Fault-finding
The recorder is warning that storage is full
A full drive is by design: recorders are meant to overwrite the oldest footage automatically and carry on. If yours has stopped recording instead, the overwrite setting is off — enable it and recording resumes immediately. Wanting more days of history is a separate problem, solved by a larger drive, not a setting.
Last reviewed
Turn overwrite on
Find the storage or HDD page and enable overwrite — some brands call it recycle or loop recording. A surprising number of recorders ship from the factory set to stop when the drive fills, which quietly ends recording on the day it happens and is usually discovered weeks later, when footage is needed and the newest clip turns out to be a month old. With overwrite on, a full drive is a non-event.
Export anything that matters first
The moment overwrite is enabled, the oldest footage starts being consumed as new video needs the space. If anything in the stored period could still matter — a theft, a staff dispute, an insurance question — export it to USB before touching the setting, because once the loop rolls past that date no recovery service can bring it back. Export the day you think of it, not the week after.
Size the drive to the history you need
Work backwards from how long it takes you to notice a problem. Four 2MP cameras recording continuously fill roughly a terabyte in two to three weeks, and doubling the cameras halves the days. If a month of history matters for your shop or office, fit the drive that holds a month, or move the quieter cameras to motion-only recording and keep continuous recording for the till and the entrance.
My CCTV says the hard drive is full — what now?
Does enabling overwrite delete everything at once?
No. Only the oldest hours go, one at a time, as new recording needs the space. Nothing is wiped in bulk and recent footage is never touched.
How much history should an Islamabad shop keep?
Two to four weeks covers most retail disputes and insurance claims — problems reported later than that are rare. Doubling retention costs one larger hard drive, not a new system.
Rather have it done?
Security camera repair covers black screens, recorders that stopped writing, lost phone access after an internet change, and footage that will not play back. Most faults trace to power, connectors or settings rather than a dead camera. Callout in Islamabad or Rawalpindi starts at PKR 3,000, with the full fix priced before any work.
Security camera repair in Islamabad — prices and scope