Diagnosing Mobotix Storage Full Errors
Receiving a 'storage full' notification from your Mobotix camera system can be concerning, as it often means the camera has stopped recording new footage. This issue typically stems from the camera's internal flash storage or microSD card reaching its maximum capacity. Understanding how to manage your storage is a key part of maintaining a reliable surveillance system.
This guide will walk you through the steps to identify the problem, free up space, and configure your camera to prevent this from happening in the future.
Common Symptoms of a Full Storage Device
You may be alerted to a storage problem in several ways:
- System Log Messages: The camera's system log will explicitly state 'Storage full' or show errors related to writing data.
- No New Recordings: You will notice a gap in your recordings, and the camera will no longer save new events.
- Warning Indicators: A flashing LED on the camera or a warning icon in the Mobotix Management Center (MxMC) can indicate a storage issue.
- Inability to Access Playback: The camera may become slow or unresponsive when you try to review past footage.
Step-by-Step Guide to Resolving Storage Issues
Follow these steps to get your camera recording again. You will need to access your camera's web interface by typing its IP address into a browser.
### Step 1: Assess Current Storage Status
- Log in to your Mobotix camera's web interface as an administrator.
- Navigate to the Admin Menu.
- Go to Storage on External File Server / Flash Device.
- Here, you will see the status of your installed storage medium (e.g., microSD card). It will show the total capacity and the amount of used space. If it's at or near 100%, you've confirmed the problem.
### Step 2: Manually Deleting or Formatting
For an immediate fix, you have two options. Be aware that both of these actions will permanently delete existing footage.
- Manual Deletion (If available): Some older interfaces allow for deleting clips, but this is often inefficient.
- Formatting (Recommended): The most effective way to clear all data is to format the storage medium. In the storage menu mentioned above, there will be an option to Format or Erase the disk. This will wipe the card clean and reset its file system, resolving any potential corruption issues.
### Step 3: Configure the Ring Buffer for Overwriting
To prevent the storage from filling up again, you must enable the ring buffer functionality. This tells the Mobotix camera to automatically delete the oldest recording to make space for the newest one.
- In the Admin Menu, go to Recording.
- Find the recording settings (this may be labelled 'General Recording Settings' or similar).
- Ensure that the recording mode is set to use the ring buffer. This might be a checkbox or a dropdown menu option, often labelled 'Overwrite' or 'Ring Buffer'.
- Save your changes and reboot the camera.
Advanced Storage Solution: Using a NAS
For more robust and long-term storage, relying on an internal microSD card is not ideal. A much better solution is to configure your Mobotix camera to record to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device.
- Increased Capacity: NAS devices can offer terabytes of storage space, allowing for much longer retention periods.
- Data Security: A NAS can be configured with redundant drives (RAID) to protect your footage from disk failure.
- Centralised Management: All your camera recordings can be stored in one central, secure location.
You can configure NAS recording in the 'Storage on External File Server / Flash Device' menu by selecting either CIFS (for Windows shares) or NFS (for Linux-based systems) and entering your NAS details.