If you need to replace a camera in your VMS, you may notice that previously recorded footage from the old camera doesn’t automatically appear on the new one, even if it shares the same name and IP address. Here’s why, and how you can manually restore that footage.

How to assign the archive of one camera to another

Identify the Physical IDs of the Old and New Cameras

To begin, you need to collect the unique identifiers (physical IDs) for both the old (faulty) and new (replacement) cameras.

Rename the Cameras

This step is optional, but makes it a lot easier. 
Using the Desktop Client, connect both cameras to your server and rename them for easy identification:

• Old camera → Faulty

• New camera → Replacement

Retrieve the Camera List via API

Open your browser and enter the following URL, replacing the placeholders:

GET https://<serverIp>:7001/rest/v3/devices?_with=name,physicalId

This will return a JSON-formatted list of all cameras names and physical IDs.

Move the Archive Footage to the New Camera’s Folder

Locate the Archive

On your server, browse to the Media directory. 

The default paths on Windows are:

D:\HD Witness Media\hi_quality
D:\HD Witness Media\low_quality

The default paths on Linux are: 

/opt/networkoptix-metavms/mediaserver/var/data/<storageId>/hi_quality
/opt/networkoptix-metavms/mediaserver/var/data/<storageId>/low_quality

Each sub folder here is named using a camera’s physical ID.

Move the Footage

1. Open the hi_quality directory that matches the Faulty camera’s ID.

2. Select all subfolders (organized by year, e.g., 2016, 2017, etc.) and cut them (Ctrl+X).

3. Open the folder for the Replacement camera and paste the copied folders there.

4. If prompted to overwrite files, click "Yes to All."

Repeat these steps for the low_quality directory.

Rebuild the Archive Index

Now that the footage is in place, update the server’s index so it recognizes the new files.

1. In the Desktop Client, right-click on the Server hosting the Replacement camera.

2. Choose Server Settings.

3. Go to the Storage Management tab.

4. Under Archive Index Rebuild, click Start.

Once completed, the archived footage from the Faulty camera will appear in the Replacement camera’s timeline. Feel free to rename the Faulty camera name to the desired camera name.