usb storage activation

[Arlojbdax]

I have an Arlo VMS4630 set of 6 cameras.  I hooked up a portable drive to my base station but can't see any acknowledgement of this when I go into settings and view my devices.  Any suggestions?  Thanks.

[jguerdat]

I don't think any of the Pro systems come with the VMB3500 you reference as the model of the base. It is more likely to be either the 4000 or 4500. The 3500 doesn't support a USB drive, as I recall.

In any event, you have to go into the base's settings and activate local storage. I would suggest formatting the drive using the Arlo interface to be sure it's in FAT32. Once activated/formatted, you must safely eject the drive to view the local recordings. Use of the app to see them requires a minimum of the VMB4540 hub.

[Arlojbdax]

Sorry it is VMB4000.  I activated the local storage function after it recognized the presence of my Free Agent portable hard drive plugged into the hub.  But then I saw that it required formatting so I clicked on the formatting button under local storage in Arlo, I saw the word 'formatting' at the bottom of the screen, and then I just keep getting the same message that it needs formatting.  When I tried to safely eject the hard drive from the hub nothing happens.  

[jguerdat]

I guess there could be a compatibility thing going on. Try a >16GB thumb drive instead to see what happens. 

[Arlojbdax]

I replaced the portable hard drive with a 128GB thumb drive and the system recognized it.  There is a green circle next to the thumb drive name in the local storage section under My Devices and the word "ready" to the right of the drive name.  When I click on "ready" I get a choice to safely remove the device or to format it.  I chose formatting and after formatting it tells me I have 115GB of space available but none of the motion-detected clips appears to be storing on the thumb drive.  Am I supposed to do something else to initiate saving clips?  They are html files which I used to be able save as MP4 files which were easier to open and view.  Thanks.

[jguerdat · Accepted solution]

The videos are MP4 files, not HTML. Are you removing the drive safely, using the Eject selection in the local recording settings? When viewing on the computer, exactly what do you see in the Arlo folder on the drive? 

[Arlojbdax]

I just removed the usb device and I can view mp4 files so that is all set.  I have been able to save clips as mp4s directly from arlo to my laptop but can only save them as html files starting a couple of months ago.  If I could do that I would have no need of a usb device since I only save clips on a very infrequent basis.  Thanks.

[jguerdat]

What is the computer OS? You should be able to simply drag and drop them from the drive to your desktop (or other location) with no other intervention. There's no need to "save" them other than to just copy them over.