topic Re: Expanding my Arlo system in Arlo Pro 3

Expanding my Arlo system

findcoop — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 03:36:23 GMT

Hello all

i have 5 pro 3s connecting through a VMB4540r3 smart hub.

I am considering adding some more cameras, but here are my concerns:

I have the Arlo hub pinned to wifi channel 6, channels 1/11 are used already by about 70 devices in my home. I don’t want Arlo mixing with those. Second, my 2 TB storage drive connected to the Arlo hub only keeps about ten days of video history with the five cameras. With more cameras the history will be less and storage can’t be expanded. I was considering adding a second hub so I could double my retention but I don’t want to complicate the wifi.

I would appreciate your ideas. Thx

Re: Expanding my Arlo system

DannyBearAgain — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 05:37:18 GMT

I have a 16GB stick on my VMB4000 base that gives me 3 months of recordings with four cameras.

2TB is a lot of storage space unless you want to keep a full history or have a lot of cameras.

Are you aware that the arlo mobile app has limited the local storage access view so the recordings will not be displayed if beyond the cloud storage limits.

To access earlier recordings you need to remove the USB storage device and view recordings on a pc.

Re: Expanding my Arlo system

StephenB — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 14:17:21 GMT

@findcoop wrote:

Second, my 2 TB storage drive connected to the Arlo hub only keeps about ten days of video history with the five cameras.

Something is off here.

The Pro 3 camera has a peak data rate of about 2 mbps. 2 TB is enough for 92 days of storage for a single camera even if it was recording 24x7. The relevant formula is (2,000,000,000,000*8)/(2000000*86400) = ~ 92.59 days

So over 18 days of storage with 5 cameras worst case. And of course the cameras aren't continuously recording.

Can you estimate how many minutes of recording you are seeing per day? Maybe also double-check that the storage is actually full.

Re: Expanding my Arlo system

findcoop — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 22:40:25 GMT

Is there a way inside of the app to check how full the storage is?

Re: Expanding my Arlo system

DannyBearAgain — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:46:42 GMT

The USB backup storage device usage is displayed in the app,

select settings/my devices/base/storage settings.

Be aware that the base will start overwrite of older recordings at 80% capacity if auto overwrite is enabled. If not engaged it alerts the USB is full.

At a guess I suspect you are getting confused with the arlo recording storage options, likely you are viewing the arlo cloud storage which has a limited retention period. If not then be aware that the same retention restrictions apply to the USB recordings within the app for viewing but not deleted. This is why you need to eject the USB, plug into a pc to view past recordings.

Re: Expanding my Arlo system

StephenB — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 20:50:26 GMT

@findcoop wrote:

Is there a way inside of the app to check how full the storage is?

The Local Storage settings page shows Available Storage (xxx GB used of YYY GB).

You can also just eject to storage and connect it to a PC, and use PC tools to see how much is on the device.