How Do I View Clip Backups?

If the available storage on your USB drive (for Sync Module 2) or MicroSD card (for Sync Module XR) falls below 375MB, it will no longer save Local Storage clips and Clip Backups. To free up space, delete existing clips, format the USB drive or MicroSD card, or insert a new one into the Sync Module.

When you connect a USB drive (for Sync Module 2) or MicroSD card (for Sync Module XR) to a Sync Module and have an active Blink Subscription Plan or Trial, Clip Backup* is automatically enabled, saving a daily backup of your Cloud Storage clips to the storage device once every 24 hours.

*Available for Mini, Mini 2, Outdoor 4, Wired Floodlight, Video Doorbell, Indoor and Outdoor (3rd Gen).

Legacy Blink devices like XT, XT2, and Indoor (1st Gen) do not support Local Storage or Clip Backup. These cameras receive 7,200 seconds of Cloud Storage per Sync Module, with the oldest clips deleted when the limit is reached. Learn more about available storage options.

Verifying Clip Backup Status

Follow the steps below to verify the status of Clip Backups, including whether the most recent backup was successful or failed and which devices were included:

  1. From the Home Screen, scroll to the bottom of the camera thumbnail list and tap the Sync Module status bar.
  2. Tap Local Storage.
  3. Tap Local Backup of Cloud Storage.

Note: Clip Backups cannot be viewed directly from the Blink app. To view Clip Backups, you will need to access them from a computer. For more information, refer to the section below.

Viewing Clip Backups from a Computer

To prevent potential data loss, it is recommended to safely eject your USB drive or MicroSD card before removing it from the Sync Module.

To safely eject your storage device: 

  1. From the Home Screen, scroll to the bottom of the camera thumbnail list and tap the Sync Module status bar.
  2. Tap Local Storage.
  3. Tap Safely Eject.

To access and view Clip Backups from a computer:

  1. After safely ejecting the USB drive (Sync Module 2) or MicroSD card (Sync Module XR), insert it into your computer.
  2. Locate the blink_backup folder on the USB drive. Inside this folder, you will find subfolders organized by year and month. For example, 20-09 indicates clips saved in September 2020.
  3. Double-click any clip in the subfolder to play it. Clips can be viewed using any media player that supports the MP4 format, such as Windows Media Player, QuickTime Player, or VLC media player.

File names are structured in the following format, as shown in this example: 01-20-21-38_Outdoor_1234567.mp4

This format includes:

  • 01 - Day of the month
  • 20 - Hour
  • 21 - Minutes
  • 38 - Seconds
  • Outdoor - Camera name
  • 1234567 - Unique camera ID

Timestamps are in Universal Time (UTC).


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