New BI PC setup question.

[ingeborgdot]

I have setup multiple PCs with BI and have learned a great deal about this great software from all the great experts on this forum.
My question pertains to the HD setups. I was wondering how most people have setup their HDD or SSD in their PC. Do you have just 1 drive? 2 drives? Where are you steering your BI to store stuff?
I know how to setup things, I'm just picking peoples brains right now. I am setting up another PC, and just want to see if I do it a little differently than my previous setups.
SSD for what? HDD for what?

Thanks so much for your ideas.
Scott

 

[bp2008]

If you search the forum for standard allocation post, you will find a lot of advice repeated many times.

What I like to do is:

1. SSD for boot drive, Blue Iris is installed there, Clip database is put on the SSD.
2. HDD for recordings. Blue Iris video is the only thing that goes onto the HDD.
3. Allocate all but the last 50 GB or so to the "New" folder. Delete when full, do not move files to "Stored" folder. Stored folder gets no allocation.
4. Check via the Blue Iris Status window to make sure the extra free space (green color) is in the 50-150GB range.
5. Alerts folder gets a 1 GB allocation. High-res jpeg files can be put there in some setups, but by default this folder should remain empty.

Advanced setups:

1. If using multiple HDDs, I will set up the extra HDDs as "Aux 1", "Aux 2", etc in Blue Iris and configure some of the cameras to record to those HDDs.
2. On systems that record continuously, I find it is nice to install an SSD with high write endurance and write video to the SSD first ("New" folder), then move to the HDD for longer term storage ("Stored" folder) when the SSD is full. This way I get much faster response when playing clips that are still new enough to be on the SSD, particularly useful when playing multiple clips at once via the timeline. This will be a separate SSD used only for video, because its chance of premature failure is higher due to the heavy usage.

 

[ingeborgdot]

If you search the forum for standard allocation post, you will find a lot of advice repeated many times.

What I like to do is:

1. SSD for boot drive, Blue Iris is installed there, Clip database is put on the SSD.
2. HDD for recordings. Blue Iris video is the only thing that goes onto the HDD.
3. Allocate all but the last 50 GB or so to the "New" folder. Delete when full, do not move files to "Stored" folder. Stored folder gets no allocation.
4. Alerts folder gets a 1 GB allocation. High-res jpeg files can be put there in some setups, but by default this folder should remain empty.

Advanced setups:

1. If using multiple HDDs, I will set up the extra HDDs as "Aux 1", "Aux 2", etc in Blue Iris and configure some of the cameras to record to those HDDs.
2. On systems that record continuously, I find it is nice to install an SSD with high write endurance and write video to the SSD first ("New" folder), then move to the HDD for longer term storage ("Stored" folder) when the SSD is full. This way I get much faster response when playing clips that are still new enough to be on the SSD, particularly useful when playing multiple clips at once via the timeline.

Not questioning, just asking but why no stored folder?
I'll look into an SSD with high write endurance. I like the idea of faster response when playing clips.
Thanks. This is just what I was looking for.

 

[TonyR]

I'll look into an SSD with high write endurance. I like the idea of faster response when playing clips.

You likely won't be able to detect a H-U-G-E difference between playing a clip from a SSD and a surveillance-rated HDD such as a WD Purple. The biggest gain I see on my BI server is having only Windows, BI and BI's "db" folder on the SSD and only video clips to a WD Purple 4TB HDD.

As you probably are aware, WD Purple and Seagate SkyHawk HDD are purpose-built for the rigors of video surveillance duty which is constant write and high-volume read operations, the algorithms and hardware likewise designed with that in mind.

But certainly, it's your call...and your wallet.

 

[sebastiantombs]

You won't see any significant difference between an SSD versus a platter drive for viewing clips. More time is spent by the CPU decoding and rendering the video than is involved in retrieving the clip from the drive.

As an aside, you can rename the AUX directories to make things a little easier to identify in the console. If you double click on the AUX1 name in the allocation list, as an example, it will highlight and you can rename it as needed. Of course, duplicate names are not permitted.

 

[bp2008]

The default configuration where clips get recorded to "New" and then moved later to "Stored" is ridiculous because those folders are on the same hard drive by default, so moving the clips just creates needless complexity. This approach does begin to offer some value if you get a second hard drive and put the "New" folder on one drive and "Stored" on the other drive, but then you are still creating extra work for the PC because now it needs to move all your clips to a different drive once during their lifespan.

One of the reasons I prefer to split up the recording load across multiple HDDs and have specific cameras record to each drive is because each drive gets a smaller workload and performs better. Another reason is because if a drive fails, I don't lose all video from a huge chunk of time, only the video from some of the cameras while the video from other cameras remains intact.

 

[bp2008]

I'll look into an SSD with high write endurance. I like the idea of faster response when playing clips.

