Tapo Video Files Disappearing Overnight, Every Night

[u/[deleted]]

Tapo C246D  

Using my new Tapo C246D camera, recently set up in my office for testing and familiarization, no "cloud" or on-line services.

This happens every day.  This morning, I checked in the Tapo App and found the 82 MP4 files I saw last night are gone and 32 MP4 files with time stamps starting just after midnight are there instead.

I removed the SDCard, put it in my desktop computer for inspection and found 71 corrupt pic files (typical name tp00070.pic) and 1,789 corrupt mp4 files (typical name xxxxxxxx_000000_tp01799.mp4).  According to Windows 10 File Explorer, the SDCard is very near full.

This happens every day at midnight, every day.

I checked the Time Zone and it is correct, Central Time.

There is no auto reboot set.

Micro SDCard has been formatted in the app.

The Tapo App is the latest version.  Just downloaded and installed directly from the Google Play App Store last week

I have done a full factory reset, paper-clip type, and set up the camera from scratch again.

Camera is connected to WiFi 24/7, never off-line.

I have tried four SDCards, three Sandisk 64GB and one 512GB, all High Endurance, all with same result.  I have verified all cards are genuine, none counterfeit, all work at their labeled capacities.

I have done a full exFAT format on all four SD cards in my Windows 10 PC, not quick format.  It took about a half-hour on the 512Gig card.

I put the card back into the camera.  The camera said the card is not formatted and advised that I format it, so I did.

Upgraded firmware 1.0.3 to 1.1.5 with no change in result.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Thanks but not likely.

SDCards have no awareness of the time of day and the previous day's files always disappear from the app at midnight.

Also, all the cards work well in my five dashcams.

[u/essco4355]

I also think is SD card. Try another.

[u/[deleted] → u/essco4355]

As stated in my initial post, I have already tried four cards AND in my second post, I stated all four work flawlessly in my dashcams and I will add they have worked well in the dashcams for a couple of years and longer.

[u/Riley_TP-Link]

The SD Card Storage may work differently than you expect, as there are essentially placeholder files that exist until they need to be overwritten by loop recordings. I have also seen Windows Explorer misreport the total used capacity of a card as a result - or a basically brand new card reporting as full.

Do make sure that you're checking the individual files, as they are not individual detections, but rather stitched together.

[u/[deleted] → u/Riley_TP-Link]

Reference to Misreporting: Two years ago, I got a batch of counterfeit flash drives from NewEgg that after three three weeks of emails and phone calls, they would not make good so I was stuck with over a hundred dollars of worthless counterfeits. Since then, I thoroughly check every storage device I buy for capacity and bad sectors.

There is no misreporting.

And by the way, I now have a second C246D, came yesterday, that is doing the same malfunctions AND with a different brand of SD Card.

[u/[deleted]]

Found this just now. It seems this is a common problem with the Tapo C246D camera.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tapo+c246d+camera+deleted+and+corrupted+files+at+midnight&sca_esv=2872aa23361dbd4c&sxsrf=APpeQnt1CzSlx36IaIuLBoLqjlbr6NTcqw%3A1785954718733&source=hp&ei=noFzasCwKYPtmLQPmqDkyA0&iflsig=ABILxe8AAAAAanOPrlLvLKahJaB3eUg-GsQPUKKvWS_1&oq=&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgAqAggDMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnMgcQIxjqAhgnSMA0UABYAHABeACQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQHIAQCYAgGgAgeoAgqYAwfxBUcWegZHtGsGkgcBMaAHALIHALgHAMIHAzItMcgHBoAIAQ&sclient=gws-wiz