Snapshots rather than Motion & Over Allocation Errors

[kayfersmum]

Happy New Year!

Some strange things have been happening on my system over the last few days and was wondering if anyone else had experienced similar?

The first thing I noticed was that rather than recording motion, when I reviewed activity rather than being videos, all content was as jpg files. Secondly, when I checked the Clip Storage, there was an over allocation error. Thirdly, when I checked messages, I could see a MoveFile Error 1117.

I was running version 5.0.6.10 which was very stable for me. All this started happening out of the blue and I haven't made any changes to BI. I tried rolling back to 5.0.4.4 which was also stable. Today I have updated and am now running version 5.0.7.7, but nothing seemed to work. I've tried rebuilding the database and also deleted the database and rebuilt again.

I've attached a couple of pics. Any advice would be very much appreciated

Thanks
Sam

[TimG]

Hi Sam,

I suspect this may all be to do with the allocation problem, so let's try to sort that and see if everything else starts working.

Can you tell us the storage folder names, and the sizes you have set for them ? I only have "New" and "Stored".

"New" is set to be 210GB on a 250GB ssd (I always leave a bit unused):



"Stored" is set to be 3.6TB on a 4TB WD Purple hard drive:



This leads to a healthy looking clip storage:



Can you also confirm that the "Stored" folder is now on an internal drive ?

[kayfersmum]

Hi Tim

Thanks for your prompt response

So it was all healthy on the clip storage. I've got BI Program loaded on C:\ (1TB) F:\ is the 4TB WD Purple drive in the PC and E:\ is a 5TB external Seagate drive. Clips are set up as follows:

New F:\BlueIris\new 2900GB then move to Stored
Stored e:\BlueIris\Stored 3000GB then delete
Alerts f:\blueiris\alerts 100GB then move to stored_alerts
Stored_Alerts e:\blueirisstoredalerts 500GB then delete

I have deleted some files from F:\blueiris\new and this resolved the problem. I've also changed so I have a similar set up to you. What do you have set up for alerts and stored alerts?

Thanks,
Sam

[TimG]

Hi Sam,

Sorry for the delay, I got caught up with "oldguy" attacking me in a different thread. Shame he couldn't help here either

What do you have set up for alerts and stored alerts?

The red sections on the clip storage graph on your original post do show over allocation. Do you actually have any files in the "Alerts" or "Stored alerts" folders ? I only have "Alerts" as it was there when I originally installed the software. It has no files in it, and so I set the folder size down to 1GB (Then delete). If your folders are physically empty, try setting those two folders to 1GB in BI5 settings, and then have a look at the clip storage graph. There shouldn't be any red there if all is well. If there IS still red, then reduce the other folder sizes until the red has gone. If you remember, I originally thought that your over full folder issue was due to too many things trying to write to the drive, and an over allocation error could be the reason BI keeps tripping up for you.

In the mean time, I will have a look to see if I can understand the clip storage graph a little better.

[TimG]

Hi Sam,

I can't see anything wrong with the folder sizes that you have stated on the two drives. Does the clip storage graph still show the red, or was that only when you had the problem ? In that case, did the graph look OK after you had manually deleted a few files ?

If you still have a problem, can you add screen shots of the BI5 setting screen showing sizes of all of your folders, and of clip storage. Especially if you have now changed folder sizes.

[kayfersmum]

Hi Tim

No problem at all!

Have been experiencing the over allocation problem all week, despite deleting files. Took your advice this morning and changed Alerts file size limit to 1GB then Delete. I've removed the path for Stored_Alerts (this did have some files in it, but I've deleted those).

I deleted more files from both the back end and clips from BI so now it's clean again. Now have data from 8th January onwards. I ran a database rebuild and it's worked

120120 BI Status after file deletion & alerts change.JPG (81.77 KiB) Viewed 14237 times

Thank you so much for your help - again! Do you think it was how I had Alerts set up that may have started the problem? Trying to make sure it doesn't happen again. Not sure I fully understand the Alerts folder. Been reading the help file, but am still confused (foggy brain at the moment, so that won't help )

Am I right in thinking that the Alerts that I see on the left hand side of the BI desktop screen that show new recordings each time a camera is activated are not the same as what gets stored in the Alerts folder as I'd thought until today?

Are these collected in the New Folder along with All the clips that are generated from recording 24/7?

Thanks again for your patience and support

Kind regards
Sam

[TimG]

Hi Sam,

Am I right in thinking that the Alerts that I see on the left hand side of the BI desktop screen that show new recordings each time a camera is activated are not the same as what gets stored in the Alerts folder as I'd thought until today?

As I understand it, the alerts folder is only used if you have ticked the "store alert images as hi-res files" box in settings, and I never have any files in there.

We have now proved with your pc that an over full drive will cause static images to be saved instead of video. That's one to remember. The ability to see over allocation errors is also very useful. If you have them, the pc may be OK today, but after the drive attempts to fill up, it will run out of space, and create havoc as you have seen.

[kayfersmum]

Hi Tim

It happened again. I'm thinking maybe my E:\stored external drive is not long for this world This morning it was turned off and I'm having trouble reading it. If this is the reason, although not happy that I may have to layout more money, but at least I know why BI was over allocating

Thanks

Sam

[TimG]

Interesting, it could be the usb interface within the external enclosure. If you can dismantle it, you may be able to add the drive - which is likely to be a standard sata drive - inside your main pc case.
I have had a few external drives fail like that, and they were my back up drives
You have little to lose if it is already failing.

[TimG]

Can you tell us what type of external drive it is ? We should be able to figure out how to remove the drive - assuming it's out of warranty !

The worst external drive that I had was a 5TB Toshiba Usb3 drive. It went flaky after a year, but it had only ever been used for a few hours for backups. I removed the Toshiba hard drive, and fitted it into a sata caddy. The drive itself tested OK, so I purchased another external enclosure for it. The Toshiba drive itself failed a few months later, so Toshiba are off of my Xmas card list. I dismantled the actual hard drive at that stage, and used the platters as non absorbent drink mats

I also dismantled my satellite receiver at that time, so the external box received a good 2TB drive that just keeps going