Point me to explanation and best practices on folder use

[GQuack]

Greetings, a brand new Blue Iris user here as of yesterday. I'm a 35+ year IT guy so not afraid of the technology side of things. My wife and I are in a new house in which I plan to implement between 6-8 cameras. Blue Iris looks to me to be the best solution.

I've now read through the help files a couple of times and searched various posts for the best way to handle folders. Frankly I'm totally confused. The use of "NEW," "STORED," and "AUX" folders in the dropdowns has me baffled in terms of; are these actual names of the folders or if I pick "NEW" will a dialog pop up asking me what name / location I want to use to create the "NEW" folder - the answer is NO.

The help files refer to the capability of numerous sub-folders but in practice that seems to be discouraged. I've seen posts on this site referring to questions around folder setup as OCD and silly so I am trying to understand best practices. As an IT guy my inclination is always to organize things into separate folders, as in one for each camera, yet again that seems to be discouraged.

I'm confused about the file folder options in the clips and archive tab versus the folders on the individual camera tab again coupled with confusion about "NEW" and "STORED" back into the picture. And then I need to understand the next step of having Blue Iris archive clips from current clips to saved clips again with various folder options.

My desire is to 1) fully understand how the folder process works and then 2) what is recommended for best practices.

I'm willing to be persuaded in any particular direction but right now my confusion is overriding how to proceed.

Can someone point me to a thread or threads where I can fully learn the folder process? Once that clicks into place I can move on to configuration and best practices.

Thank you in advance.

 

[fenderman]

Greetings, a brand new Blue Iris user here as of yesterday. I'm a 35+ year IT guy so not afraid of the technology side of things. My wife and I are in a new house in which I plan to implement between 6-8 cameras. Blue Iris looks to me to be the best solution.

I've now read through the help files a couple of times and searched various posts for the best way to handle folders. Frankly I'm totally confused. The use of "NEW," "STORED," and "AUX" folders in the dropdowns has me baffled in terms of; are these actual names of the folders or if I pick "NEW" will a dialog pop up asking me what name / location I want to use to create the "NEW" folder - the answer is NO.

The help files refer to the capability of numerous sub-folders but in practice that seems to be discouraged. I've seen posts on this site referring to questions around folder setup as OCD and silly so I am trying to understand best practices. As an IT guy my inclination is always to organize things into separate folders, as in one for each camera, yet again that seems to be discouraged.

I'm confused about the file folder options in the clips and archive tab versus the folders on the individual camera tab again coupled with confusion about "NEW" and "STORED" back into the picture. And then I need to understand the next step of having Blue Iris archive clips from current clips to saved clips again with various folder options.

My desire is to 1) fully understand how the folder process works and then 2) what is recommended for best practices.

I'm willing to be persuaded in any particular direction but right now my confusion is overriding how to proceed.

Can someone point me to a thread or threads where I can fully learn the folder process? Once that clicks into place I can move on to configuration and best practices.

Thank you in advance.

Folders work like all pc folders..
its discouraged because its useless for most folks...
folders are helpful if using multiple hard drives or of you want to set different retention quotas for various cameras...most dont do or need that....
So let blue iris manage your clips, there is not benefit of having your cameras saved in separate folders unless you suffer from OCD.

 

[srglassw]

In my mind, the use of NEW and STORED folders depends to some extent on whether you are fitting Blue Iris to existing hardware or if you are configuring hardware to Blue Iris. The ALERTS and AUX folders are not really useful or necessary unless you have an unusual requirement that can be handled by using them.

If you are configuring hardware for Blue Iris, I would say that you should have a primary drive large enough to accommodate the operating system, the Blue Iris application, the Blue Iris database and the Blue Iris recording files for the retention period that you want, and use just the NEW folder.

However, if using existing hardware where the primary drive cannot hold all the recording files for the retention period, you could have Blue Iris archive the NEW recording files to the STORED folder on a secondary hard drive as either the space on the primary drive allocated for the NEW folder fills up or the files in the NEW folder reach a specified age.

The recording files are shown within Blue Iris in an integrated manner regardless of which folder they are physically stored in.

 

[GQuack]

Thank you srglassw, this is useful This tells me that in fact the NEW folder is named exactly that and only that unlike other software where the designation of a new folder would be followed by the questions of what to name the new folder and in which location to put the newly named folder.

I've configured my server in anticipation of needing lots of disk space so I have the Blue Iris software loaded on the main C: partition while I intend to keep the database and camera files on a separate adequately sized partition. I am also assuming the STORED folder is named exactly that and only that. It sounds from your description that in my case I have no need of the STORED folder (except perhaps for archive?) Meaning each and every camera file would be stored within the NEW folder, is that correct? And if I have that understood, would the STORED folder be used for those files archived from the NEW folder?

