DVR repetitive logs and does not overwrite storage

[doubleUTF]

Hi Amcrest,

I own a AMDVTENL16-S5 DVR, software V3.218.00AC000.0 with 5 cameras and am experiencing a few problems. My HDD storage in the DVR is only ~37GB, so I would like to record in Motion Detect mode and roll over/overwrite every few days. The problem is the storage always becomes full and the overwrite doesn't seem to work for several reasons:

When disk is full 'Overwrite' is selected but DVR does not record new video when HD is full. I would expect new video to appear and old video to be deleted.

overwrite.png (7.73 KiB) Viewed 1605 times

I even tried the Auto Delete files feature but this doesn't work either; dated videos remain and don't get removed. Also the auto restart function is busted, I'll set it to an option, and it just bounces back to 'Never' on save.

maintain.png (6.46 KiB) Viewed 1605 times

Endless list of useless log file, what is Change working HDD? I can only imagine 243 pages of 100 items of these will bloat the HDD. Is there a way to prevent system from recording these logs?

logs.png (61.16 KiB) Viewed 1605 times

The only way to clear the HDD is to manually format HDD, but that is a hassle to do every few days. Would appreciate any feedback.

[Revo2Maxx]

Hello and Welcome to the Forum

Sadly hate to say it that this DVR is in need of a Couple of things..

First, system needs a Reset, and yes sadly this will take the system back to Fresh..
Second, your system needs to be setup to Reboot at least weekly I know people don't want to hear this but it is needed to keep your DVR happy..

At time over time and or in time a system will get out of wack if it isn't rebooted.. These recorders like others are always running 24/7 and spinning the HDD full speed at all times and loads of info is getting filled within the RAM/ROM and after some time it has issue doing the easy task of just over write the HDD... It is either pooled with other things in its todo list that it just plain forgets to do what you have asked it...

So not all systems but some systems are setup that when the HDD is formatted it Reboots the DVR and as such flushes the memory.. IF you want to see these flushes put a Thumb drive in your system and check the drive after a reboot and there might be a nice long log that says it is having a good or bad day..

Sadly my home on the West coast was empty for some time I had a 4108E connected and with the cameras I had in place the footage was good for 2 months before it would over write the system.. Sadly about 6 months in I logged in to find it hadn't been recording for a couple of weeks. I had my Son go and Reboot the system for me seeing I am on the East Coast.. It would work again for about 5 or 6 months always overwriting without an issue then one day it would just stop.. The next time I noticed I just did a Format from my home and it reboots the system after a Format... After that I changed it to reboot weekly and it worked after that for the next year without a Reboot or format.. Each time it would have an issue with the HDD it would say that it was damaged however I know it isn't because that 4tb HDD is still in use today... I just need to keep up with Reboots or formats and it is happy...

Just some ideas of what I have dealt with.. Maybe same type issue for your machine.. I would setup to have it reboot once a week that is good for you. Either a Low traffic time or a time that you are able to keep an eye for any issue that might come about...

[doubleUTF]

Thank you Revo2Maxx for the good advice. Yea looks like I'm forced to manually reboot/reformat once a while with these machines. Sadly the 'Auto reboot' is busted; I'll pick 'Every Sunday', click apply changes and then option goes back to 'Never'. So this DVR simply will require regular maintenance despite my efforts to automate tasks.
Funnily enough, the machine stopped detecting the local HDD when I clicked 'Format Drive'. Thankfully have PC-NVR as a fallback option.

[Revo2Maxx]

Well I will admit that when I had one of my other brand DVR's Still have it just don't use it right now.. Keep for backup if ever needed.. Anyway when the HDD started to go really bad the system started to fail. Channel 1 went out, I thought it was bad camera so connected another it didn't work either then adding camera back to a different channel the camera was fine.. After a little while I realized lets try and see what happens after removing the HDD and CH1 came back to life and after a Replacement it worked again as expected... Had over 40k hours on the HDD.. After that fail I have since started to keep an extra HDD for one of my Recorders in case I have one fail..