VMC4030 EOL Policy and Local Recording of Video

[caricell]

Two questions! 1) With the new EOL policy on the VMC4030 ending support for cloud storage as of Apr. 2023, will we still have the capability of JUST recording video locally onto a flash drive without using the cloud-based (pay) service?

2) Why am I having such difficulty getting a 64gb usb 2.0 flash drive to format in the arlo base station?? I have an empty flash drive formatted fat32(ex), and the base station says it needs formatting, but won't do it. (My base station is on the latest firmware (2022).

Help anyone?

Thanks!

[DannyBearAgain]

Arlo historically only ever supported manual recordings or snapshots to the cloud library.

The base station backup storage is for camera triggered recordings only.

Regards the USB  format issue, only the VMB4xxx Base stations support the USB backup. Only the 4540 and  5000 have app access to the backup recordings.

Have you tried reformatting the USB flash drive in a pc for fat32?

[caricell]

Thanks for this info..

First..i've reformatted a USB drive for FAT32, and it is working

Second, yes, I know that only camera triggered recordings will be stored on the flash drive...that's all I was hoping for.

Now that this is all working though, the recordings are being made onto the USB drive, but the only way I can view them is by removing the drive and plugging it into my PC. There is no "LIBRARY" in the app other than the cloud library which is still active. 

Shouldn't there be an option in the app to see the library of stored videos on the USB drive while it's connected to the base?

[DannyBearAgain]

See article,

https://kb.arlo.com/000062337/What-is-Direct-Storage-Access-and-how-do-I-use-it-for-Arlo-video-recor... 

Note that depending on which app variant you have installed there is a imbedded link to the new variant at the first paragraph.

[caricell]

Hi DannyBear and thanks again for this. This article is great, however it doesn't address my hub model, which is a MB4000r3. It only addresses VMB4540 and vmb5000. My arlo secure version is 4.0.3_28510 released 12/15/22.

So, though my triggered recording are being made, there is no line in the app to access the USB library.

[DannyBearAgain]

As mentioned earlier only the VMB4540 and VMB5000 Base stations support app access to the backup recordings.

[caricell]

Ugh. Well doesn't that figure.

Hopefully when the free cloud storage goes away, at least the USB saving of triggered camera events will still be able to be reviewed by plugging the USB stick into my PC.
Not a very nice thing for ARLO to be doing, but thank you sir, for your very quick and informative responses!

[DannyBearAgain]

Just to rub more salt into the wound, you will likely loose any activity zone features as they require cloud services to detect motion in the zones and so will not record to the backup USB.

IMHO the in app direct access feature is pointless as it fails to show thumbnails, you need to download the recordings to the mobile to view and you can’t share to a friends account.

They have us over a barrel and not pulling their motions.

[caricell]

Agreed, and I suspect someone with the means and the time will file a class-action lawsuit forcing ARLO to make good on their promise of free cloud storage (with no expiration date) that was made when this item was purchased.

[StephenB]

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@caricell wrote:

Shouldn't there be an option in the app to see the library of stored videos on the USB drive while it's connected to the base?

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Only with the VMB4540 or VMB5000 smarthubs.  Not the other bases.

[caricell]

Yeah, I just figured that out.

I'm done with Arlo.

Their products are inconsistent -- as are their policies -- and what seemed to be a pretty good deal when I first bought this system turned out to not be the case.

Time to look elsewhere.

Recommendations welcome!

Thanks to all who responded,

-Larry