Installing Hard Drives in FortiRecorder 400D

Supported HDD models and capacities

Fortinet recommends surveillance grade rated hard drive models such as Western Digital WD40PURX and the Seagate ST4000VX000 (2-4 TB capacity).

Important: If you are using old disks from another system (RAID or LVM), erase all metadata on the drives.

Configuring RAID Levels

The FortiRecorder 400D supports four hard drives and software RAID.  The following table illustrates FortiRecorder 400D supported  RAID levels. 

To configure RAID levels:

IMPORTANT: Back up your data on a disk before beginning the following procedure. Changing the device’s RAID levels temporarily suspends all data processing and erases all data on the hard disk.

1. Connect to the CLI console.
2. Enter the the command: 
   execute raidlevel <level>

The FortiRecorder will change the RAID levels and reboot.

Adding a RAID Disk

You can add two additional drives to your FortiRecorder 400D unit to expand your storage capacity. 

To add an additional disk to the RAID array:

1. Remove the hard disk bay from the unit by unlocking the bay with the supplied key.
2. Install the hard disk into the bay and insert the bay into the unit.
3. Go to System > Storage > Local Storage. 
4. Select Refresh. The newly added disk will appear under Drives.
5. Add the disk to an array.
6. Select Refresh. The new array will appear under RAID Arrays.
7. Select the new array and adjust the portions you want to allocate to log and video storage.
8. Select Add to Logical Disks.

Replacing a RAID Disk

Whether due to damage or a component upgrade, you may want to replace a disk in your FortiRecorder 400D unit. The following steps guide you through the simple process of replacing a RAID disk.

Important: The new disk must have the same or greater storage capacity than the existing disk in the array. If the new disk has a larger capcity, only the amount equal to the smallest disk will be used. For example, if the RAID has a 400 GB disk and you replace one of those disks with a 500 GB disk, only 400 GB of the new disk will be used.

Note: FortiRecorder units support hot swap. You do not need to shut down the unit during hard disk replacement.

To replace a RAID disk:

1. Go to System > Storage > Local Storage. 
2. Select the hard disk from the row you want to replace (for example, p4) and select Delete. The RAID controller will be removed from the list.
   Important: Use an anti-static wrist strap to avoid static electricity damaging the hard disk.
3. Remove the hard disk that you removed from the web UI from its drive bay. 
4. Insert the new hard disk into the drive bay. 
5. Select Refresh.

The RAID controller will scan for and locate the newly installed disk. The FortiRecorder unit may automatically add the new hard disk to the RAID unit or allocate it as a spare depending on the RAID level.

Replacing all RAID disks

You may need to replace all RAID disks in your machine, including the pre-installed drives, and build a new array.

Important: Because the HTTPs certificates are stored on the hard drive, if you still need them, you must back up the configuration first. The certificates will be backed up in the configuration file. After you install the new hard drives, restore the configuration. But if you’re not using the factory certificates and you’re planning to import your own certificate later on, you don’t have to back up the configuration/certificates.

To replace all disks in the array

1. Shut down the FortiRecorder unit.
2. Remove the hard disks.
3. Install the new hard disks.
4. Boot up the system.
5. From the Command Line Interface, enter the following command to rebuild the disks:
   execute factoryreset disk
   This command uses the default RAID level based on the number of drives used. You can also use the following command to rebuild the disks with the specified RAID level. For the supported RAID levels, see the above section.
   execute raidlevel <level>
6. The system will reboot.