Getting more out of New, Stored, Alerts

[xtropodx]

So I'm trying to better understand New, Stored & Alerts & ideal settings to get most out of them.

I've had BI now for several months & I'm not getting anymore than 3.5 weeks of stored video, I have 3TB+ excess storage space not being used, & I thought I'd get more.
My set up:
5 cameras.
Continuous recording.

Record Format for all cameras:
-File Format: BI DVR.
-Video compression: direct-to-disc.

500GB SSD.
New: Limit size 300GB Move To Stored.

8TB drive.
Stored: Limit size 4096GB then delete.
Alerts: Limit size 4096GB then delete.
Of course I'm getting a warning about allocation. I have these settings after reading a post on this somewhere that Stored & Alerts should be same size.

If there's other settings I need to post let me know.

From what I have read & understand,
New - is new recordings.
Stored - is stored recordings.
Alerts - ? Are pointers to stored recordings? If this is true, then should the storage allocated for it need to be the same or can this be less, is there a way to set this to just automatically keep tab of however long Stored recordings exist, is there a hard & fast rule?


Following from " Point me to explanation and best practices on folder use "

My opinion is that the optimal setup for most people is:

1) "New" folder set to a size limit, NOT an age limit. When full, delete (do not move to another folder, that has no benefit if it is the same drive). Keep all cameras set to record to the "New" folder (this is the default).

2) "Stored" folder set to reserve no space.

3) "Alerts" folder set to reserve no space, unless you have configured Blue Iris to save snapshots when the camera is triggered. I think those snapshots go into the "Alerts" folder by default.

How do I do 2&3, I can't see a setting for this?


Thanks.

 

[Walrus]

@xtropodx
1. Alerts should be on the SSD. It is empty, unless you have the 'Store alerts at Hi-res files' checked on the record tab. Since it's always empty, set the size to something low like 10MB.
2. Don't used stored.
3. New should be on your 8TB hard drive. Set new to delete with a limit size of something just under the 8TB usable space. An 8TB hard drive has 7450gb usable space. Set the limit size to 7200gb, leaving 250gb empty buffer.

This way you are constantly recording to the HDD. This is how most of the people on here set it up. The way you have it, you are recording to the SSD and at the same time constantly moving files to the HDD.

 

[Walrus]

And.. you are getting an overallocation error because an 8TB hard drive doesn't have 8192MB usable space (4096+4096).

 

[SouthernYankee]

alert and stored do not need to be the same size, miss information. My alerts folder is empty after 13 months of use.
I continuously record 12 cameras into the WD purple drive, new folder, delete from the new folder. Allocate only 95% of the free space to BI on a drive.
Stored folder is 1GB, but is empty.
As said allocate based on space only, not time.
Use the same standard folder names as set up in BI.

 

[xtropodx]

Thanks for the reply.

@xtropodx
1. Alerts should be on the SSD. It is empty, unless you have the 'Store alerts at Hi-res files' checked on the record tab. Since it's always empty, set the size to something low like 10MB.
2. Don't used stored.
3. New should be on your 8TB hard drive. Set new to delete with a limit size of something just under the 8TB usable space. An 8TB hard drive has 7450gb usable space. Set the limit size to 7200gb, leaving 250gb empty buffer.

This way you are constantly recording to the HDD. This is how most of the people on here set it up. The way you have it, you are recording to the SSD and at the same time constantly moving files to the HDD.

1. Don't fully understand this. What do you mean always empty? I do have that option checked. Do I need to use alerts still then or will alerts be saved automatically because I have that option checked?

2. Don't understand this. What is stored for then anyway.
3. From the wiki & from the Clips & archiving:
Blue Iris performs best if you put the clip database on a fast solid state disk (SSD). However for video recording, you want a mechanical hard drive (HDD) as these are more cost-effective and have better write endurance. Western Digital Purple drives are a popular option for Blue Iris.
Database (and ideally New Folder) should remain on local/fast storage

So what clip database are these referring to & does size need to be large?

alert and stored do not need to be the same size, miss information. My alerts folder is empty after 13 months of use.
I continuously record 12 cameras into the WD purple drive, new folder, delete from the new folder. Allocate only 95% of the free space to BI on a drive.
Stored folder is 1GB, but is empty.
As said allocate based on space only, not time.
Use the same standard folder names as set up in BI.

Many posts on this forum like yours & other poster while quite helpful, often don't make sense to the uninitiated/newbie, reading the wiki or help files doesn't explain everything fully, & leaves the OP still wondering.

Thank you both for your help.

I've gone ahead & changed/updated settings as per above, & now all my recordings have been reset/lost but hopefully sort my issue out.

Someone should put something in wiki about ideal settings for this & better explanation, as it is confusing for newbies.

 

[awsum140]

Have you watched the video tutorials? There's a separate thread and storage is explained there quite well.

 

[Walrus]

So what clip database are these referring to & does size need to be large?

The clip database... the db folder at the top.
Alerts folder are only for if you have the 'store hi-res' checked, which you don't need. Otherwise they are in the db, which is on the SSD.

The stored, I think, is more for people who have a separate NAS, so they can move old files to a larger separate storage device.

 

[looney2ns]

Blue Iris Video Tutorials | IP Cam Talk

 

[xtropodx]

Blue Iris Video Tutorials | IP Cam Talk

Not helpful/useful when "13. Clips and Archiving Part 1" is unavailable & won't play, which relates to New, Stored, Alerts & help for my question. So yes, I've gone through these.