Local Storage refers to saving clips from your camera system to a USB drive inserted into a Sync Module 2. Local Storage needs an active Sync Module, click if you can't connect your Sync Module.
Local Storage does not need a Blink Subscription to save your clips and show them in the Blink app.
- When there is no active subscription, Local Storage starts saving clips automatically.
- Saves clips from Blink Wired Floodlight, Video Doorbell, Indoor (gen 2), Outdoor, and Mini cameras only.
- Local Storage clips on the USB drive are shown in the Blink app clip list with
. - A "USB" icon appears on top of the clip list to show where your clips are stored.
- USB drive must be between 1GB and 256GB with more than 370Mb free.
Blink Subscription
With an active Blink Subscription, your clips are saved to Cloud storage, and a once-daily Clip Backup is saved to the USB drive. Clip Backups are not shown in the Blink app.
How to view Clip Backups on Your USB Drive
It is important that the USB drive is safely ejected from the Sync Module 2 before moving it to a computer or similar device for viewing Clip Backups.
Saving Live View sessions
Live View sessions are never saved to the USB drive. An active subscription allows you to save one, or all, Live View sessions to cloud storage.
Older Cameras
The XT2, XT, and Indoor (gen 1) cameras are not eligible for Local Storage.
Stale Manifest
The "Stale Manifest" message may appear when an update was not completed. Jump to the Stale Manifest section to read more.
Click a tab below for troubleshooting tips.
Local Storage
For a Sync Module 2 with an inserted USB drive, and not attached to a Blink Subscription Plan, Motion clips are stored 'locally' from Blink Wired Floodlight, Outdoor, Indoor (gen 2), and Mini cameras. The new Blink Video Doorbell can save clips to Local Storage when it is added to your Sync Module 2 with a recognized USB drive inserted (each sold separately).
Local Storage clips are shown in the Blink app's Clip List.
Local Storage begins automatically when your Sync Module 2 has a recognized USB drive inserted and there is no active subscription.
When you connect a single device to a Blink Basic Subscription Plan, all other cameras on that Sync Module 2, and all other Sync Module 2 on the account are automatically configured for Local Storage. Simply insert an appropriate USB drive to begin using Local Storage with the other systems.
Steps to troubleshoot Local Storage
- Reboot the Sync Module: unplug and plug-in the power cable.
- Safe Eject the USB drive from the Sync Module 2, and insert it again into the Sync Module 2.
- Delete the sync Module 2 from your system, and add it again.
Possible causes of a Motion Clip not appearing in your Local Storage list
Have you waited long enough?
When you want to view clips stored on USB, they must be uploaded from the Wi-Fi network at the location, to the Blink servers, and then to your device running the Blink app. When many users are active on a Wi-Fi network, the performance may slow down or pause. You must have a 2MB per second or greater upload speed for general use by the Blink systems, but many things can affect network speed at the camera location. Other users on your network can have an impact on Blink systems getting data through to our servers.
Is your system connected to a Blink Subscription Plan or a trial subscription?
When a system is attached to a subscription plan, Motion Clips are stored in the Cloud, and Clip Backups are saved to the USB drive. Clip Backups do not appear in the Clip List. To view these clips, you must safely eject the USB drive and move it to a computer, or similar device.
When you set up a Blink Wired Floodlight, Outdoor or Indoor (gen 2) camera, you are given a trial subscription to the Blink Plus Plan where Motion Clips and Live View sessions are saved to Cloud storage. All Cloud based clips are shown together, and the Filter option is used to view clips from a certain system or camera. The Blink Plus Plan saves clips from all of your devices
When the trial Subscription ends, or when a subscription expires, motion clips are automatically saved to the inserted USB drive as Local Storage. Local Storage Clips are shown in the Clip List by their special icon .
Were you using Local Storage and then set up a new camera?
If you were using the Sync Module 2 with an inserted USB drive to store Motion Clips and then set up a new camera, you were given a trial of the Blink Plus Plan. With a Blink Plus Plan, your clips are saved to Cloud Storage. Check under the Cloud icon in the Clip List for new clips.