So, only two folders needed, one the NEW folder for all "new" clips and the STORED folder for anything archived?

 

[fenderman]

Thank you srglassw, this is useful This tells me that in fact the NEW folder is named exactly that and only that unlike other software where the designation of a new folder would be followed by the questions of what to name the new folder and in which location to put the newly named folder.

I've configured my server in anticipation of needing lots of disk space so I have the Blue Iris software loaded on the main C: partition while I intend to keep the database and camera files on a separate adequately sized partition. I am also assuming the STORED folder is named exactly that and only that. It sounds from your description that in my case I have no need of the STORED folder (except perhaps for archive?) Meaning each and every camera file would be stored within the NEW folder, is that correct? And if I have that understood, would the STORED folder be used for those files archived from the NEW folder?

So, only two folders needed, one the NEW folder for all "new" clips and the STORED folder for anything archived?

No need for the stored folder at all if using a single drive...

 

[GQuack]

Then the next question would be: if using a single folder, what's the point of using archive?

 

[fenderman]

Then the next question would be: if using a single folder, what's the point of using archive?

dont understand the question, what archive?

 

[GQuack]

I thought there was a function that would move "active" clips to an "archive" after some user defined aging criteria. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the use of the STORED folder. NEW for new clips, STORED for older clips...I recall posts about age of clips, etc.

 

[fenderman]

I thought there was a function that would move "active" clips to an "archive" after some user defined aging criteria. Perhaps I am misunderstanding the use of the STORED folder. NEW for new clips, STORED for older clips...I recall posts about age of clips, etc.

There is that function it's right there in the clips And archiving section you reference the stored folder yourself... But like I said it's pointless in your situation... You will achieve zero benefit by doing so as I explained...

 

[srglassw]

Thank you srglassw, this is useful This tells me that in fact the NEW folder is named exactly that and only that unlike other software where the designation of a new folder would be followed by the questions of what to name the new folder and in which location to put the newly named folder.

I've configured my server in anticipation of needing lots of disk space so I have the Blue Iris software loaded on the main C: partition while I intend to keep the database and camera files on a separate adequately sized partition. I am also assuming the STORED folder is named exactly that and only that. It sounds from your description that in my case I have no need of the STORED folder (except perhaps for archive?) Meaning each and every camera file would be stored within the NEW folder, is that correct? And if I have that understood, would the STORED folder be used for those files archived from the NEW folder?

So, only two folders needed, one the NEW folder for all "new" clips and the STORED folder for anything archived?

Yes, the new folder is named NEW and the stored folder is named STORED within the Blue Iris application but I believe you can name them however you want on disk. For example, my STORED folder is named Storage on disk. The only reason to implement archiving of recording files from the NEW folder to the STORED folder would be if the space available on the main C: partition is not large enough to accommodate the files for your retention period. Then, it would be appropriate to archive files to a STORED folder on a different partition or drive.

 

[Slate2000]

I'm starting a new pc dedicated to BI (a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7050 thanks to Fenderman). It came with a 1TB HD. I am planning to add a WD Purple 6TB as the 2nd drive. Set up the c: drive with opsys, BI, BIT, and the NEW folder. Then archive them to the STORED folder on the purple drive. Would I be better off making the purple drive the primary HD and not use the 1TB for BI at all? I would place the opsys, BI, BIT, and NEW all on the purple drive and not have a STORED folder. I realize that in the first situation, the archiving will use computer resources.

 

[NoloC]

I'm starting a new pc dedicated to BI (a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 7050 thanks to Fenderman). It came with a 1TB HD. I am planning to add a WD Purple 6TB as the 2nd drive. Set up the c: drive with opsys, BI, BIT, and the NEW folder. Then archive them to the STORED folder on the purple drive. Would I be better off making the purple drive the primary HD and not use the 1TB for BI at all? I would place the opsys, BI, BIT, and NEW all on the purple drive and not have a STORED folder. I realize that in the first situation, the archiving will use computer resources.

No. Just use the Purple for storage of BI video files. Leave everyting else on the C: drive. The Purple drives aren't optimized for the os and programs. You can just put the New folder on the Purple drive (D: )

 

[looney2ns]

No real reason to move files to stored, just put them on all in the new folder on the purple drive.

 

[bp2008]

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.

 

[handinpalm]

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.

Is there any real advantage to save snapshots on trigger? Better resolution on jpg? Is this the pic sent through sms or email on alert message?