Desktop drives vs. surveillance-class storage: You wouldn’t use a bicycle to transport cargo across the country because it’s not the right tool for the job. You also shouldn’t use a desktop hard drive in your surveillance security system because it wasn’t designed for that application. Seagate Skyhawk surveillance-class storage has been tested to be compatible in a wide-range of security systems. These drives are designed to replace standard desktop drives that were not designed for the harsh 24/7 always-on, high-definition surveillance environment. Desktop drives are built to run for only short intervals and are not engineered to withstand high-temperature fluctuations and equipment vibrations found in a typical surveillance application.