SSD -> internal HD -> USB external HD?

[AndrewNorCal]

Hey peeps!

So, I’ve got am SSD as my main drive, then BI is set to move files to an internal WD Purple drive. When that’s full, files are moved to an external HD connected by USB.

Should i be worried about the slowness of the USB connection? Should I tweak any settings? Will the USB connection cause the overall system not to keep up with new files?

Thanks!
Andrew

 

[kjinxx2]

You should not be writing any footage to your SSD - the only thing that should be written to the SSD is your DB

I'm assuming you're using USB 3.0? I think there is a thread floating around here (quite recently actually) discussing the use of an external USB drive.

I would suggest you not move footage from drive to drive, this wastes CPU resources and opens up the system for DB corruption etc. Instead you should keep a portion of your cameras on drive 1 and the other portion on drive 2. This is beneficial because not only do you save on CPU usage & risk, but also if one of your drive fails and you happen to need footage, you still have 50% of your recent footage saved.

 

[wittaj]

+1 above.

That is best practice is to simply but them on the HDD rated for surveillance cameras and leave Windows, BI and DB on the SSD.

SSDs are not really designed for the continuous writing of video so when it dies, you lose your operating system and BI. I'd rather just love the video drive that has nothing else on it. Sure people have used enterprise ones and can get many years out of it, but if you use cheap consumer grade, you will kill the SSD in a year or less like this person has twice:

SSD HD Failure 2nd time :(

Unfortunately, my main sytem SSD has failed again. It failed april 2022 and I replaced it. What am I doing wrong? It is a Sandisk 240GB SSD. On a Dell Optiplex. I inserted the drive to another computer and also can't get past the windows screen with a loading circle. I have unplugged it a few...

ipcamtalk.com

It is best to only move to STORED via a NAS. Certainly do not move around in internal drives.

While some claim USB 3.0 drives work, I tried it as a NEW folder to record live and after 20 minutes with two cameras it couldn't keep up. Even though the transfer speeds of USB 3.0 are higher than eSATA, those are instantaneous speeds and not sustained speeds that video needs. You may get away with it for moving older files to STORED, but unless the USB drive is ridiculously large, it really isn't worth it.

While having months of video sounds great, the reality of it is unless it was something catastrophic (which you would have known about sooner anyway), most are not going to start scrubbing video for something that may have happened a few weeks ago.

So I have found that by spending time to dial in the alerts and a frequent peek at what is going on, you would have noticed something around your property within days.

The reality of it is If a neighbor comes up to me and says "sometime around 2 weeks ago someone backed into my car, can you see if you caught it?" You will find that even with the best scrubbing this is a monumental task. Unless they can narrow down the day/time window, most of us are not going to scour it.

 

[AndrewNorCal]

You should not be writing any footage to your SSD - the only thing that should be written to the SSD is your DB

I'm assuming you're using USB 3.0? I think there is a thread floating around here (quite recently actually) discussing the use of an external USB drive.

I would suggest you not move footage from drive to drive, this wastes CPU resources and opens up the system for DB corruption etc. Instead you should keep a portion of your cameras on drive 1 and the other portion on drive 2. This is beneficial because not only do you save on CPU usage & risk, but also if one of your drive fails and you happen to need footage, you still have 50% of your recent footage saved.

Thanks so much. DB only, got it.

I did a search here but couldn't find the USB drive discussion, do you recall the title or keyword to search by? (And yes, it's USB 3.0/3.1.)

Maybe I'll dump the external USB drive in favor of another internal drive. Splitting the cameras sounds like a reasonable idea. Uh, can you point me in the direction of how to do that?

...
It is best to only move to STORED via a NAS. Certainly do not move around in internal drives.

While some claim USB 3.0 drives work, I tried it as a NEW folder to record live and after 20 minutes with two cameras it couldn't keep up. Even though the transfer speeds of USB 3.0 are higher than eSATA, those are instantaneous speeds and not sustained speeds that video needs. You may get away with it for moving older files to STORED, but unless the USB drive is ridiculously large, it really isn't worth it.

