Page 1 of 1
USB dedicated storage question
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 2:31 am
by mrd
I followed these instructions and it went well:
https://zoneminder.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
But it is not clear to me if I need to do this too because I see my only default storage now shows the capacity of the external hdd:
https://zoneminder.readthedocs.io/en/la ... drive.html
Thanks
Re: USB dedicated storage question
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:42 am
by Pedulla
Yes, you will need to set ownership of your new storage location to your webserver's user:group or zoneminder won't be able to write events to the storage area.
Re: USB dedicated storage question
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:54 pm
by mrd
Yes. I did that because it was also part of the blog instructions, but I guess I'm not sure if I need to create the config file or if I need to add a another storage device in the GUI since the blog process uses the default mount points and so my default ZM storage shows up as the newly added USB HDD capacity.
So it seems like I don't want to change the ZM_DIR_EVENTS value or add another storage device in the ZM GUI.
Re: USB dedicated storage question
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 3:28 pm
by bkjaya1952
Re: USB dedicated storage question
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 4:51 pm
by bbunge
Here is another how to for systemd mount.
https://wiki.zoneminder.com/Common_Issu ... ive_or_NAS
Actually an easier way is to install Ubuntu with the USB drive attached. Format the main drive as "/" and format the USB drive to mount as "/zmstore"
then in Zoneminder storage add the "/zmstore"
However, using the systemd procedure you gain protection if, for some reason, the "extra" drive does not mount.
Re: USB dedicated storage question
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:03 pm
by mrd
Thanks for the replies on this.
The only difference I can see from the procedure bbunge referenced above that I did not do is to remove the original events and images directories.
Code: Select all
Remove or events and images directories
rm -r /var/cache/zoneminder/events
rm -r /var/cache/zoneminder/images
I guess that is worth doing to avoid a false since of success in the event that the external drive fails so it doesn't quietly default back to them even though my new mounts are on top of those same paths?
I guess I am fine not adding a new storage source to ZM either since it shows as my default source now because I am using the same default paths in my mounts? Also, seems like no need to create the conf file to define the ZM_DIR_EVENTS since that s redundant in this case?
Re: USB dedicated storage question
Posted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:42 pm
by bbunge
In this modern age you really do not have to stand on your head to add extra storage. Newer Zoneminder versions allow you to have multiple storage locations.
1. Mount the new storage formatted with "NIX" (EXT4 is great)
2. Create a folder on the new storage source and give it permissions to read and write by the web server (Apache2 is www-data)
3. Ad the new storage in Zoneminder - Options - Storage. Say the drive is mounted as /zmstore with a folder of events - use /zmstore/events
4. When adding a camera select the storage you want to use - Storage - Storage Area
You will have to make sure the events are purged from those areas with disk full or time purge.