Server deleting old videos marked as Favorite

[Lfang]

I noticed my videos already flagged as Favorite but are older than 7 days were being deleted overnight on the server (into the Recycle Bin along with other non-favorite videos) for the past 3 days. I restored the files, re-flaged as Favorite and even turned off Manage Storage option yesterday and videos older than 7 days were still deleted regardless of Favorite status. The languages on the website clearly stated that videos flaggeg as Favorite will not be deleted. This seems to be a serious glitch, anyone else noticed this? and any plan from the Arlo team to correct this? I've never had a problem with locked filed in VueZone.

[David_NG]

Where did you see this? If you could copy and paste the wording or post a link that would be great. 

[Lfang]

The popup tip of the Manage Storage option says: 

We'll automatically remove (non-favorite) files for you after 7 days - to effectively use your cloud storage.

The server did remove old files flagged as favorite. And when I turned off Manage Storage yesterday, all videos older than 7 days were still deleted.

[TomMac]

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Lfang wrote:

The server did remove old files flagged as favorite. And when I turned off Manage Storage yesterday, all videos older than 7 days were still deleted.

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Go into the RECYCLE BIN for the date of your favorites, select them and hit restore.... they should be back then.

I have had favorites back to the date of Oct and thet are still there...but I have had the 'management' turned off.... looks like a bug catch!

[Lfang]

Thanks, I did go into the Recycle Bin everyday for the past 3 days to restore and re-flag. It is fortunate that there are enough total storage space so they were still there. I just want to bring attention to this so it can be fixed as I already have additional cameras on the way to expand my Arlo network.

[TomMac]

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Lfang wrote:

Thanks, I did go into the Recycle Bin everyday for the past 3 days to restore and re-flag. It is fortunate that there are enough total storage space so they were still there. I just want to bring attention to this so it can be fixed as I already have additional cameras on the way to expand my Arlo network.

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Good to hear... the recycle bin deletes AFTER 7 days from placement.... the bin does NOT count to your total storage FYI. ( so if you have a 1gb limiit, there can be more in the bin after your max )

Just sounds like a very good bug catch on your part.....    not the first as more peolple use the system even after beta.

[TomMac]

Just tested this agin with a batch of vids/pics marked as "favorites"

The current version of SW deletes all , including favorites when using the Delete Button. Makes no diff if Cloud management is on or off.

  Good Bug catch by Lfang !

[Lfang]

Thanks so much for confirming it! This has been my only problem (though I think significant) with Arlo so far. I hope this will be corrected soon!

[ILoveArlo]

I just checked as well and found two videos that I had favorited in my recycle bin. Thanks for pointing this out. Luckily I was able to recover them. 

[ChristineT · Accepted solution]

Good evening LFang,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. I have consulted with our development team and there may be some confusion related to how "Favorite" images are stored and maintained. Let me try to explain the difference in functionality of the "Manage Storage" feature verses the storage limit guidelines.

When using the "Manage Storage" with the Premier and Elite service levels the system will automatically remove "non-favorite" images within 7 days to assist in efficiently managing the content over the period of 30 or 60 days. However, once the storage limit time frame has been reached all images (favorite and non-favorite) images are removed per the plan guidelines. The video content will automatically be deleted after 7 days while on the free Basic service level due to the storage limit time frame and will take precedence over "Managed Storage" feature .

Keep in mind "Favorites" are also designed to help you filter your content for ease of downloading to a local storage device if you'd like to retain the videos longer than your storage plan allows.

I'd like to also provide a bit of clarification related to restoring videos from the recycle bin. When on a Basic plan and the videos have been moved to the recycle bin due to the storage limit guidelines of 7 days the ability to restore the images to the library will not be possible.

We are currently working to provide clear communication on these features and truly apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. I am happy to help along with providing your feedback to our development team.

Best Regards,

Christine - Arlo Team

[ChristineT]

Good evening TomMac,

Just thought I would follow up with you as well! Thank you so much for your contribution to this topic! The "Favorite" functionality worked as you suggested during the Beta period but was recently changed to adhere to new service levels guidelines.  

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns!

Best Regards,

Christine - Arlo Team

[Lfang]

So the bug is in the description and not the function. I did not accept the post as the solution but apparently it was already done for me. While I truly appreciate you taking the time to check and respond, the answer from the dev team was rather disappointing considering how well the website and app explained it in one simple and straightforward sentence which I quoted that says "non-favorite" files "after" 7 days and not "within", and made no differentiation between plans. I understood it to be that as long as the 1GB (or whatever the limit depending on plan) is not reached, the favorites are not deleted but the rest are deleted after 7 days (or whatever the plan level). Now that might just be me, but that's how I read it. I don't mind the need to give user incentives to pay for service (which I continue to pay Netgear for VueZone), but the explanation just seemed a little forced to me. Especially after the claim that it worked differently during beta only a short while ago. Comparatively, VueZone had a much more user-friendly storage model that was only space limited and not date limited (as you say, even the Elite users cannot keep files, fav or not, longer than 60 days). I'm interested to see what the updated language on the website and in the app will be, I hope it will be clear as day. Thank you.

