Security Camera DVR with Linux
 

I have a Swann DVR4-2500 Security DVR with a Seagate SV series 500 Gig hard drive. I'm trying to offload the camera footage. The hard drive is formatted with Linux but dont know what kind. Would any type be able to help?

What is your distro again?
With most distros, just plug the USB cable and a window will popup asking you what to do with the mass storage media. Just select "open in file manager" and then copy whatever you want to wherever you want.

The company hasn't been forthcoming with what linuxx the hard drive has on it. What I need to know is which distro to use? Being new to linux i'm not sure if any distro will work with the hard drive?

What does "formatted with Linux" mean? Linux is not a filesystem.

Do you mean it has a Linux distro installed on it or is it just formatted with a Linux-compatible filesystem (ext3, ext4, ReiserFS, etc., not NTFS)?

Yes, I get it. You use Windows, right?
You need to use that software then:
http://www.chrysocome.net/explore2fs