HiLook NVR-108MH-C/8P HDD Error?

[BHall]

Hello,

We have a 8-channel HiLook NVR (Model: NVR-108MH-C/8P) with 5 PoE cameras connected on a separate PoE switch. It has been working very well for the past several months since it was connected. Now apparently, I am having issues with the HDD inside the NVR where it stops after a while which goes into an error state but it doesn't give a reason as to why.

What I've done is that I've swapped for another HDD which then went into the same error state a couple of hours later, so I am assuming the problem will not be the disks although they work fine if I reconnect it back into the NVR. So then I thought it might be a problem with the SATA leads which I've replaced, but again it's coming back with the same error message several hours later. So I am sure it will be nothing to do with disks or the SATA leads, but I was wondering if it might be due to a faulty connector on the board or that I might have to reset the NVR to factory settings to see if it would resolve it (which will have to be at last resort).

However, I have been thinking of having the data saved onto a disk into my NAS which has quite a lot of storage on, so it may work this way but I am having a few little teething issues getting this setup on the NAS as it wouldn't allow me to format the disk from the NVR to the NAS in order for it to start recording from the NVR. I would think doing this would be a good way to keep the data separate from the NVR unit itself just in case the worst happens.

I did consider into looking the CCTV recordings stored onto NAS storage instead the need for a NVR, but I'd be happy if I could have this HDD problem resolved first.

Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Ben

 

[Dan]

Hi @BHall

Are you accessing this HiLook NVR with a direct HDMI/VGA monitor or via a browser?

 

[BHall]

Hi @BHall

Are you accessing this HiLook NVR with a direct HDMI/VGA monitor or via a browser?

It's both, however the layout does look different from the HDMI display compared to the web browser. I don't think this would be anything to do with it?

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Dan]

Thanks @BHall

I just needed to check which way you were accessing the NVR because the instructions I give will be different depending on if it is browser or direct monitor access.

Have you recently seen these HDD errors on the NVR and not reset the NVR since seeing them?

If that is the case, can you please log in to the NVR with a browser and go to Configuration → System → Maintenance → Log, set the major type to Exception, and then search for a period of time you know you had seen the HDD errors. Do you see any specific HDD error codes in the logs?

 

[BHall]

Hi Dan,

I've provided a screenshot of this but it doesn't show any error codes other than the HDD being on Channel 1 whereas the cameras connected on a PoE on a channel called D1, D, D3 etc.

I think I may need to factory reset it, but it's going to be a pain to reconfigure it as I've had it configured to do what it does.

Many thanks,
Ben

 

[BHall]

Just an update, I've rebuilt the database and completely format the disk because when I went to check the logs, there hasn't been a database rebuild since it was first setup. So I am assuming it got corrupted over time after numerous abrupt switch offs by mains power which meant certain bits of data will probably not have been writtern properly which leads to HDD Errors I suppose.

If this still doesn't resolve after a week or so, I'll have to factory reset it as the last resort.

 

[Dan]

Thanks @BHall

Yes, I think if the problem is not resolved after the reset then potentially the NVR itself is faulty and if in warranty you might need to speak to the company you bought it from to get a warranty repair/replacement.

One other thing to check is that the NVR is running the latest firmware - V4.72.110_230620

 

[BHall]

Hi Dan,

I have already contacted the company about the situation but they have not got back to me yet. However, when I was looking on the main NVR interface, I've managed to find the logs for the HDD Error and the code was 0x8 repeatedly, so I suspect it means something because the HDD is still working on the NVR and probably not reading the data properly.

I've checked the firmware and it seems to be out of date, so I'll give this a go.

I hope this helps.

Many thanks,
Ben

 

[BHall]

Hi Dan,

Just to give you an update, with good and bad news! I have now managed to have the recordings working again but connecting this via my Synology NAS as NetHDD using the FTP connection. So far I have no problems with that, which I'm happy about but when it comes to the drive being full from the NAS, it stops all the recordings and goes into an error state like it did with the normal HDD. So it seems the NVR system is having an overwrite issue where it's unable to overwrite files on top of new recordings.

On my Synology NAS, I have created a Task Schedule rule to automatically delete old files from the last seven days ago (which isn't alot for what I want, but there you go) to free up some disk space for the NVR to store the new recordings onto without it going into the error state. The only thing I'm concerned about in a couple of days time is whether the .bin files needed to be kept from being deleted accidentally to prevent any corruption that it may cause to upset the NVR, but looking at the file at the time of writing this is that some of the .bin files have been updated itself automatically, so they shouldn't get deleted as the system will think it's been edited less than seven days.

If you see below, this is the task scheduling script I've set:

find /volume2/CCTV/datadir0/ *.mp4 -type f -mtime +7 -delete
find /volume2/CCTV/datadir0/ -empty -type d -delete

Many thanks,
Ben