, the next place to look is your storage.
- Navigate to HDD Management: In the storage menu, find the HDD Manager or Disk Management section.
- Check the Status: The status of your hard drive should be "Normal." If it says "Error," "Uninitialised," or is missing, the recorder cannot save any footage. You may need to format the drive (which will erase all data) or replace it if it's faulty.
- Enable Overwrite: Ensure the HDD is set to "Overwrite" when full. If it's set to "Stop," recording will cease once the disk capacity is reached. This setting is usually in the basic record or storage settings.
3. Verify Other System Settings
A couple of other settings can interfere with recording.
- System Time and Date: If your recorder's clock is incorrect, it won't follow the schedule properly. Go to the system settings and ensure the date, time, and time zone are set correctly.
- Firmware Updates: Bugs in older firmware versions can sometimes cause recording issues. Check Dahua's official website for the latest firmware for your model and consider updating if you continue to have problems.
By ensuring your recording schedule is correctly set to "General," verifying your hard drive's health, and checking your system's core settings, you can resolve the vast majority of 24/7 recording issues and restore the continuous surveillance your Dahua system was designed to provide.