It's an 15TB external USB HD. Thoughts? Still not worth using as STORED? Use it only for live recordings for a subset of cameras?

While having months of video sounds great, the reality of it is unless it was something catastrophic (which you would have known about sooner anyway), most are not going to start scrubbing video for something that may have happened a few weeks ago.

We have a small family business with lots of "visual blockages". The system would be used in three ways:

• LIVE: keep an eye on sketchy possible shoplifters;
• WITHIN 24 HOURS: help identifying a burglar with a break-in (last one was about 18 months ago) or a shoplifter we initially missed;
• TWO MONTHS LATER: help with identifying a individual who used a stolen credit card . . . it takes about 8-12 weeks to get notice that a credit card that was used was stolen and we aren't getting paid for whatever they "purchased". Not all the cameras would be helpful for this . . . like maybe 2-5 cameras we'd want to keep that long.

Thanks!
Andrew

 

[wittaj]

If you use the USB, do not use it for live or NEW recordings. Use it to offload anything that would be older than a week or so. You don't want it to interfere and disrupt an active live file.

But then watch performance, especially CPU when the computer is actively offloading to the USB. We have seen some here that their CPU spiked to 100% and BI would either crash or become non-responsive.

 

[kjinxx2]

Try here >> Anyone used a USB 3.0 connected external Drive for Video storage?

For recording to 2 different drives you would set up your 'Aux 1' (or other folder) to record to your 2nd drive - then under recording settings for each camera that you want to record to the 2nd drive you would set to 'Aux 1'. Set Aux 1 to whatever size limit you want (typically 90% of drive capacity) with no time limit. You would set up your 'New' folder the same way but configure it for drive 1 and delete footage at 90% capacity w/ no time limit as well.

 

[kjinxx2]

We have a small family business with lots of "visual blockages". The system would be used in three ways:

• LIVE: keep an eye on sketchy possible shoplifters;
• WITHIN 24 HOURS: help identifying a burglar with a break-in (last one was about 18 months ago) or a shoplifter we initially missed;
• TWO MONTHS LATER: help with identifying a individual who used a stolen credit card . . . it takes about 8-12 weeks to get notice that a credit card that was used was stolen and we aren't getting paid for whatever they "purchased". Not all the cameras would be helpful for this . . . like maybe 2-5 cameras we'd want to keep that long.

Thanks!
Andrew

One other point - if you want to keep 2 months for specific cameras then I would run a rough calc and see how many cameras you should put on drive 1 so that that drive fits 2 months of footage, then point the remainder of the cameras to drive 2. Or something similar. There are several ways to accomplish this, some ways being more CPU intensive than others and exposing your files to more movement and risk

 

[mat200]

Hey peeps!

So, I’ve got am SSD as my main drive, then BI is set to move files to an internal WD Purple drive. When that’s full, files are moved to an external HD connected by USB.

Should i be worried about the slowness of the USB connection? Should I tweak any settings? Will the USB connection cause the overall system not to keep up with new files?

Thanks!
Andrew

USB .. using as an external backup should be ok if you have a newer and faster USB connectors .. the older version was very slow imho.

eSATA is another option .. tho not certain if it did well in terms of actual products ..

 

[samplenhold]

Splitting the cameras sounds like a reasonable idea. Uh, can you point me in the direction of how to do that?

First you define the folder for the video. Just like you did for the 'New' folder, you can define the folder for another HDD. I used the names 'New2' and 'New3'. I changed the Aux2 and the Aux3 default folder names:



Then for each cam, under the Record tab, you pick the folder you want to store the video in.

 

[AndrewNorCal]

First you define the folder for the video. Just like you did for the 'New' folder, you can define the folder for another HDD. I used the names 'New2' and 'New3'. I changed the Aux2 and the Aux3 default folder names:
...
Then for each cam, under the Record tab, you pick the folder you want to store the video in.

Thanks, samplenhold, that's super helpful!

Andrew