Local Storage Issue

[arlobro]

Finally got around to putting a 16G usb stick in the base to test this feature.

At first it detected and formatted the stick and looked like it was working (saw yellow usb icon light on desktop site for the cam that motion was detected, then it turns off when the recording was finished). Let it record motion detection for a few hours.

Used the desktop interface to safely eject the usb stick - checked it on laptop and nothing was on it. Empty arlo folder.

* * Solved this by rebooting the base with the usb stick in the base. Started working correctly after that. Stick had mp4 files on it when I checked on laptop. **

Now the issue..

When starting a cam on live view mode, there is a record button to record the current/active live view. The recording appears in the app/desktop site as "Manual" - but it is NOT being stored simultaneously on the Local Storage usb stick, although the motion detections are. Bug? Anyone else who uses local storage - do your manual live view recordings store for you?

Suggestion for future: MP4 File naming. Instead of serial# why not use the locally stored CAM name for clarity?

(still having the 4 recordings in a row when night vision is on right after motion is detected on a couple of the cams, already submitted a case)

Thanks.

[JamesC · Accepted solution]

arlobro,

This is not a bug and is intended by design. Manual recordings are not stored locally to the attached USB drive (local storage will only apply to motion detection events).

I encourage you to visit the Arlo Idea Exchange and post there regarding this feature. The Arlo development team routinely reviews these posts for ideas on how to improve and introduce new features to the Arlo system.

JamesC

[jguerdat]

That's interesting. That's not what I would have expected - if a manual recording is made, I'd expect it to be handled the same as any other recording.  WHile it's by design, I would submit that it's not appropriate.  I have a somewhat similar issue with the use of CVR on the Q cameras prevents the recording from having the pre-buffering seen when CVR is disabled.  WHile it's a design decision, it's not necessarily what a consumer expects or wants.

Taking something away from the end user isn't appropriate.

[arlobro]

Well,that solves that .. By design.

---

JamesC wrote:

arlobro,

This is not a bug and is intended by design. Manual recordings are not stored locally to the attached USB drive (local storage will only apply to motion detection events).

JamesC

---

[DaveWoj]

Well that's interesting.

And very disappointing.

I take stills at least once a day. Many for progress on snowfall and weather etc.

Now I'll know why nothing is there when I go to my USB drive.

[Wjungle]

I'm getting nothing on my usb storage. Formatted and rebooted. Can see the device and works fine but never any recordings to local device. Is there a setting to record to local storage?

[jguerdat]

Yes. Go to Settings, My Devices, your base and check out the local storage section.

[Wjungle]

I'm actually a pretty saavy technical network guy.  Local storage is enabled, USB recording is enabled, and automatic overwrite is enabled and USB Device 1 indicates "ready".  Nothing EVER gets written to it. 

[arlobro]

What I did was use the web site and select safely eject usb storage.. check on a pc that arlo folder is there.. saw no files.. i reformatted fat32 (quick format). Manually created the arlo folder (lower case) and put it back in base usb 1. I don't remember if it asked me to reformat again when I put it back in the base, but I immediately did Restart to reboot the base (settings, all cameras..restart from website) When it came back up made some bogus motion detections. You can see the usb icon turn yellow when it's writing to internal storage on web/app devices view (next to battery icon).  After a while you will see the storage on the usb dropping as it's saving recordings.. if after about 10 or 20 motion events storage space remaining doesn't drop - it's still not working.. then you could try to format it ntfs, then put it in base and let base fornat it fat32.. keep trying.. something will start it working.. good luck

[Wjungle]

Now, this is coincidental.  Within 24 hours of my original post, it suddenly starting working.  Well, at least it's working.  I'm good.

[jguerdat]

I'm finding that I need to power cycle (not restart) my Pro base at times to make things work properly.  No idea why.

[arlobro]

I'm making a guess here but I think it may have something to do with the naming and sequencing of the files. In order to know to delete the oldest file (if storage gets full) it needs to know this, or at least keep track and have a partial clue. Possibly base doesn't just write the mp4 files to the usb storage without first looking for the last number/date used or next available in sequence (even per camera serial#).  It may keep the sequence in the base memory and if something goes out of sync between the base, files stored on the usb storage, or the files stored on the web site cloud.  It takes a while to start working as it may be assuming the sequences are already used and just starts working when the next one is available in the order. If you remove the usb storage and delete some mp4 files behind its back from a pc, including the most recent - I bet it screws up the flow. It may just start working again when you reboot because it rescans the file names and starts working again at the next available #, or maybe after many motion detects it eventually passes the last used id.. Bugs may not all be worked out yet? .. I'd just check that the storage available is dropping from the app/website interface under Local Storage, once you know it's working, don't remove the usb storage from the base unless you really have to access some of the files.

[Wjungle]

You spent a lot of your time writing up a reply and I appreciate that, thank you. Storage is dropping now so all is well.

[jameswing]

jguerdat is exactly right. 

It is still definitely a bug.  Albeit a design-related bug, rather than an implementation-related bug.  The manual recordings are orders-of-magnitude more likely to be desired by me than the motion-sensed automatic recordings, yet Netgear decided to not record the maunal ones on the USB device?!

They are trying to force people to buy subscriptions to the cloud service or else lose their records.  'Tis very undesirable behavior.  It'll just make people buy a different product.  It just cost them two stars on my amazon review.

[jguerdat]

Not really. You have 7 days for free to download your videos while other companies may only give you hours for free. You just need to be proactive.

I use a Python script to automatically download every video, every day. No chance of me losing a thing. If interested, PM me your email address.

[jameswing]

Thanks jguerdat. The Python script is a great idea. I'll try to figure out how to PM you for that. Still, that requires maintaining an additional system (not in your case or mine, but most consumers won't have a python interpreter running on a system at home). Perhaps more importantly, what if you want to go on a 2-week trip and your Python-hosting system goes down? Or the NAS it is copying to? Maintaining multiple devices instead of just a single appliance is just a lot of additional effort and risk that could be avoided if Netgear hadn't crippled their device. Also, I'd much rather just have all the recordings go to the USB drive attached to the base station instead of yet another piece of hardware.
It is very clear why Netgear made that choice. I understand the reason and I don't expect them to give stuff away, but it is disappointing, and a big negative for the product.

Now if only I could hack my way into the base station itself and run the python script on it... then I'd have everything I want. 🙂

[jguerdat]

Click on my name and then, on the right side, is a PM link.