Is the USB drive full?
When a USB drive has less than 375 MB of storage available, it is considered "Full". You are notified, and no more clips are stored until additional drive space is available.
How to delete clips from the Clip List:
iOS: Swipe the selected clip to the left, and tap "Delete”.
Android: Tap the "Delete" button in the clip playback window.
How to Delete clips from the USB drive:
1. In the Blink app, tap the Sync Module banner then tap "Local Storage".
2. On the Local Storage screen, tap the "Safely Eject" button.
3. You will be prompted when the drive is ready, and then you can move the USB drive to your computer or similar device, to access the files directly.
Does your system have older cameras?
Sync Modules managing older XT2, XT, and Indoor (gen 1) cameras receive 7200 seconds of Cloud Storage. These systems do not receive trials of the Blink Plus Plan when they are set up.
When the 7200 seconds of cloud storage for older cameras is full, the oldest clips are deleted as new ones are stored.
Clips are shown in the Clip List like other cloud storage. If you have more than one type of storage, these clips are shown under the "Cloud" icon 
.
All clips are deleted automatically according to the setting in the Clip List screen, with the default being 60 days (30 days in the EU/UK).
Accounts that were activated on, or before April 15th, 2020 - your local time, permanently receive 7200 seconds of cloud storage for each Sync Module. Only motion clips and Live View recordings can be saved to this storage. More features are available when you add a Blink Subscription Plan.
Clip Backup
Clip Backup downloads all clips from eligible cameras on your subscription to a Sync Module 2 with a recognized USB drive. If you do not have any new clips, none are available to be downloaded. If a download is interrupted, or fails, the files will be saved to USB at the next opportunity.
Clip Backups are not viewable in the clip list. To view Clip Backup files, the USB drive must be safely ejected from the Sync Module 2 and moved to a computer or similar device.
If a backup (or save) does not complete, here are some of the most common causes.
Possible causes of a Clip Backup not saving
Is your USB drive functioning properly?
In the Blink app, tap Sync Module banner to reach the settings screen.
Tap "Local Storage" to see the status of your USB drive. The drive icon should be green, showing that it has been recognized by the Sync Module 2.
Note: If the drive is not showing with a green icon, tap "Safe Eject USB" and move the drive to your computer to reformat as ExFAT. When reformatting is complete, re-insert the drive into your Sync Module 2.
Click to learn about Troubleshooting a USB drive, or you can insert an entirely new USB drive with 1 GB to 256 GB of memory.
Is your clip in the most recent backup?
Clip Backup occurs once per day. It is possible that the clip you seek has not been included in a backup. Check the time and date of the last backup to know if your clip is included. The time and date each clip was created can be seen on the Media Screen.
Is your USB storage device full?
When your USB drive has less than 375 MB of storage space, clips are no longer stored and Clip Backups stop.
If you do not have enough free space on your USB drive, clip saving cannot complete. Clip saving starts again when there is enough free space. Delete clips to make room, or insert a USB storage drive with more space into the Sync Module 2.
Is your Internet reliable?
The backup needs a reliable internet connection with at least 2Mb/second upload speed (going from your network out to the Blink server). If the Internet connection stops, or is interrupted over a period of time, some files may not store correctly and they will be included in the next daily backup.
Is your Sync Module online and functioning?
If the power to your Sync Module 2 is interrupted, or its connection to the 2.4 Ghz Wi-Fi is lost, then the backup cannot proceed. The Sync Module 2 performs all of the important work to save files on your USB memory device. Ensure that the Sync Module displays a solid blue and solid green light. @troubl
Is your account active?
Log into your Blink app, and ensure that your storage preferences are correct. You must have a Blink Subscription Plan and an eligible camera to initiate a Clip Backup. Eligible cameras are Blink Wired Floodlight, Outdoor, Indoor (gen 2) and Mini cameras.
USB drive
Reformatting the USB drive on your computer can help some issues. Use the ExFAT format type.
USB drives are known for being reliable and convenient. If your clips are not being saved on USB for a system that is working, it is possible the drive has become corrupted. The most common cause is internet dropouts during clip saving.
