Second hand Ultra won’t record local

[Crewmannss51]

I bought a S/H ultra cam only and I have tried everything to get it to record local .. new thumb drive ! I have literally tried every setting  . I have a 4000 base as I have a couple of older cameras that are still working. No luck. 

can they still be hooked up to the original base by chance and I can’t see ?  Weird 
I have even factory reset etc 

[StephenB]

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@Crewmannss51 wrote:

I bought a S/H ultra cam only and I have tried everything to get it to record local .. new thumb drive ! I have literally tried every setting  . I have a 4000 base as I have a couple of older cameras that are still working.

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Lots of folks with old cameras are confused about the local storage on the VMB4000 and VMB4500.

These bases support recording, but do NOT support playback.  All the recordings you are seeing in the app and on my.arlo.com are saved in the Arlo Cloud.  That is because your legacy cameras were sold with free 7-day cloud recording.  Current cameras (including the Ultra) do not have that feature.  You need a subscription for them in order to see any cloud recordings.

So try ejecting the USB storage (using the app), and then connect it to a PC.  See if you can find the recordings from the Ultra there.

Options are to 

1. live with the need to eject the storage for browsing/viewing
2. get an Arlo Secure subscription
3. upgrade the base to a VMB4540 or VMB5000 smarthub, and use their "direct access to local storage" feature.

On (3) - direct access to local storage has several limitations you should consider before purchasing the smarthub:

• recordings are only available in the app (not my.arlo.com)
• recordings are only available using the primary account - they cannot be shared to friend accounts
• no ability to make manual recordings or take snapshots
• no thumbnails - videos need to be downloaded to your phone to see anything
• remote access requires router setting changes that some find difficult - and which don't work with some internet service providers.