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RobZorfull
Guide
Guide

Suddenly, Overnight.. My Local Storage USB Devices stopped recording. Now they won't accept anything less than 16 Gig storage capacity.. Was there an Update..?? I've been using these two USB's.. for a long time. One has 8 Gig and the other has 3 Gig.. and they were working fine. As soon as I installed a 30 Gig USB it fixed the issue... WHY ???? ... I have two separate systems and now the other one (in a another State) has the same problem and I can't get to it to change the USB Devices.. Is there a fix !! ???

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StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@RobZorfull wrote:

It appears that a 16 Gig USB does NOT actually have all of the 16 Gig available for use.... They ALL use some of the 'storage space' for other things.

"Some of the space is used up for cache and encryption stuff and one usually get about 14.5GB free on a 16GB flash.".. 

 


Part of this is that manufacturers use GB (1000*1000*1000*1000 bytes) and windows uses GiB (1024*1024*1024*1024 bytes).  16 GB is the same as 14.9 GiB.

 

But flash drives often do have two partitions - one for encryption stuff.  You can remove both partitions in Windows (use the disk manager).  Then create a new partition and reformat.  If you can't reformat it as FAT32, you'll need to reformat again in the base station.

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CLBArlo
Guide
Guide

Didn't notice the change until I read your post and check my usb.   Flagged requiring reformat.  Checked the USB KB article and it was updated in February that minimum is now 16GB.    Thanks for posting.

RobZorfull
Guide
Guide

Hey CLBArlo..

Thank you for that reply.. How do I find this "USB KB article" that you mentioned.. I'm a Newbie to this Community, although I've had my System now for over a year.. I guess I may need to be more involved in the future..

Also, what did you mean by "flagged requiring reformat" ??

I did open a Support chat, but during the call I needed to keep checking the workings between my Laptop and Mobile Phone as they 'present' differently and the Chat dropped/timed out... So No result from them.

Really appreciate your help. Cheers.

CLBArlo
Guide
Guide

Hi.  Here is the link to the article.

 

https://kb.arlo.com/1146857/How-do-I-set-up-local-storage-backups-on-a-USB-device-using-my-Arlo-base...

 

Regarding 'reformat', when you select the base station, near the bottom of the screen is Local Storage, storage settings.  The next screen had 'record locally' off and 'USB Device' set to reformat, instead of Ready.  My USB device was 4G and was working when I first installed the system.   I guess it stopped working sometime after the last update.  When I put in a 64G USB, my local recording is back to ready.

RobZorfull
Guide
Guide

Hi CLBArlo.  Thank you for again for help..

I will now explode in a RANT !!!!
Well.. Who was the genius that designed this new issue with 'Local Recording' and  created a "Minimum capacity" of 16 Gig USB drive" to use for Local Recording..  I went out today and had to purchase a bunch of new 16 Gig USB Drives for my Two Arlo systems. Very pleased that I could actually get them and bring them home.. 
Plugged them in and expected to get back in business.. WELL NO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It appears that a 16 Gig USB does NOT actually have all of the 16 Gig available for use.... They ALL use some of the 'storage space' for other things.

"Some of the space is used up for cache and encryption stuff and one usually get about 14.5GB free on a 16GB flash.".. 

So this being the 'Norm'.. WHY the heck would they even design a 'limit' and state that the USB you need to use has to have a MINIMUM Capacity of 16 Gig.... when NO 16 Gig drive actually has 16 Gig clear to use !!!!!!!!!!!.. Can you tell I'm a tad pissed off here. ?? Surely the people involved in this COULD have made this LIMIT set at 10 Gig minimum or even 12 or 13 or even 14 !!! Seeing as you can only BUY these Drives in set capacity increments.. and the next one Down is set at 8 Gig !!! Surely THEY know, that to state that you NOW require a minimum size of 16 GIG, that people who don't have any at their side, will go straight to their shop to buy a 16 GIG Drive !!!!! Haha.. is this an April Fool Joke ??? 
Can someone in THIS Part of the Design group get back into the software and FIX this idiotic problem ASAP... and send out a new Update to FIX THIS !!!!

I can't believe anyone in this industry would make such a fundamental error.. Now I have to go back out and BUY 32 Gig Drives !!!! 

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@RobZorfull wrote:

It appears that a 16 Gig USB does NOT actually have all of the 16 Gig available for use.... They ALL use some of the 'storage space' for other things.

"Some of the space is used up for cache and encryption stuff and one usually get about 14.5GB free on a 16GB flash.".. 

 


Part of this is that manufacturers use GB (1000*1000*1000*1000 bytes) and windows uses GiB (1024*1024*1024*1024 bytes).  16 GB is the same as 14.9 GiB.

 

But flash drives often do have two partitions - one for encryption stuff.  You can remove both partitions in Windows (use the disk manager).  Then create a new partition and reformat.  If you can't reformat it as FAT32, you'll need to reformat again in the base station.

RobZorfull
Guide
Guide

Hi StephenB,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my.. 'Rant..' and what eventually turned out to be just an 'uneducated' rant...  I have since then, discovered that, if I had tried again to do another Format.. not from the Base Station, but from my Laptop, that all would be fine.. lol... After I did the re-Format and put the 16 Gig USB back into the Base Station, it actually recognised the device. Then when I did a test recording and checked it on my Laptop, the USB worked perfectly. Also after 'checking' the device in "Local Storage", I saw that the 16 Gig Device actually read as only having 14.45 Gig available space. So I guess I have learned another good lesson here. In my defense, I'm about to turn 69 years old and did not grow up with this technology.. but I am and will always be, willing to make mistakes and seek further education.. 

Once again, thank you for your input, much appreciated. Cheers.

StephenB
Guru Guru
Guru

@RobZorfull wrote:

After I did the re-Format and put the 16 Gig USB back into the Base Station, it actually recognised the device. Then when I did a test recording and checked it on my Laptop, the USB worked perfectly.

It's great to hear that it's all working again.  Thanks for following up with the outcome 😀

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