VCA search not working - No Intelligent Record File

V

venturis

Pulling my weight
Aug 8, 2016
167
105
Australia
I recently installed a new Seagate ST4000VX013 4TB SkyHawk HDD in my 7608NI/I2-8P NVR alongside the original Seagate 2TB SV2000 drive and after recommissioning the unit found that I could no longer carry out VCA Smart Event searches using iVMS4200.

When trying to retrospectively review VCA events within IVMS4200 Playback window I simply get the error message "No Intelligent Record File".

To resolve the issue I tried reinitializing (formatting) both the existing and new drive hoping that it was simply a matter of letting the storage database rebuild itself.

Tried re-applying all the smart event settings and the linkage actions and made sure the storage schedules were properly configured.

Completely reset (defaulted) the NVR and reloaded the same firmware version again to ensure the NVR was starting with factory settings before reconfiguring from scratch.

Unloaded the original 2TB drive so that only the new 4TB drive is in operation.

Reboot countless times.

Nothing I've tried has fixed the missing VCA data. Apart from that the drive appears to be functioning normally.

The only clue I get when drawing a detection region using the tools in the Playback menu of iVMS4200 is an error that pops up saying "No Intelligent Record Files".

The error message would seem to indicate that VCA search data is not being stored on the HDD but all the relevant settings are enabled and have been reapplied a few more times since.

I've run out of ideas so looking for other suggestions. The next step would be to take out the new HDD but I honestly cant see how that can be the problem.
 
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I have had the exact same problem with the exact same drive model and capacity. (Seagate ST4000VX013 4TB SkyHawk HDD). I have x14 other Seagate ST4000VX007's and they all work fine, but the moment I add a single ST4000VX013, the VCA search stops working. Same for either one. Firmware on the drive perhaps? I've no idea.
 
I'm on my phone so I'll keep it brief.

The HDD is not fast enough to store the vca data.

I learned the hard way too that not all Hdd are equal. Replace it with one of the recommended HDD.

I'll post more when I'm back on my desktop.
 
venturis : If this is the answer to the problem "No Intelligent Record Files", I'm going send you a golden ticket to Willie Wonkas Chocolate Factory. I have searched / spoken to everyone and the answer is always .... blah blah.. maybe you have the wrong firmware/wrong camera/wrong NVR.....
I have spent 12 hrs researching this and this is the first answer that I think holds promise! I will let you know if this fixes my nightmare.
venturis said:
I'm on my phone so I'll keep it brief.

The HDD is not fast enough to store the vca data.

I learned the hard way too that not all Hdd are equal. Replace it with one of the recommended HDD.

I'll post more when I'm back on my desktop.
Click to expand...
 
@Mike_Du I look forward to receiving my golden ticket!

If you've recently changed out your HDD and started to see this problem or maybe it' never worked, its more likely than not the HDD.

Some of the new crop of SMA (Shingled Magnetic Recording) hard drives now on the market don't have sufficient transfer speed. Consequently, the NVR won't store the VCA data regardless of the setting in the NVR configuration.

If you have any of the HDD listed below then VCA data recording won't function. Check the text in the first line above the table. It reads

"The DM SMR HDD listed in the below table cannot be used for RAID, Dual-VCA data storage and Custom log storage, but can be used for normal storage"

1671604365342.png

I was unlucky in that I found this information too late and had purchased one of the incompatible HDD on this list. In spite of the fact the drive I purchased was a Seagate SkyHawk surveillance HDD the VCA data recording wouldn't work.

If you'd like to know which HDD you should be using, the information is available in the link below. Check if you are using one of the recommended HDD and in particular, one that supports the recording of VCA data.


I was planning to do a better write up but it's as simple as checking the list from the above link.

Good Luck!
 
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Yes this was it for me. Just one "bad" (=slow/non-recommended) HDD in the setup can "contaminate" the rest of them, and stop VCA search working altogether despite all the other HDD's being faster/recommended ones.
 
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