Auto Maintenance - Delete Files X days - files not deleted

[spleen911]

When I set Auto Maintenance | Auto Delete Files after X days, days greater than X are hidden during playback, but they are not removed from HDD. I've duplicated this on several NVRs using the following method.

1. Disable Auto Delete Files
2. Format HDD
3. Record for 14 days
4. Turn on Auto Delete Files = 14 days
5. Wait 7 more days
6. Disable Auto Delete Files
7. Playback video from 21 days ago

I can also set to record 24x7 using CBR (disk usage is linear). With Auto Delete Files = 2 days the HDD will still fill until zero space is available. Disabling Auto Delete X Days allows me to playback videos 2+ weeks old that should have been deleted 2 days after they were recorded.

The NVRs are NV4108E-HS running firmware 3.215.00AC000.0.
Anyone else use this feature and have the same experience of files not being deleted?

[longedge]

Your experience does not hold true in all cases.

For my IP cameras, I record snapshots to my NAS and video to the onboard SD cards. The cards normally hold approximately 4 days worth of video which is simply overwritten when the cards are full. I only have 32GB cards so I could get bigger ones but they are OK for what I want.

I have set both my cameras to delete files after 6 days. This setting gives me a rolling 7 days of snapshots on my NAS. The folders and files are definitely deleted, I know because 1) I check the free space daily and 2) I check the contents of the share on the NAS.

For me, it's not a cause for concen on my NVR because it looks after itself and overwrites the oldest files on a continuous basis. It currently has got recordings available back to 11th June.

Have you setup autodelete on your NVR or on your camera/s?

[spleen911]

I've setup auto delete on both the NVR and the cameras ... neither remove old video recordings from the NVR's HDD.

I only store snapshots to each camera's MicroSD card. I do not care about auto deleting those files. Automatic overwrite of oldest snapshot is sufficient for my needs.

I'm interested removing video recordings greater than 14 days from the NVR's HDD so I can monitor free space and gauge future expansion (adding cameras to available ports).

[longedge]

I stand to be corrected but I think that it is only the NVR settings that are relevant to your question. I did wonder whether you were relying on the camera settings to control the NVR.

As my NVR is a different make, I don't think I can add anything useful.

If the NVR is disregarding the settings that you have entered then perhaps someone will come up with an explanation

[spleen911]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'm recording ~2TB per day (4 NVRs and 24 4MP cameras) and prefer to keep that traffic off the LAN.That is why I'm using HDDs in the NVRs verses a whopper of a NAS. Pros/Cons either way, but this gives me 4 points of storage failure (1 per NVR) and someone has to steal 4 NVRs verses 1 NAS. I experienced "an incident" and I'm over building for next time

Ideal setup [for me] is rolling MicroSD snapshots + 7 days (24x7 recording) NVR HDD + day 8-30 NAS offload.

[jack7]

See if this thread helps:
https://amcrest.com/forum/ip-cameras-f1 ... t6529.html

Perhaps you could just use HD Full=Overwrite.
Or perhaps you could use both Overwrite and Auto Delete Files, and it would write forever but you would only see the last X days in Playback.
I have not done it.

[spleen911]

I use overwrite when full ... or I'd have to manually format every 2-3 weeks.
Maybe I'm not clearly explaining the purpose of my post. Imagine if you will...

You have an 8-channel NVR.
You have 4 cameras connected to it.
You only need 14 days of history.
You want to know how much HDD space you are consuming in 14 days ... so you can determine if you can add a camera and maintain 14 days without upgrading the HDD. Without the ability to delete video files greater than 14 days you cannot get valid free space. The HDD continues to fill even though you only see 14 days of history.

I resorted to installing 4TB HDDs and using format/wait/repeat to balance my 24 cameras across 4 NVRs. I'm moving the 8TB drives in a few systems because there is so much motion I cannot get 14 days of 4MP video from 4 cameras on 4TB without sacrificing video quality or dropping frame rate significantly.

Sounds like it is working as expected and the setting only deletes files from MicroSD, NAS, and FTP ... not the internal HDD. I will open a support ticket to propose that as an enhancement to R&D in a future NVR firmware update. I think it would be helpful to some, but maybe I'm more edge case user than I expected.

[jack7]

spleen911, My thoughts after reviewing this thread:

Have you tried H.265 compression? It can reduce recording storage required by H.264 by up to 50%. H.265 can use a lower bitrate and have the same quality video.

You would have to test it, but I believe recording storage required by General 24/7 recording is the same as General 24/7 AND Motion Detection recording concurrently. A time line from ASP Playback screen showing green General and yellow MD records on a SD card:

CaptureGreenYellow.JPG (19.8 KiB) Viewed 3559 times

I think you might find that recording 24/7 H.265 with an appropriate bitrate could provide satisfactory video results with 4TB HD and six 4M cameras. One way to check various settings, etc. is to use Dahua Disk Calculator. With 24/7-MD recording and HD full-overwrite, I don't think you would need to be concerned with free space if desired days of 24/7 recording fits on your HD.

[spleen911]

I've used H.265 from day one specifically for the space savings. You are not getting 14 days of six 4M cameras recording 30fps/CBR/4096Kbps on a 4TB drive unless you have minimal motion. I experience about 20 hours of motion a day and I'm not willing to compromise by using an extremely low bit rate ... defeats the purpose of using 4M-30fps cameras. I'm running 8TB drives now, getting 18+ days and life is good.