Arlo Pro Base Station VMB4000r3 fails formatting USB Drives after firmware update to 1.12.2.1_27

[Retired_Member]

Just noticed that apparently my Arlo Pro Base Station can no longer format USB Drives. I have been using these SanDisk 64GB drives for local storage for few months now and all was working just fine up till today when I tried to re-format.

Here is what happens:

1. Running Format takes unusually short time (less than 5 seconds) and after "completion" USB Device Status is shown as "Ready" and Available Storage is shown as "0 of 0"
2. Removing and re-inserting USB Drive into Base Stations reverts display of Available Storage numbers back to the values shown before the format was attempted.
3. Reading Drive on PC shows all files are still there and the drive in fact was not formatted at all.
4. Formatting USB Drive on Windows 10 PC to xFAT and trying to format that USB Drive in Arlo Base Station no longer converts File Sysytem to FAT32. USB Device Status remains "Requires Formatting" no matter how many formatting attempts have been made.

Based on these observations I'm reaching a conclusion that Base Station can no longer execute Format correctly. No changes have been made to my setup except for resent firmware update for Base Station to 1.12.2.1_2798

Could someone please try formatting USB Drive on VMB4000 to check if it still works for you?

[StinkFinGr]

Don't worry. One of the 'experts' here will be along any moment to tell you to format to FAT32 on a PC. They don't read or cannot comprehend what you write so give the same stock answer. Fairly useless 'experts".

[96709]

To force Arlo to fix the remote format issue? The level of indifference and I hope not incompetence is astounding. This problem dates back to late May. It's now mid July.

[JohnnyCo1n5]

This is a Netgear issue... not Arlo alone.  I've had two routers with similar issues.  The box says the router does x.  You buy it, and find out that x doesn't really work.  A forum thread starts and goes for months until Netgear releases a new and improved router that does indeed have feature x. 

Netgear knows that most people on their websites don't even read previous posts.  They has nothing to worry about because your comments are going to be lost in this cesspool of complaints. 

Arlo is an unfinished product and they will NEVER fix all the issues.  But did you hear?  There's a shinny new Arlo ULTRA for sale.  What's next?  How about the Arlo ULTRA 2?  Or the Arlo Super Ultra Anniversary Edition?

Anyway, thanks for posting... Would love to get back some of the money I've wasted on this company. 😃

[Rosalyn43]

Camera only choose what to record. Lately I was trying to find out who the heck is blocking my driveway then it never caught it on video. Instead it only recorded the park car thats not moving. Plus the app kept saying token expired. Since the June 2019 updates it wont save video clips in flash drive always says full memory. It wont format on Arlo base either. Enfrared is malfunctioning. Arlo base seems to be offline more often. Arlo firmware is getting worst than ever was. Please fix the problem Arlo. People who invested to buy your cameras aint happy now.

[Retired_Member]

Seems to be an ongoing issue, however has anyone had any success in attaching anthing like a Seagate 1tb SSD drive as local storage to a base station?  I still have the error, "needs to format". A simple Lexar 64gb usb stick has no issues.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Many Thanks

Bert

[Retired_Member]

I just attempted to upgrade from a 64gb usb stick to a Seagate 1tb SSD drive with the same issue.

I am hoping for a resolution also.

Bert

[loghome]

Just purchased this system 3 days ago and so far I'm not impressed at all.

I'm also getting the failed to format error when trying to format a Sandisk 32GB drive. I reformatted it on a Windows 10 PC to FAT32 and it's still doing the same thing. Mine even fails to unmount. Looks like this problem has been around for several months already. This sucks and I might be returning this crap while I still can.

[Retired_Member]

To be honest I struggled with camera choices but what pushed me toward Arlo was the smart hook in the back end that I could connect with my SmartThings. I have no problem with a 64 gig USB stick I read somewhere that don't try to use anything more than a 1 terabyte SSD drive but I've had no luck so far and it seems to be an ongoing issue with some late update.

[Boats101]

So after trying to figure this out I got a WD 1TB easy store and could not get my base station to format as everyone is experiencing and EXFAT from disk utill on a mac will not work. I had to manually format the disk to FAT32 from the terminal and gave about 3 tries on the base station I finally got it working and reading the storage correctly. You can try these steps but if you have never done sudo commands I am not responsible if you accidently wipe your HDD...   😄

you will run this first to see which disk is your usb drive "diskutil list" 

for me it was "/dev/disk4 (external, physical):"     [the external physical usually gives it away]

Then you will run this command "sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 CAMERA MBRFormat /dev/disk4" [Where CAMERA is the name of the drive, You can name this whatever you want.]

