Archive Methods

Archive Methods

Pick whichever fits how you already store stuff. Dash USB archives every recording the car writes to one of four backends — and because GM's firmware deletes everything older than about 2 hours from the drive, the archive is the only durable copy of your footage.

CIFS / SMB

For Windows file sharing, macOS file sharing, and most consumer NAS devices (Synology, QNAP, TrueNAS).

On your server: create a shared folder, give a user read/write access, note the share name.

In the wizard:

Field	Example
Archive Server	192.168.1.100 or nas.local
Share Name	DashUSB or media/dashcam
Username	dashcam
Password	your password
Domain	leave blank unless your server needs it
CIFS Version	leave blank unless you know you need 2.0 / 1.0

If the connection fails, the most common cause is an older NAS that needs the CIFS Version set to 2.0 explicitly.

rsync

For Linux/Unix servers. Faster and more reliable than CIFS over the open internet, and authenticated with an SSH key instead of a password.

On your server: create a user, create a destination folder.

In the wizard:

Field	Example
Server	archive.example.com
Username	dashcam
Remote Path	/home/dashcam/dashcam

The wizard's rsync section also generates an SSH key for the Pi and shows the public key with a copy button. On your server, run:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh
echo "<paste-key-here>" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Then use the wizard's connection test to confirm it works. You only have to do this once.

The connection test is permissive about host keys, but the real archive job uses strict host-key checking. If archiving later fails with "Host key verification failed", SSH into the Pi and run ssh-keyscan -H your-server >> /root/.ssh/known_hosts.

rclone

For cloud storage — Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, S3, Backblaze B2, and ~60 other providers. Best for offsite backups.

Set up the remote first by SSH'ing into the Pi and running:

sudo rclone config

Follow the prompts — it'll ask which cloud service, walk you through OAuth, and let you name the remote (e.g., gdrive).

In the wizard:

Field	Example
Remote Name	gdrive (matches the name you set in rclone config)
Remote Path	Dashcam or Backups/DashUSB
Archive Server	8.8.8.8 (a host to ping for the connectivity check — use your server's IP if the remote is on your LAN)

NFS

For Linux NAS devices that prefer NFS over CIFS (some Synology and TrueNAS setups). Typically faster than CIFS / SMB on the same hardware — worth using if you have a lot of footage to back up and your NAS supports it.

On your server: export a directory in /etc/exports (or your NAS's GUI), allow the Pi's IP.

In the wizard:

Field	Example
NFS Server	192.168.1.100
Export Path	/volume1/DashUSB (the exact path from your exports file)

NFS is unauthenticated — anyone on your LAN with the path can read/write. Use CIFS or rsync if that's a concern.

Switching methods later

You can re-run the Setup Wizard from Settings → System → Setup Wizard to switch backends. Already-archived recordings stay where they are — Dash USB doesn't re-archive past footage, only future recordings go to the new destination.