OK. Sorry the cheapie didn't help. Was worth a shot, and now you have something new for the tech junk drawer!
Another Pi plus - the devs own the entire stack. Hopeful that SMR issue is the entire issue, but the devs will own this, and fix it, if not. I can say this from experience as a beta tester on this, too.
put it on a real computer, problem disappears..if you really want to continue using it trouble free, this is the way
If SMR is the main issue, the computer in play will have very little to do with it.
SMR means what?
WD (and others) got in big trouble by rolling out this tech silently. See link below.
I had very similar issues with a pi4 and a usb powered 5tb wd drive . It was great for about a year then started doing exactly what you are seeing .
I bought a powered usb hub and it helped but ultimate I ended up having to replace the drive it had bad sectors
Replaced with a spare of same type and it’s been running great so far
Is your drive a NVR/DVR class drive? Standard HDD will stutter as they resync periodically. Also not sure if a RPi4 is enough horsepower for all that. For HD if you use WD it needs to be the Purple drive. My Security cameras are 11 2-4K streams and the WD Purple 6TB does not miss a beat. I also use a 2TB Purple in my service dedicated to Channels DVR.
Also not a RPi person, but if you can format the drive with larger clusters it means more data with each cluster read/written. I use Windows and format the drive to 64K cluster.
I have easily recorded 6 sources simultaneously. Combination of OTA via HDHOMERUN, TVE, Pluto and Stirr.
I use a 2001 i7 quad core server with SSD and 16 GB ram.
So if you want to record a lot simultaneously, you need some raw power to do it.
Pick up an old Mac Mini and it will likely run much better.
Sorry, but notice that the devs, along with those who have actually used the Pi, aren't saying anything like this?
The pi can handle your scenario, pretty easy actually.
Well it is not a problem with Channels as it can easily handle multiple recordings without issue.
Then there must be something wrong with the setup if there are performance issues. I am not sure why anyone would use a PI for this anyway. Seems way to underpowered for the task at hand.
I’ve got my SSD in hand. Now all I need is the time to set up. That’s this weekend’s task. And I noted the devs’ silence on the matter also.
Maddox did respond right below your initial post.
Right, more clearly, notice that none of them are saying the Pi can't handle this? Everyone seems to be chiming in with wive's tales here about hardware. The people who support the stack, and those who have used it, know better.
Let’s do this: I’ll set up using a USB hub with an SSD, both changes from my original configuration. If it works, I’ll say so. If it doesn’t work, I’ll report that.
The DVR is not CPU-bound. So it doesn't matter if you use a Pi or an Intel CPU. The limiting factor is I/O throughput. Of-course a NAS is going to perform better, it has multiple dedicated drives and uses a direct SATA interface. The Pi is limited by USB, and the issue here is crappy WD drives which are designed for archival and don't perform well when you're writing tons of new recordings to it every day.
Late to this thread, but want to report I had major problems with multiple WD Elements drives. Aman worked tirelessly with me over a period of months. Updating the way the drive was mounting helped, as did figuring out more TRIM support. Powered and unpowered, the same result: inconsistent performance and random slowness to the point of messing up recordings. Ultimately, I gave up. I've been running on a 2TB SSD for some time now, and haven't had a single problem.
I added a powered USB hub and replaced WD HDD with a Samsung T7 SSD. And I’m happy to report that all works perfectly now. For fun I recorded eight shows simultaneously and watched, paused and FFed a live program, and everything zipped right along with zero hesitation. Thanks to users and devs for your suggestions. I will NOT be abandoning Channels anytime soon.
Glad I stumbled upon this thread. Last time I tried a USB hub years ago, they weren't useful at all. Looks like that's no longer the case.
Curious @Suds, which hub did you buy?