To troubleshoot your USB drive, the easiest action is to reformat the drive using exFAT, on your Mac or PC computer. However, it may be best to use a new drive, in case a manufacturing defect is the cause of drive failure.
It is very important to tap Safe Eject button in the Blink app before you remove the USB drive from the Sync Module.
Safe Eject the USB drive from a Sync Module 2
1. To find Safe Eject USB in the Blink app, find the Sync Module banner, and tap it.
2. In the Sync Module screen, tap Local Storage.
3. On the Local Storage screen, tap Safe Eject.
4. Wait to receive the "USB Disconnected" message. When the USB icon changes to 'inactive' as shown below, you can remove the drive from your Sync Module 2.
5. When you re-insert the USB drive, the Sync Module 2 will attempt to reconnect.
Click a tab to learn how to format your USB drive to exFAT.
Mac OS
To format a drive to exFAT with Mac OS
- Insert the drive into your Mac computer and open a Finder window to access the USB drive.
- Use Launchpad to find the Disk Utility.
- In the Disk Utility, click on the USB drive and click "Erase".
- Tap the selector next to "Format" and choose "exFAT", leaving the other settings at their default.
- Tap the "Erase" button to begin formatting.
- When complete, click the "Done" button to close the formatting dialog.
- Finally, click the eject icon to the Right of the disk in the Disk Utility.
Windows PC
To format a drive to exFAT on a PC
- Insert the drive into your Windows computer and open File Explorer.
- Find the USB drive, and Right click on it to open a contextual menu.
- Select "Format".
- Under the "File System" select "exFAT" and click "Start".
- When the "Format Complete" message appears, you can eject the drive.
Chromebook
To format a drive to exFAT on Chromebook
- Insert USB drive into your Chromebook and open the Files App.
- Click on the Settings icon (3 dot icon) at the top right corner to open a contextual menu.
- Select "Format device".
- Under "Format", click on the down-arrow button and select "exFAT".
- Click on "Erase and Format" button.
- Watch for the "Format Complete" prompt to display on the bottom right of the File App.
Networking Issues
Blocked Port or Denied Access
Some Wi-Fi or other network equipment, may be configured to only allow certain network communication. Some network settings and firewalls can block ports and servers that Blink products rely on to communicate.
Blink products use Port 443, it should always be available for these devices.
To add Blink servers to your access list, the address is: *.immedia-semi.com
Stale Manifest
You may also receive a "Stale Manifest" notification when the Sync Module 2 was not able to check in with the main Blink servers.
- Be sure that your Wi-Fi network and equipment provides 2 MB per second or more of upload speed* at all times.
- Be sure the power to your Sync Module is always on.
*Upload speed is how fast you can send data from your location to the Blink servers. Most internet providers have a big difference between download speeds (that they advertise) and upload speed (which you often have to look for).
Stale Manifest
You may receive a "Stale Manifest" notification when the Sync Module 2 was not able to check in with the main Blink servers.
- Be sure that your Wi-Fi network and equipment provides 2 MB per second or more of upload speed* at all times.
- Be sure the power to your Sync Module is always on.
- If issues continue, you may need to delete your Sync Module, and add the cameras again.
*Upload speed is how fast you can send data from your location to the Blink servers. Most internet providers have a big difference between download speeds (that they advertise) and upload speed (which you often have to look for).
How to delete a Sync Module
Delete your Sync Module
- Tap the Sync Module icon and you are sent to the Sync Module details screen.
- On the Sync Module screen, tap the Delete Sync Module button. A popup will appear suggesting you contact Customer Service.
Dismiss the popup by tapping OK.
- To delete a Sync Module, you are required to enter or scan its serial number using the QR code. The number label can be found on the back of the Sync Module. Scan it with your mobile device's camera or enter it manually.
- You will see a final popup asking if you are sure. Tap DELETE.
5. As a final step, unplug the Sync Module to clear any old settings.
The Sync Module is then deleted from your account. An email is also sent to your account confirming the action has been completed.
Note: The system your Sync Module was attached to was not removed, along with any associated cameras or other devices.