How to Stop the Dreaded Camera Write to Disk Error In NINA

The dreaded camera write to disk error! You get your imaging sequence going, call it a night, and in the morning discover your camera kept imaging but stopped writing files to disk some time during the night. It leads to lost integration time and is difficult to eliminate. But there's good news! If you're a NINA user, there is a way to effectively address this problem!
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[@AmatureAstronomer]

Interesting.

[@clamdong1974]

Sometimes my exposures fail to download (probably due to cheap cable and dodge ports on my laptop) and i usually fix it by reconnecting my camera. This will 100% fix my issues

[@SKYST0RY]

It should definitely help with that if it's intermittent. As soon as the plug-in recognizes the write failure, it will initiate a disconnect/reconnect sequence.

[@astrojet9484]

Oh,I'm using ASIair at the moment,and occur this kind of error(download failure+camera disconnected),but everything work out fine using NINA,so after a month of trial and error,I think the problem comes with camera's power,you see i'm using the fir gen of the ASIair and using a uncooled 533mc(to reduce the weight of big battery) and only happen if my exposure is greater than 2 seconds,and the newer camera uses a new red cable with is thicker and can hold more amp,so I recommend checking if your mini pc or camera is lack of power and if you do,you can try "usb 2 male to female"cable to see if it works,because you're not solving problems from the root

[@SKYST0RY]

It's not a power issue. When the issue occurred, first thing I did was test power. The observatory is on isolated mains power with a full backup power system and insulator between it and the power source. The camera gets power from a Pegasus Astro Power Box that it only shares with two dew heaters, tapping at max only 60% of the Power Box capability.

[@fotografiabymiguel]

Thank you for this video, I had this error. I will be sure to try the plug in solution.

[@BruceMallett]

Whoa, thanks for that! I've been having this problem off and on for quite some time with my PlayerOne camera. Tried cables, USB speed, and of course staying up (clear nights here in New England are more rare so not as impactful). I'll definitely install that plug-in.

[@SKYST0RY]

Hopefully it works as well for you. It should address any intermittent camera write to disk error, whether it's caused by software, drivers or cables.

[@SKYST0RY]

About your camera cooling post: Under the Camera sequence instructions, there is a cool camera instruction. You can just put that at the beginning of your imaging sequence and set it to your desired temperature. Everytime your camera shoots a new frame, it will double check to make sure the temperature is correct and turn on the cooler if necessary.

[@BruceMallett]

@@SKYST0RY Thanks for replying to my (now deleted) comment. I deleted it after I re-watched some of your video and realized I had misunderstood the bit about the Connector's "Reconnect on download failure" operation and your concern about cooling. I had remembered wrong and thought it did not reset the cooling which is why you added the cool camera instruction to the sequence of taking frames. That is a back up of sorts but if you are doing 5 one minute exposures for each of four filters then you could have up to twenty minutes of warm frames before it got back around to the cool-the-camera instruction. So my thinking was to use DIY trigger to trigger on the download failure condition and have that issue the cool-camera instruction, therefore minimizing that delay. It would be really nice to have a "if the camera sensor is above xx degrees" trigger for that. ;)

[@robvandenwijngaart988]

Hi, thanks for the video. I have the plugin for a long time. I use it in the startup part to connect everything. The problem that the camer is not aple to write to disk , is something I have too sometimes. But at that moment I have also that all other USB connetions fail. But I think that has something to do with the age of the laptop I use.

[@SKYST0RY]

Sorry to hear that. I suppose it could be an ASCOM driver conflict, but I suspect you're right and should have your USB ports tested.

[@AnomalousAstro]

Glad to hear you found a solution and are back to sleeping tight! Not knockin' your system just stating an [empirical?] fact, I've not ever had that failure using the latest NINA and PHD2 builds, simple not advanced sequencer, and an ASI2600MM into an Intel NUC. Good job sussing out the fix!

[@SKYST0RY]

I know the NUC is reliable, but the is isn't strictly limited to port and software conflicts. It can also be caused by interference in USB 3.0 or higher cables. Some persons resolve that issue by using high end cables or mounting their mini PCs on their computers to shorten cable length (something I prefer not to do to avoid adding wind sail to what is on the mount due to how breezy our nights often are). The NINA basic sequencer may avoid the issue when it's a software glitch but there are too many features in the advanced sequencer--such as the ability to turn guiding back on after clouds roll through--to quit using it.

[@pcboreland1]

Thanks for this very useful tit bit for those who experience camera download (timeout) disconnect problems. I do think this is a Player One ASCOM driver problem, and how specifically how it works with Nina, which seems to be very finiky. Nevertheless, with your solution, imaging time is lost. May I suggest you try connecting your equipment through the Alpaca Remote Server. Nina now supports Alpaca. I would be curious if the problem is resolved. The HTTP client/server in the Alpaca Remote Server is very robustly implemented. I got deep in the weeds with this problem recently with my own software development.

[@SKYST0RY]

I will have to do some research on the Alpaca server. I've never even heard of it before. However, I haven't had any camera write errors since the latest updates. It may be resolved. Nevertheless, I'll keep the camera reconnect instruction in all sequences going forward.

[@belairbandit]

Thank you for sharing your solution. Have you ever experienced this using Canon DSLRs? I am unable to get NINA to work reliably with a T3i or T4i. I receive a similar error. After 3 months of astro-hades, I went back to BYEOS. In my sleuthing, I found out that this, too, is a know issue but no one seems to working to solve it. I will have to try your approach next clear sky opportunity. Thanks again.

[@SKYST0RY]

I've never used a DSLR or mirrorless camera with NINA. Please let me know if it resolves the issue for you.

[@jesuschrist2284]

Glad you fixed it. I guess i wont be updating nina or phd2 anytime soon

[@SKYST0RY]

It may not happen for you at all. The issue is usually limited to certain hardware or drivers or by PC-specific resource conflicts. There is a lot of new, good stuff in NINA 3.0.

[@jesuschrist2284]

@@SKYST0RY ill let you test nina 3 for me for a little while before i upgrade :)

[@SKYST0RY]

@@jesuschrist2284 "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is typically a good philosophy. But I've been using NINA 3 for several months now. Since the last update the problem hasn't occurred again. Nevertheless, I'll keep the camera reconnect instruction in all future sequences to ensure no lost integration time.