From here I had to use the app and press it to re format like 3 times then unplug it and plug it back in. From there it saw the drive as GOOD and the correct 931 GB free. Thisis not a forsure fix but it worked for me. I hope this helps.

[loghome]

Does Netgear/Arlo have any plans to fix this mess or not? Maybe they are just looking to sell cloud storage?

[Retired_Member]

I will try this and report back ... thanks

[Retired_Member]

The only component of Arlo platform infrastructure that still works very reliably is the Billing Automation for their Subscription Services. Accurate as a Swiss Clock and never skips a beat…
There is a little point of complaining here. Fixing numerous and well-known issues introduced with firmware updates and cloud services changes is clearly not a priority. After branching off Netgear, Arlo is concentrating on new product (The Ultra… Not much success there either) leaving existing customer base in the dust. I saw here few calls for class action but let’s face that it is unlikely to happen and even if it does, only lawyers will benefit from it (unless you believe that getting $10 will truly compensate for your trouble and re-pay the considerable investment into an Arlo System you have made). Do what you really can do and file complaints with BBB outlining the issues you are having! Considering the number of people who is currently affected, even if a small percentage of us take this action, it may push these decision makers at Arlo to move in the right direction...

[loghome]

Just called Arlo support 408-638-3750 and got a call center in India, the guys accent was so thick I had no idea what he was saying and he had idea how to help me.  He did say it was a known problem. Unbelieveable.  Wonder how the Eufy Cameras are?

[Retired_Member]

I had a 64gb usb stick attached with no problems.  I really think it's the exfat vs fat32 problem they have not addressed.

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@loghome wrote:

Does Netgear/Arlo have any plans to fix this mess or not? Maybe they are just looking to sell cloud storage?

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[asphaltech]

Format to Fat 32  then convert from basic gpt to basic mbr. Used AOMEI free software. Worked!

[CrazyElectrican]

I tried 3 different usb 64 GB Scandisk thumb drives using the same software they didn't work with the Arlo base it kept on saying I needed to reformat the dive and reformatting failed.

I never could get it to reformat with the base. I used guiformat.exe to reformate my 64 GB thumb drives by MOSDART to Fat32 and they worked this time.

[loghome]

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@CrazyElectrican wrote:

I tried 3 different usb 64 GB Scandisk thumb drives using the same software they didn't work with the Arlo base it kept on saying I needed to reformat the dive and reformatting failed.

I never could get it to reformat with the base. I used guiformat.exe to reformate my 64 GB thumb drives by MOSDART to Fat32 and they worked this time.

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It's not working for me. 😞   

Sucks that I paid good money for a gimped system with zero support.

[loghome]

Ok, the Arlo base will not format the drive but if you just format it on a PC to FAT32 and plug it into the Arlo base without trying to format via the base it will work.  As long as it shows the available space on the USB drive you are good to go.

Maybe someday ARLO will fix this mess.

I was ready to order the Blink cameras from QVC today. 😄

[StinkFinGr]

You. Are. Wrong! Read the thread. There are multiple people who formatted various drives on PC using the recommended app and have had no success. You are wrong.

[loghome]

No, I'm not wrong. In my case it is working. I've tried several USB drives formatted on a PC to FAT32 and everytime I tried to format again using the ARLO base it was a fail. Today I took the Sandisk 32GB and formatted it to FAT32 on a PC, plugged it into the Arlo base (without trying to format with the base) and it's working. Maybe I just got lucky after a million tries. This is what I'm showing with that 32GB card only formatted on the PC and it's working.

[StinkFinGr]

Ok. You got one drive out of several to work. So you prove my point that it does not work much more than it actually works. You gave the instructions and very matter-of-factly said

"if you just format it on a PC to FAT32 and plug it into the Arlo base without trying to format via the base it will work. ".

It does not work in most, almost all, cases. So yes, you are flat out wrong.

[loghome]

Right or wrong my **bleep** is working. 

[StinkFinGr]

One of your drives is working. The rest, like many of ours, are not working. So you still do not have a solid solution. Fail.

[mikehardie]

Was working fine, then not all of a sudden. Is less than 6mths old. 32GB usb. Sucks that Arlo make the community sort things out after shelling out good money, customer service sucks, should be able to email them direct.

[Dannybear]

Firmware issue, arlo update fixes occur at their pleasure not at customer demands.
Get use to it, or not.