Alarm.com ADC-USD-256GB-WD

The WD Purple MicroSD Card, now offered by Alarm.com is a high-endurance card made specifically for the high-demand performance needs of the 24/7 video surveillance market. Produced by Western Digital, it uses advanced 96-layer 3D NAND technology. It supports card health monitor functionality.

Many of the cameras offered by Alarm.com now support Onboard Recording with Smart View. In order to utilize this feature, the monitoring plan must support Video. For Alarm Grid customers, that is either of our Platinum Plans (Self or Full) or our Stand-Alone Video Plan. In addition, only certain cameras offered by Alarm.com support the use of this feature. The following cameras support Onboard Recording with Smart View:

• ADC-V515: 1080p Indoor WIFI Camera. Must be on Firmware Version 0.0.5.096+
• ADC-V523: 1080p Indoor WIFI Camera. Must be on Firmware Version 0.6.1.151+
• ADC-V723: 1080p Outdoor WIFI Camera. Must be on Firmware Version 0.6.1.151+
• ADC-V724: 1080p Outdoor WIFI Camera with 2-Way Audio.

Note: The firmware for the camera is updated automatically when an Onboard Recording schedule is created for it.

The maximum MicroSD card capacity supported by the above cameras is 256GB, which is why Alarm.com only sells the card in this capacity. Looking at the Data Sheet for the Western Digital Purple MicroSD cards, you can see that they come in capacities as high as 1TB, however a card with anything more than 256GB capacity will not work. For more detailed information on the Onboard Recording feature, check out this post.

One of the ways in which performance, capacity, and durability is improved in this MicroSD card is by the utilization of 96-Layer 3D NAND technology. In 3D NAND, layers of NAND Flash memory are stacked and then connected by very small vertical channels. In this case, there are 96 layers. The term 3D is used because rather than being like a 2D single sheet of paper, it's a 3D stack, similar to what you'd see if you had 96 sheets of paper stacked one atop the other. This allows for more storage space, lower power consumption, and faster performance with greater endurance.