Storage/Space Management - Desktop App (Mac)
In the desktop app, the "Delete old files by age" feature is great, but it would be nice if the "Delete old files by disk space" feature would be based on a user-defined maximum size for the capture folder rather than a minimum overall remaining storage left on the drive itself...or at least have the option to choose.
With the size based on what's remaining on the storage drive, I'm always afraid I'm going to lose capture files whenever I transfer other data on and off of my hard drive. This could be a risk for anyone with limited drive space or for anyone who transfers or temporarily copies large amounts of data onto the drive. If there was an option to set a max size for the capture folder itself, the user could just set it, and always know the files will be there and not interfere with -or be interfered by- other data on the drive.
My current workaround is to use a partition with a separate volume on my drive to be used solely for SecuritySpy. It serves the purpose but I run into another issue with the "Delete old files by disk space" feature... because the minimum amount of space to keep free is 1GB. If I'm already designating a specific volume (or drive) solely for SecuritySpy, I don't need that much cushion, or any cushion at all for that matter. In this scenario, an option for less free space on a non-startup disk (or none at all) would be preferred...otherwise there is essentially 1GB of unusable space.
With the size based on what's remaining on the storage drive, I'm always afraid I'm going to lose capture files whenever I transfer other data on and off of my hard drive. This could be a risk for anyone with limited drive space or for anyone who transfers or temporarily copies large amounts of data onto the drive. If there was an option to set a max size for the capture folder itself, the user could just set it, and always know the files will be there and not interfere with -or be interfered by- other data on the drive.
My current workaround is to use a partition with a separate volume on my drive to be used solely for SecuritySpy. It serves the purpose but I run into another issue with the "Delete old files by disk space" feature... because the minimum amount of space to keep free is 1GB. If I'm already designating a specific volume (or drive) solely for SecuritySpy, I don't need that much cushion, or any cushion at all for that matter. In this scenario, an option for less free space on a non-startup disk (or none at all) would be preferred...otherwise there is essentially 1GB of unusable space.
Comments
Firstly, under your proposed scheme, there is nothing to prevent the drive from filling up completely, thereby stopping recording. The whole point of these auto-delete features is to prevent this from happening.
Secondly, obtaining a drive's free space is very easy to do: it's one system call that takes a fraction of a second. However, obtaining the size of a folder that potentially contains millions of files is a very expensive operation: you have to iterate across all of the files and add up their size. So there are performance implications.
Your workaround, with the separate partitions, is a good solution. Note that 1 GB is not the minimum - you can specify 0.5 GB or 0.1 GB if you so wish. However note that drive performance decreases when the amount of free space gets very small, so I wouldn't recommend reducing this too much. I would advise that you set this to no less than 5% of the size of the volume.
- Make sure you are using the latest version of SecuritySpy.
- Check the format of the drive (e.g. select it in the Finder, and Get Info). The format should be "Mac OS Extended" or "APFS". Other formats will not work reliably.
- Check SecuritySpy's log (File menu -> Open Log) for any messages related to this.
- Check the drive's permissions: open the Disk Utility application, select your drive, and run "Repair permissions" if you have this option (later system versions don't have this option) and also run "Repair Disk" (older versions) or "First Aid" (newer versions).