Low powered NAS drive for camera alerts

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For the last few years I've been using a couple of Raspberry PI's with Openmediavault as an ftp/samba server to receive motion alerts from my IP cameras. However, every six months or so I end up with a corrupt USB stick for some reason or another. I even tried using an SSD and that also had issues.

I'm looking for a simple and more reliable alternative to the Raspberry PI. I already have a two bay Synology system with 2 x 3.5" HDD's but it's meant for media streaming and don't want to leave it on 24/7. I was thinking of getting a single bay Synology and installing an SSD.

Any thoughts or recommendations on a simple low powered ftp server solution to receive camera alerts?
 
SSD do not work well with CCTV because of the way they work and the continual need for CCTV continually write then over-write they can end corrupting the media, that is why most CCTV systems use HDDs
 
Also, SSD seems over the top for the use case. Generally one uses SSD for performance reasons (as SSD is more expensive per megabyte than mechanical HDD's) so unless you are hitting it with lots of streams concurrently, a low bandwidth application like CCTV would not seem to warrant SSD.

In extremis, one might argue for SSD over HDD if power usage, heat and/or noise is a concern, but that's more of an argument for SSD in something like a laptop computer than a mass storage device such as a NAS/DVR/PVR.

I'd save the money and buy mechanical HDD's for more storage for your cash. However, bear in mind all mechanical HDD's die in the end and will need replacing.

There are mechanical HDD's designed for such as use case (and for things like PVR's) where (for example) low noise, low power are traded off against speed and reliability. (In a PVR/DVR it's not as important that the odd bit goes "bad" whereas it would be a disaster for your Word (etc.) documents.)
 
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SSD do not work well with CCTV because of the way they work and the continual need for CCTV continually write then over-write they can end corrupting the media, that is why most CCTV systems use HDDs

Also, SSD seems over the top for the use case. Generally one uses SSD for performance reasons (as SSD is more expensive per megabyte that mechanical HDD's) so unless you are hitting it with lots of streams concurrently, a low bandwidth application like CCTV would not seem to warrant SSD.

In extremis, one might argue for SSD over HDD if power usage, heat and/or noise is a concern, but that's more of an argument for SSD in something like a laptop computer than a mass storage device such as a NAS/DVR/PVR.

I'd save the money and buy mechanical HDD's for more storage for your cash. However, bear in mind all mechanical HDD's die in the end and will need replacing.

There are mechanical HDD's designed for such as use case (and for things like PVR's) where (for example) low noise, low power are traded off against speed and reliability. (In a PVR/DVR it's not as important that the odd bit goes "bad" whereas it would be a disaster for your Word (etc.) documents.)

The ftp server is simply meant for motion detection snapshots to a remote location, not video recording. I already have a video recording NVR using a mechanical HDD onsite.

I'm looking for SSD ftp server ( to receive motion detection snapshots) to save on power consumption and also a 256GB SSD seems to have more enough capacity for up to a year, so I doubt I will be wearing out the SSD?
 
What problems are you having with the Pi and HDD or SSD ? That does sound like the ideal solution.
 
Do you have the Flash Memory Plugin installed on OMV? Have you enabled TRIM to your flash memory /ssd ?
 
The ftp server is simply meant for motion detection snapshots to a remote location, not video recording. I already have a video recording NVR using a mechanical HDD onsite.

I'm looking for SSD ftp server ( to receive motion detection snapshots) to save on power consumption and also a 256GB SSD seems to have more enough capacity for up to a year, so I doubt I will be wearing out the SSD?

That seems fair enough reasoning. I interpret that as saying you are storing "photo" images rather than moving video, and the source wakes up and captures the image in response to movement detection...?
 
What problems are you having with the Pi and HDD or SSD ? That does sound like the ideal solution.
I'm using two Raspberry Pi 3's. The USB drives tend to become unreadable over time. At the moment I can't read or write to one of my USB sticks despite only reaching 50% capacity since first installed.
 
Do you have the Flash Memory Plugin installed on OMV? Have you enabled TRIM to your flash memory /ssd ?
I didn't realize there was a Flash Memory Plugin. I simply followed the online tutorials. This is why I've been having problems?
That seems fair enough reasoning. I interpret that as saying you are storing "photo" images rather than moving video, and the source wakes up and captures the image in response to movement detection...?
Yes, the cameras will only send photo snapshots when they detect motion. I also find that the Raspberry PI 3 is a bit slow when I need to access the SMB shares. So this is another reason why I want to get something snappier and faster.
 
I think I'll go for the Synology single bay with an SSD.
Does anyone know how to recover the files from the Openmediavault USB stick? I can't access the files anymore via SMB or FTP. I just get an error when I try. I think this was due to a sudden power outage a few days ago.
 
I would re-think that SSD and look to use a a WD Red or an Ironvault HDD. SSDs are not ideally suited to NAS duties as they become 'corrupt' over time unless you are using TRIM. Ideally SSDs need around 25% of their space left empty for caching and TRIM duties

Have a look at this information by Crucial on using SSD's in Servers / NAS.

Speed wise you will not see a massive befit of SSDs over HDDs in a Synology, you may reduce your fetch times by around a second
 
I would re-think that SSD and look to use a a WD Red or an Ironvault HDD. SSDs are not ideally suited to NAS duties as they become 'corrupt' over time unless you are using TRIM. Ideally SSDs need around 25% of their space left empty for caching and TRIM duties

Have a look at this information by Crucial on using SSD's in Servers / NAS.