This is mainly a benefit if you record a lot of cameras at once and do playback with the timeline, because then the seek time of the storage device plays a huge role in responsiveness because it needs to constantly seek to read clips from different regions of the disk while still keeping up with all the ongoing recording duties. Like the others said, you probably would not notice when just reviewing single clips.

 

[DanDenver]

I have a 970 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD 512GB as “C:”. This is dedicated to windows 10 Pro

I have a second 970 PRO NVMe M.2 SSD 512GB for my ”D:” drive which is where BI is installed.
This drive contains the database, new and alerts (I only go back 3-4 weeks for new and alerts)
On average this uses about 50GB on this drive

I also have a Western Digital 8TB WD82PURZ Purple for my “E:” drive which is where ’stored’ lives.
It only spins up when I research older clips or BI is moving files over to it.
I partition enough to keep about 2 to 3 months which is like 3TB

I have 16 cams
Rarely goes over 5 or 6 percent on the CPU
RAM is 16, but I rarely see anything over 5 or 6 being used (according to BI)
But I run all my cameras at 10 FPS
The CPU usage remains between 3 and 6 percent whether I record continuously or not. Although it will peak up to 10 or 12 percent every minute or so if all cams are recording continuously

I did not apply any budget to this custom built I7-10700 rig that is strictly dedicated to BI

I don’t care if the SSD dies out faster than a spin drive. I want fast access times and am not interested in waiting for a platter drive to spin up or to set it up so that it is spinning 24/7. Just my OCD when it comes to drives!

I can attest to the fact that once the 8TB spin drive is up and spinning, access times to clips seems the same as the SSD

 

[ingeborgdot]

Thanks everyone for you great insight on all of this. I just may stick with the standard NVME for the OS, BI, and db, and do the standard Purple for the new storage etc.
Thanks again.

 

[ingeborgdot]

Okay, a little addition to the post. What CPU would be a good recommended upgrade for a good intel setup?
What CPU are most on here using? i7-10700, i7-10700K, 11700, 11700K or are people bumping up to the 12700 series? Would a person dare do the i5 route, or is an i7 your best bet. I have the 7700 right now but want to move up for not just more power, but for Windows 11 in the future. Thanks.

 

[wittaj]

People here are running on 3rd and 4th gens and 5th and 6th gens just fine. Your 7th gen is fine.

Keep in mind BI is currently not optimized for Win11 and many that have made that jump have had problems.

We don't let Windows update anyway, so don't waste your money on a new machine LOL.

 

[DanDenver]

Turning auto updates off for the OS, firewall, BI, etc is the first thing I did.
You might want to read the wiki, very informative

I only update on demand. Not on some one else's schedule, that way I control all variables in play.

Yes I do update, but in a controlled and well thought out way when I have the time that I can afford to have some down time should that occur. Nothing like screwing up the system just before leaving town! I won't let that happen!

I don't like instability or unpredictability when it comes to security

 

[ingeborgdot]

In Oct. of 2023 it will be mandatory to switch to W11. I will be switching in a year or so. I hope that BI is a good enough product to be able to make the switch over. I do Windows updates for security purposes. I only update when I'm ready, but I do them.

 

[sebastiantombs]

When you say "mandatory" do you think MS will send a heavily armed swat team to your house if you don't immediately load Win11 for millennials?

 

[ingeborgdot]

Well, I should have said, they will stop supporting it. My bad. I will never use a OS that is not supported. Not a safe thing to do.

 

[sebastiantombs]

People are still running XP pretty safely and that hasn't been supported for what, about 10 years now. Heck, a lot of government is still on XP proving our tax dollars hardly work at all.

 

[ingeborgdot]

To each his own.

 

[DanDenver]

Windows 8.1 will receive security updates through 1/23

Windows 10 pro and home will receive security updates until 10/25

Some windows 10 will receive security updates until 2032

Some windows 10 have already lost security update support.

So to say there is a universal date is an oversimplification

This page summarizes these concerns:

Microsoft Windows

Check end-of-life, release policy and support schedule for Microsoft Windows.

endoflife.date

 

[Mike A.]

I just got a new appliance-type computer with Win 11 pre-installed. Playing around with it some before I wiped it, it's different but I kind of like some aspects of it better than 10. Ran well on a little J4125 Celeron with 8GB so should be good on better than that. Think I'll probably switch over for general computers when the time is right. Not in any rush to do it for my BI server.

 

[wittaj]

You do realize that if you use the computer for nothing more than BI and you have antivirus on it, it is totally fine running Windows after it is "not supported".

That old Win10 computer is still way safer than some NVR that has never seen an update....

I am sure BI will migrate to Win11, but no sense buying a computer now with Win11 if you have a more than capable 7th gen already...