[scooter]

That's a bogus answer. The wording is very clear that favorites will not be deleted at the 7 day mark. And this post is on 29 March, more that 2 months after the non-answer. Certainly that should've been enough time to make the necessary correction.

It's not how well a company does the big things that determine how good the company is. It's how well they take care of the small things. As I'm still in the trail phase of this purchase I'll continue to monitor this thread.

[Luna]

This is annoying that I cannot choose to just let my space fill up with favorites (vs. forced time-based deletes).  I fully understand this is to get me to pay a monthly plan, but I selected Arlo (and paid a lot for the cameras) because when I read about the different home security options, I loved that I didn't need a subscription. Now, if someone else asks me about how I like my system I would saythe "no monthly subscription needed" is not really accurate (buyer beware!), and they should carefully consider a different system.  Boo.

[scooter]

I'm with you on that. The benefit is that at least you can save them to your phone or computer. It does take more management from us, the customer, and they've definitely had time to correct this misinformation on the website and haven't. When there's a better deal from a competitor I'll be sure to go there instead. Do you hear that Netgear? Some customers stay with you only because there's isn't a better option at this time. Not the best business model for building a customer base but whatever. 

[TomMac]

Yes, the 'favorites' use to be retained back in beta testing... but are not now.  Just the wording needs fixing.

But really , storage space cost money and if you want / need more. all companies I know charge over the bottom limit.

Is it to much to mark as favorites and then download them.... You can use favorites as a filter option so they're all there and batch download at one time.

IMO, not a bad deal for the free 1 GB storage and no monthly fee.

[jguerdat]

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TomMac wrote:

But really , storage space cost money and if you want / need more. all companies I know charge over the bottom limit.

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Back when I was working as the lone systems administrator in our remote office, a conversation between the office managers and their boss about getting more disk space ended when the phone was hopefully disconnected with the managers saying, "Disk space is cheap and so is Chuck."  I agree that anything costs money and that's part of the issue but my free terabyte of storage on Flickr.com also shows that some companies see value in providing space.  Disk space IS cheap.  Companies have the right to charge whatever the market bears and I support that. It's a balancing act...

[CornGirl]

I agree that this was misleading when I purchased the cameras. We use our camera in a feral cat house b/c if we can ever catch the cats (really more like adolescent kittens), then I felt the "super cute" videos I favorited (when they were calm and being themselves) might be used to help get them adopted. Otherwise, the family would only see the stressed cat that had been caught. I was so sad to see the weeks of "favorites" I thought I had been saving were in fact deleted. This is a huge flaw in your free service. If I have a certain amount of space that's free, I should get to choose HOW it's used.

[JamesC]

CornGirl,

On the Basic plan all videos are purged to the recycle bin after 7 days to clear space for new content. Any video content you would like to keep longer should be downloaded and stored locally.

JamesC

[TwistedTell]

you really do need to move on getting the documentation sorted out.  our local police force is a wee bit pissed off that videos we had selected together and marked as favorites so they could retrieve them later together disappeared.  They are withdrawing the recommendation for your product from our Neighborhood watch site.

[jguerdat]

You/they can easily automate downloading videos. While it's a little geeky, its not hard for most people to put together. I have a couple of Python scripts to do this, written by others. Especially since you've already invested in the system, it would be a worthwhile task so you lose nothing and don't need to putz with it one installed. PM me if you want to try this out. I can help out with most anything you may run into.

[T2]

this is not a small mistake, you cost me evidence in a lawsuit case which i am now completely **bleep**ed for! I should take actions against you for this! fortunately for you im not that guy, but if dont fix this "that guy will catch up with you". and the basic plan should be capable of holding seven days worth of favorites for for as long as one owns the system. if this isnt going to be the case then this system is crap among other much needed improvments. Thanks, i hope this is eventually read by someone even if its immediately deleted and i have wasted more of my time.

[jguerdat]

Understandably upset but you didn't ask for my Python scripts which could have saved the day for you.  Also, another user created a trouble ticket and got the video(s) recovered for him not long ago.  There ARE options, even if not what you desire.

[pdxatx]

Another bad move by Netgear in removing our favorites if they are older than 7 days, this wasn't the case before until their recent changes. I can no longer recommend this product to friends or family.

Running scripts is not an acceptable solution for consumers. Netgear themselves need to fix this consumer product.

[JamesC]

The favorites feature has not been changed in any way and is intended to be used only as a library filter. Any content users wish to retain past their subscriptions allocated time frame (7 days for Basic) should be downloaded and stored locally.

JamesC