Speed wise you will not see a massive befit of SSDs over HDDs in a Synology, you may reduce your fetch times by around a second
I already have an Ironwolf on my main Synology system which I use to stream video.
The point of this new device is simply to receive up to 100 jpeg images a day via FTP. I don't plan to share the resources with anything else. How about using a 2.5" HDD?
 
If you don't want the NAS on 24x7 and you are getting an SSD to save money it really doesn't make sense. You can get a laptop drive which consume one or two watts which equates to about £2 a year and you can pick them up cheap as chips.

Also take a look at something like this, £70 second hand ARM based chromebook. There isn't anything much to go wrong it and without the screen on I think the power draw is around 3 to 4 watts. It comes with 16GB of eMMC I think which should be OK for storing photos. For longer term storage you can always off load them to USB or cloud storage.

 
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If you don't want the NAS on 24x7 and you are getting an SSD to save money it really doesn't make sense. You can get a laptop drive which consume one or two watts which equates to about £2 a year and you can pick them up cheap as chips.

Also take a look at something like this, £70 second hand ARM based chromebook. There isn't anything much to go wrong it and without the screen on I think the power draw is around 3 to 4 watts. It comes with 16GB of eMMC I think which should be OK for storing photos. For longer term storage you can always off load them to USB or cloud storage.

I appreciate the suggestion, but I need power on lan, remote access and a simple web operation. This is why I'm looking to get a stand alone NAS unit. Also, will the laptop drive be able to handle 24/7 always on operation?
 
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They are really cheap, and I even have a few spare around, but will it manage running 24/7?
Yes, being on 24x7 is actually easier on drives than constantly powering / spinning. I would disable power saving if you are worried.
 
I appreciate the suggestion, but I need power on lan, remote access and a simple web operation. This is why I'm looking to get a stand alone NAS unit. Also, will the laptop drive be able to handle 24/7 always on operation?
Chromebook can has those features but its your choice what you are comfortable with.
 
Yes, being on 24x7 is actually easier on drives than constantly powering / spinning. I would disable power saving if you are worried.

Another reason for going for SSD is the responsiveness. Surely accessing the files will will be snappier and faster compared to a HDD?
 
Another reason for going for SSD is the responsiveness. Surely accessing the files will will be snappier and faster compared to a HDD?
for what you are using it for it will make no difference. Does it matter if it takes 0.1 secs to write or read the file rather than 0.2 secs or whatever. You are talking about the odd JPG pic being transferred over FTP. Now, if you were processing thousands of pictures on the NAS and it was time critical then I might consider it but in your case no.

Thing is there is no doubt that SSD have super low latency and high transfer rates but you are talking about sending the odd pic every now and then, probably on 100mb or less network. And I guess you view them over a file share ? There is nothing here that is going to stress a mechanical drive.
 
for what you are using it for it will make no difference. Does it matter if it takes 0.1 secs to write or read the file rather than 0.2 secs or whatever. You are talking about the odd JPG pic being transferred over FTP. Now, if you were processing thousands of pictures on the NAS and it was time critical then I might consider it but in your case no.

Thing is there is no doubt that SSD have super low latency and high transfer rates but you are talking about sending the odd pic every now and then, probably on 100mb or less network. And I guess you view them over a file share ? There is nothing here that is going to stress a mechanical drive.
Yes, it will be thousands of pictures, since the IP cameras create a new folder each month. 100 motion detection pictures a day adds up to about 3000 pictures a month. Sometimes when the alarm goes off, I need to check as soon as possible if it's real or false alarm.
 
Yes, it will be thousands of pictures, since the IP cameras create a new folder each month. 100 motion detection pictures a day adds up to about 3000 pictures a month. Sometimes when the alarm goes off, I need to check as soon as possible if it's real or false alarm.
And now we get to the real facts. Thousands of photos will continually need to be re-indexed on an SSD / Flash drive. They are not static data that doesnt move. That is why your flash media is becoming corrupted so quickly. Its not like an SD card in a camera which will sequentially write until full. Because you are continually accessing your pictures, your Flash Media has to re-index your pictures which they are not designed to do. Certain flash media is better at it than others and is designed for continual read / write but eventually they all fail because of it, or need regular re-formatting.

Why so much motion detection?
 
And now we get to the real facts. Thousands of photos will continually need to be re-indexed on an SSD / Flash drive. They are not static data that doesnt move. That is why your flash media is becoming corrupted so quickly. Its not like an SD card in a camera which will sequentially write until full. Because you are continually accessing your pictures, your Flash Media has to re-index your pictures which they are not designed to do. Certain flash media is better at it than others and is designed for continual read / write but eventually they all fail because of it, or need regular re-formatting.

Why so much motion detection?
Fair enough. Maybe I wrongly assumed that we've reached a point in time where SSD have evolved enough to replace mechanical hard drives.

Cats, birds, insects and leaves cause false alerts. I might eventually upgrade to PIR cameras.
 
Can I ask, is it for cctv or an alarm.

There are industrial grade flash media available but they cost significantly (upto 10x) more than domestic versions. But they are designed for continuous read/write.
 

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