Local storage was not properly ejected from Base Station / Your Local Storage is Full

[namster2k]

I purchased the Arlo Pro 2 a year ago. It came with the VMB4500r2 Base Station and I'm running the latest firmware (1.16.6.2_3765_e9ee661). For local storage, I'm using a SanDisk 128GB USB thumb drive which was formatted from the Base Station.

Ever since a month ago, I would frequently get a notification from the Arlo app that reads, "Local storage was not properly ejected from Base Station". This would immediately be followed by an email from Arlo that reads, "Arlo System Update: Your Local Storage is Full". This has been happening at least once a week. Every time I would simply pull out the USB thumb drive and pop it back in.

The storage settings in the app for the base station is set to "Overwrite Automatically" where the description reads, "The oldest stored clips will be overwritten as storage availability falls below 20%". Sure enough, when I check my available storage, it is at around 80% full.

When I insert the USB thumb drive on my computer, I can see that the base station hasn't been recording everything locally on there. There have been a few days that it skipped recording.

What can I do aside from manually delete old content (which I haven't tried yet)? Ideally I wouldn't want to and shouldn't need to do this on a regular basis. Does the "Overwrite Automatically" feature not work at all? And even if that's the case, then why is the local storage ejecting itself from the Base Station?

[Dannybear]

You need to properly eject the USB storage device using the arlo app. You can’t just unplug and re-plug back in like you can on a computer.
The base station identifies the storage capacity of the USB device and calculates the space available. If it has already reached 80% used then it will flag the device as full.
If automatic overwrite is enabled then the base will start overwriting once 80% is reached.

I would suggest that your USB device has been removed without proper ejection so you should copy the recordings to a pc archive and then reformat the drive in the base.

[namster2k]

I’m sorry, I should have explicitly stated that the error message (and email) comes automatically on its own without me doing or touching anything. When I check the Arlo app, it shows that the local storage is not connected. That’s when I pull out and pop back in the USB drive.

Is this normal? When a USB drive hits 80% and you have automatic overwrite switched to on, does the base station normally automatically eject it and send an email telling you that the drive is full? It seems very counterintuitive to me.

[Dannybear]

With auto overwrite enabled the base station should begin overwrite of the earliest recordings without notification. This is based on previous observations although may have changed with recent firmware updates. E.g. I observe that the USB storage capacity now reads correctly where as before it was erroneously displayed.

What I would suggest is that once the USB has been removed the base station forgets that the USB device is current and so will not overwrite as the USB is already at 80% capacity.
Reformatting the USB when inserted in the base is just an easy method of clearing out the data. Be sure to copy the recordings first.

[namster2k]

Thank you for your suggestion.

Unfortunately this doesn't answer the question of why this is happening and how I can solve the problem. As I mentioned in my original post, "What can I do aside from manually delete old content (which I haven't tried yet)? Ideally I wouldn't want to and shouldn't need to do this on a regular basis." I could reformat the USB and start from 0%, but I see this as a temporary solution. What happens the next time it reaches 80% and automatically ejects my USB again?

[StephenB]

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@namster2k wrote:

Unfortunately this doesn't answer the question of why this is happening 

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Possible causes:

• Power glitch (including someone toggling the power switch) at the base station that causes the base to restart
• A loose USB connection (resulting in the USB drive to become dismounted).  Perhaps someone also wiggle/jostled the USB drive.
• A failing USB drive
• A hardware issue in the smarthub 

There are other possibilities (you can never rule out firmware bugs), but I think these are the main ones. 

[namster2k]

Thank you for your ideas.

It's an extremely low chance that it's a power glitch or a loose USB connection as the base station is in a place where nobody ever touches it.

I'd imagine it would be a higher chance of it being a failing USB drive or a hardware issue in the smart hub. I've just reformatted my USB. If it gets automatically ejected again within a week, then I'd bet it's because of either one of these two reasons that are the culprit.

If it's a firmware bug, then I would imagine that more people would have experienced this issue. Have you heard of others who have experienced this?

[StephenB]

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@namster2k wrote:

If it's a firmware bug, then I would imagine that more people would have experienced this issue. Have you heard of others who have experienced this?

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I have seen some posts on this from time to time, and quite a few more from folks having intermittment  problems with direct access to local storage.

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@namster2k wrote:

I've just reformatted my USB. If it gets automatically ejected again within a week, then I'd bet it's because of either one of these two reasons that are the culprit.

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Sounds like a good next step

[CoreyZ]

I too have been having this issue.
Picked up the pro4 xl bundle from costco and first weekend away... Throws this error. Its a new 2tb thumbstick and once it throws the error i can no longer see any settings of the hub till i completely power it off and on.

Its not a power issue... No one in my home office but me and its plugged into a UPS.

Not a network issue... In fact the cameras are still function and throw alerts. They are paired to the hub/basestation.

Not a storage issue .. at least from a size perspective. Brand new 2tb drive with less than a week on it. Formatted in the arlo app.

[JessicaP]

Hi CoreyZ,

If you're seeing an error with local storage, please navigate to Settings > Support in the Arlo App for service options available to you including live chat.