Blink cameras offer an affordable security option for your home, office, or any property. But the cheaper price tag may come with compromises on storage options and overall quality. It can also affect the security of your Blink videos, not to mention unexpected scenarios like software glitches that can result in your videos getting lost.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through effective methods to recover deleted Blink videos. From understanding the possible locations of your videos to providing step-by-step solutions for recovery, we’ve got you covered.
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Where Are Blink Videos Stored?
Whether you can recover deleted videos from Blink cameras or not depends on where you choose to store your clips. You can store footage from a Blink camera in two ways: in the cloud or on a local storage (i.e., a USB flash drive).
These options can differ depending on your camera model, Blink account type, and your Blink subscription plan. Here’s how each storage generally works:
Cloud storage
With a Blink subscription plan, you can store all your motion detection and live view recordings on Blink’s cloud servers. These videos will remain viewable for up to 60 days (30 days in the EU/UK) before automatic deletion unless manually erased.
With cloud storage, you have quick access to your videos as soon as they’re recorded. Extended Live View (up to 90 minutes of live stream) is also available for Mini Cam and Wired Floodlight Camera via cloud.
Remember that cloud storage features are limited to specific Blink cameras. To ensure compatibility, we recommend you check out your device’s manual. For more information about Blink Basic and Blink Plus plans, you can also visit Blink’s FAQ page.
Flash drive
Blink cameras can also store videos directly on a flash drive using the Sync Module 2. The Blink Sync Module is a hub that allows you to manage many Blink cameras from the Blink Home Monitor app. One Sync Module can control up to 10 devices at once.
With Sync Module 2 (the latest model as of this writing), you have the option to store your video clips in a flash drive via the available USB port.
This localized method of storing your videos can be a more secure option than cloud storage for some users. Using local storage grants you more control over your data and eliminates worries about external data breaches. Plus, you can access your clips without an internet connection.
Note, though, that you can only view your clips after removing the USB drive from the Sync Module and inserting the storage device into your computer. Using a flash drive to store all your videos may also put your files at risk of data loss in case of accidental deletion, malware or virus infection, etc.
How to Recover Deleted Blink Videos
Losing important Blink surveillance videos is not always a dead-end. Whether your clips are stored in the cloud or a local storage device, there are viable solutions to recover CCTV footage.
In this section, we’ll explore two methods to recover Blink videos.
If your Blink USB flash drive suffered data loss, avoid writing any data to it to prevent overriding lost files. Safely unplug your drive from your Sync Module as soon as you can. Otherwise, it can make data recovery very difficult, if not impossible. Attempt data recovery as soon as you can to maximize recovery chances.
Recover Videos Deleted from Cloud
If your videos were unintentionally deleted from the cloud, then there’s only one way to try to get them back—by contacting Blink’s customer support. Contact their support using the numbers posted on the Blink support page. You can also submit a request ticket for technical support. Then, you have to wait for an agent to contact you through email.
Blink tech support staff are the only ones authorized to recover deleted clips on the cloud. But the process can take time and might be too late to recover your videos.
Recover Videos Deleted from Local Storage
If your videos were stored on a flash drive before experiencing data loss, you can connect it to a PC and use data recovery software to scan your drive and attempt to recover your files.
In this example, we’re using Disk Drill to recover Blink videos from a flash drive. Disk Drill can recover files lost via accidental deletion, data corruption, and virus or malware infection, among others. With its set of deep-scanning algorithms, the app can also estimate recovery chances and even reconstruct lost files.
Disk Drill is capable of searching for common file formats, including mp4, which Blink cameras use. It’s compatible with all file systems commonly used in USB drives, such as exFAT, FAT, FAT32, etc. On top of that, Disk Drill allows you to preview your videos so you can identify which videos you want to recover before you proceed.
You can try out Disk Drill’s free version on Windows and recover up to 500MB worth of files for free. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide on how to retrieve Blink video using Disk Drill:
- To get started, download the Disk Drill installer and install the app. Make sure to connect your USB drive to your computer after the installation is complete.
- Then, launch Disk Drill and go to the home screen. Among the list of devices available, choose your USB drive and click Search for lost data to start scanning your device.
- During the scan, you can go ahead and click Review found items to check for the files Disk Drill has found so far. You can also wait for the scan to finish first and click the same button or the Videos filter.
- In the file selection screen, check all the videos you want to recover and click Recover.
- Finally, choose where you want to store your recovered files and click Next to start recovering your videos.
- After the data recovery process has finished, you can view the folder where your recovered files are placed by clicking Show recovered data in Explorer.
Why Blink Videos Disappear by Themselves?
Understanding the different reasons why your Blink videos disappeared will allow you to troubleshoot your issues (should you have one again in the future) or minimize the risk of further data loss.
Here are some of the common reasons why your Blink videos may unintentionally disappear:
- The cloud storage time limit has passed – By default, the cloud storage retains your videos for up to 60 days. You can set the Blink cloud storage retention limit to 3,7,14, or 30 days. After the specified duration, your videos will automatically be deleted to store new recordings. To avoid unexpected data loss, make sure to review your current settings regularly.
- Amazon servers are down – Blink cameras are owned and powered by Amazon. If Amazon’s servers experience sudden downtime, you may lose access to all videos stored in the cloud. During this time, it will appear as though there are no clips available on your account. Check if the cloud servers are experiencing problems using monitoring websites like Downdetector. Just search for “Blink Security” or “Amazon” to view their server status.
- Accidental deletion – Simply using the watch screen for control may result in accidental deletion of Blink camera footage and potential data loss. An example of this is mistakenly tapping the Delete button located on the video playback screen. To prevent such occurrences, you can back up your files and exercise more caution when interacting with your Blink app.
Remember that aside from these reasons, your USB drive containing Blink footage may also lose data due to factors such as virus or malware infection, USB drive corruption, or other unexpected errors.
Conclusion
Blink videos may disappear for different reasons, including reaching the end of your cloud storage retention period, unexpected downtime of Amazon servers, or accidental deletion of Blink footage from your storage.
The data recovery method you can use to retrieve your lost videos will depend on where your recordings were. Blink videos can be saved in Blink cloud storage or through local storage with the Blink Sync Module.
If you have lost videos that are stored in the cloud, the only thing you can do is contact customer support for them to attempt recovery. But if you lost Blink video clips saved on a USB drive, data recovery software like Disk Drill can prove to be an effective way to get your videos back.
