How a manufacturer forces his clients to use only his HDD

[TheProtechtors]

Hello,
I work for a Surveillance Systems Company, We have a Manufacturer which makes Digital Video Recorders that use SATA II HDDs for Storing Video Footage from the Cameras. This company is selling his own HDDs to use with it's recorders for almost Four times the market price. I showed interest in buying recorders without HDD and they made it clear that their recording equipment is only compatible with their own Hard Disk, so even if I take empty units I'll have to order the HDDs separately from them. I intend to use my own HDDs with their recorder. What kind of coding/encryption etc can prevent a DVR not to recognize/work with Normally available hard drives? I can purchase one or two hard drives and than try to replicate everything to another HDD, is that as simple as it sounds? Please advise what kind of problems I can face.

[labtech]

What do you mean by "replicate"?

[loki]

Im assuming they mean changing the Model & Serial number to match to working drives in the DVR?

[labtech]

Right, but in the OP's opinion, it could mean lots of things. And the answers for "it is as easy as it sounds?" question change quickly.

But generally speaking, not that easy.

Either way, some preliminary work has to be done so that you do not try something without the possibility of having some sort of realistic conclusion that whatever you will try may actually be successful.

[TheProtechtors]

What do you mean by "replicate"?

Thanks for taking notice, by replication I mean I would use some software to take the complete drive image of DVR's HDD and would try to put it on some standard HDDs available in market. The DVR's HDD is standard 3.5"SATA. Im wondering its not just this DVR manufacturer to put this kind of restriction on his equipment. Their must be other companies making hardware/software changes to the HDD as well so that the consumer cannot buy hdd straight from market. What are possible methods to avoid/ get away with this restriction? And what can prevent us totally from using our own HDD?

[TheProtechtors]

Im assuming they mean changing the Model & Serial number to match to working drives in the DVR?

Nops, it's something beyond Model and Serial number, the manufacturer allows ordering additional hard drives for storage expansion. I believe They must have done something to MBR or something so that the DVR doesn't accept other Hdds.

[TheProtechtors]

Is there anyway to extract a HDD's firmware? cuz I believe the manufacturer might be using some custom firmware embedded on their hard drive.

[Vulcan]

What are possible methods to avoid/ get away with this restriction? And what can prevent us totally from using our own HDD?

I have seen several techniques used to create such restrictions, but without you buying one of these units and a "special" drive, then doing some analysis, IMHO all the guesses and questions you are asking may be a waste of time, since only one (or perhaps none) of your guesses is likely to apply. I don't have that amount of time to waste on hypotheticals, but when you have one of these systems and a "special" disk drive from that manufacturer, then it may be possible to understand more.

Of course another issue is not just the original purchase price of the "special" disks, but also the risk of supply difficulties of those "special" drives in the future, when spare drives are needed.

FYI there are some techniques the manufacturer could use, that would be so difficult for you to bypass, it would then probably be cheaper to just use their disk drives!

[labtech]

I like and I agree with Vulcan's answer.

I was not aware that such manufacturers could actually alter the firmware as well, as working with the firmware is not quite a walk in the park. So, if this is the case, then it is definitely not worth trying to work with your own drives. The time and money involved is not worth in comparison to going with them or looking into other options.

Why do you need such high end solution anyway?