Automatically save every Blink motion clip to your local network or cloud - no subscription required!
How it works
A Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W plugs into your Sync Module 2's (SM2) USB port and pretends to be a USB flash drive. The SM2 happily writes motion clips to it. Every 30 seconds, the Pi reads the same backing file, finds new clips, validates them, and pushes them to your SMB share, rclone remote (Google Drive, S3, Dropbox, …), or both. There's also an optional local web UI to browse and play clips instantly on your home network.
The Pi uses Linux's g_mass_storage gadget to present a backing image file as a USB drive. The SM2 formats it as exFAT and writes motion clips to it. The Pi loop-mounts the same file read-only every 30 seconds, walks the filesystem for new clips, validates each one (size check → 500ms stability window → ffprobe), and pushes to your configured destinations.
The SM2 has no idea anything unusual is happening — from its perspective it's a normal USB flash drive.
Note on cloud dependency: Blink cameras require an active connection to Blink's servers to function, and clips may travel via the cloud before reaching the Sync Module (depending on model). BlinkPi only handles clips after they land on local storage, it does not bypass any cloud capture pipelines.
What you get
| 📁 Automatic backup | Every motion clip lands on your NAS or cloud within ~30 seconds. No manual downloads. |
| 🚫 No subscription needed | Works entirely off the SM2's free local USB storage feature. |
| 🌐 Local web UI | Browse and play clips at http://blinkpi.local:8080 — instant loads, no cloud roundtrip. |
| 🗂️ Clean filenames | Clips renamed to 2026-04-27_21-38-40_garage.mp4 — sortable and human-readable. |
| 🔌 Pluggable destinations | SMB and rclone built in. Adding a new destination is ~50 lines of Python. |
| 🧹 Nightly cleanup | Automatically wipes the backing image without triggering the SM2's format prompt. |
Hardware
| Pi | Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (~$15) — small, cheap, USB-OTG, ~0.5W idle |
| OS | Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit (Bookworm or later) |
| USB cable | USB-A to Micro-USB, data capable. Connect to the Pi's USB port (middle, labeled "USB") — not PWR. Consider snipping the power wires if powering the Pi and SM2 separately. |
| SD card | 16 GB recommended (quality brand — it'll see heavy writes) |
⚠️ Only works with Sync Module models that have a USB port. Newer Sync Modules with SD card slots are not compatible.
Quick start
1. Flash & boot the Pi
Raspberry Pi OS Lite 64-bit, SSH enabled. Then:
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y2. Install dependencies
sudo apt install -y python3-venv python3-pip ffmpeg cifs-utils rclone git
3. Clone and configure
git clone https://github.com/OVR92/BlinkPi cd blink-usb-bridge cp config.example.yaml config.yaml $EDITOR config.yaml # set pi_user, timezone, destinations
4. Run the installer
sudo ./scripts/install.sh
Idempotent — sets up systemd units, USB gadget overlay, sudoers, and fstab.
5. Reboot
Required to activate the dwc2 USB gadget overlay.
6. Plug into the SM2's USB port
Once plugged in, open the Blink app on your phone. Tap your Sync Module 2 → Local Storage. You should see a prompt to format the new USB drive — tap Format and confirm. The SM2 will format the Pi's virtual drive and begin writing clips to it.
7. Trigger a test clip
Walk past a camera, wait ~30 seconds, then watch:
journalctl -u blink-sync.service -f
Or if you enabled the local webserver in config, go to http://blinkpi.local:8080 and watch for the clip to appear.
Configuration
Everything lives in one config.yaml. Key fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
pi_user |
Unprivileged user the sync service runs as |
timezone |
IANA timezone for output filenames, e.g. America/Los_Angeles |
backing_image_path |
Path to the 4 GB virtual USB drive file |
destinations.smb.* |
Server, share name, credentials file |
destinations.rclone.* |
Remote name, retention days, prune marker |
See config.example.yaml for every option with inline documentation.
Architecture
Three systemd units do all the work:
| Unit | Schedule | What it does |
|---|---|---|
blink-gadget.service |
On boot | Loads g_mass_storage — Pi becomes a USB drive |
blink-sync.timer |
Every 30s | Drop page cache → mount RO → find new clips → validate → push |
blink-wipe.timer |
Nightly 3 AM | Final sync → stop gadget → delete month dirs → restart gadget |
Why not reformat nightly? The SM2 prompts for human confirmation whenever it sees an unfamiliar filesystem. Instead the wipe deletes only the monthly clip directories inside /blink/, leaving the skeleton intact. The SM2 resumes recording with zero human interaction.
Clip filenames on the SM2 follow the pattern:
blink/26-04/26-04-28/04-38-40_garage_001.mp4
↑ ↑
YY-MM-DD HH-MM-SS (UTC) + camera + seq
The Pi converts UTC timestamps to your configured timezone in output filenames.
Adding a destination
Destinations implement a simple ABC in destinations.py:
class Destination(ABC): name: str def available(self) -> bool: ... def push(self, local_path: Path, target_filename: str, camera: str) -> bool: ...
Subclass it, add a config block in config.example.yaml and a dataclass in config.py, register in Destination.from_config(). PRs welcome.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | First thing to check |
|---|---|
| Blink app doesn't see the USB drive | lsmod | grep g_mass_storage — if empty, check /boot/firmware/config.txt for dtoverlay=dwc2,dr_mode=peripheral and reboot |
| Sync runs but no clips appear | Run bub-sync manually for live output; look for mount errors or "unparseable SM2 path" |
| SMB destination fails | Check credentials file: no spaces around =, no quotes, mode 0600 owned by root |
| SM2 prompts for format every morning | Wipe deleted the filesystem skeleton — accept format once, then check journalctl -u blink-wipe.service |
| rclone / Google Drive fails | Service accounts need Manager role on a Workspace Shared Drive — personal Drives have zero SA quota |
Still stuck? Open an issue with your Pi model + OS, config.yaml (credentials redacted), and journalctl -u blink-sync.service -n 100.
Home Assistant
Point HA's network storage at the same SMB share the Pi pushes to and browse clips through the Media browser or using a "gallery card". See examples/home-assistant-gallery-card.yaml for a one-line example.
MIT License · Not affiliated with Blink or Amazon · Most code is AI-assisted — use at your own risk
