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Attach a Hetzner Cloud Volume to the server running your encoder, mount it as a filesystem, and save the source videos there. Then point your encoder or playlist tool to that mounted directory and send its live feed to YouTube. The volume stores the media; it does not create or publish the stream.
How the pieces fit together
A Hetzner Cloud Volume is networked block storage attached to a Hetzner Cloud Server. After it is formatted and mounted, Linux exposes it as a directory where ordinary files can be stored. Your encoder reads videos from that directory and sends audio and video to YouTube.
YouTube distinguishes the incoming feed, called a stream, from the viewer-facing event, called a broadcast. One broadcast is bound to one stream. See Google’s explanation of broadcasts and streams.
Choose a setup method
| Choice | What it does | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic setup | Hetzner formats and mounts the volume. The documented filesystems are EXT4 and XFS; the overview gives the mount path as /mnt/HC_Volume_${VOLUME_ID}. |
A new volume when you want the shortest setup. |
| Manual setup | You identify the block device, select or create a filesystem, choose a mount point, and configure boot-time mounting if needed. | Administrators who want control over the filesystem and path. |
For a new volume, formatting is destructive to any existing data on the selected device. Never assume a device name such as /dev/sdb is correct: verify the device by its size, model, serial, and mount state before running a formatting command. Hetzner’s volume creation guide covers automatic and manual setup, while the Linux formatting and mounting tutorial explains device identification and mounting.
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Attach and mount the volume
- Create and attach it. In Hetzner Console, create a Cloud Volume in the same project as the Cloud Server that will run the encoder, then attach the volume to that server. A volume can be attached to one server at a time.
- Choose automatic or manual setup. Automatic setup formats and mounts the volume, with EXT4 or XFS as documented choices. With manual setup, use the operating system’s disk tools to identify the correct device, create a filesystem only if it is new and safe to erase, and mount it at a stable directory such as
/mnt/videos. - Verify the mount before copying files. Run
findmntordf -hand confirm the intended volume appears at the expected path with adequate free space. If the volume is not mounted, files copied into the mount-point directory may instead fill the server’s root disk. - Make a manual mount persistent if required. Add the volume’s filesystem to
/etc/fstabusing its stable identifier, such as a UUID, and test the configuration before relying on it. A manual mount without boot persistence must be mounted again after a reboot. Follow the current steps in Hetzner’s mounting tutorial.
Copy videos and point the encoder at them
- Create a dedicated directory on the mounted volume, for example
/mnt/videos/loop, and copy the source media there. - Check that the account running the encoder can read the files and traverse the parent directories. Keep the media path stable so a restart does not leave the encoder looking in a different location.
- In your encoder or media automation tool, select the files or playlist from that directory and enable its loop or repeat behavior. Exact loop controls vary by application; consult that encoder’s current documentation for settings and restart behavior.
- Configure the encoder’s YouTube ingest details using YouTube Studio or the encoder’s supported YouTube workflow. Test the feed before starting the broadcast where the workflow allows it.
If you integrate through YouTube’s Live Streaming API, its documented lifecycle is to create the broadcast and stream, bind them, test, go live, and conclude the broadcast. The API workflow requires OAuth for account access; service-account authentication is not supported for a YouTube account. See Google’s broadcast lifecycle and OAuth documentation. These API steps are not necessary just because you use a volume; people using an encoder can instead configure it through its normal YouTube Studio integration.
Plan capacity, performance, and recovery
Capacity and resizing
Hetzner documents volume sizes from 10 GB to 10 TB. Volumes can be increased but not reduced; after increasing the provider volume, expand the filesystem in the operating system too. Check the volume FAQ for the resizing details.
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Attachment and throughput limits
Hetzner documents a maximum of 16 volumes per Cloud Server and one-server-at-a-time attachment per volume. Its 2023 overview lists up to 5,000 sustained read/write IOPS and 200 MB/s sustained throughput, with burst limits up to 7,500 IOPS and 300 MB/s. These are provider-published limits, not a guarantee that a particular encoder workload will achieve those rates. See the Hetzner volume overview.
Keep an independent backup
Volume replication is not a user-accessible backup or restore point. Hetzner says backups and snapshots for servers exclude attached volumes and that it does not provide backups or snapshots for volumes. Keep a separate copy of irreplaceable source video and verify that it can be restored; do not treat the attached volume as the only copy.
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Check location before deployment
Hetzner’s FAQ lists volume locations including Falkenstein, Helsinki, Nuremberg, Ashburn, Hillsboro, and Singapore. Availability can vary, so confirm the current location options when creating the server and volume.
Troubleshoot common failures
- The files appear to copy, but volume capacity does not change. The volume may not be mounted, so files went onto the server’s root disk beneath the mount-point directory. Check
findmntanddf -h; mount the volume before copying, then relocate any misplaced files after confirming available root-disk space. - The encoder cannot open a video. Confirm the configured path matches the mounted directory and that the encoder’s Linux user has read permission on the file and access to each parent directory.
- The directory is empty after reboot. Check whether the volume is mounted and whether manual mounting was made persistent in
/etc/fstab. Ensure the encoder does not start before the mount is available. - The system reports a filesystem or mount error. Verify the intended device and filesystem rather than formatting it again blindly. Formatting the wrong device can destroy data; consult the Hetzner tutorial before repair or reformatting.
- YouTube does not accept the feed or broadcast. Check that the channel is eligible to live stream, the ingest details are correct, and the broadcast is bound to the intended stream in API-based workflows. Google documents eligibility and stream-creation errors in its LiveStreams: insert reference. For API access, also verify OAuth authorization.
- The stream stops when the server restarts or a process exits. A mounted volume only makes files available; it does not supervise or restart the encoder. Verify mount ordering, encoder startup behavior, and the process supervisor separately before relying on unattended operation.
Or let it run in the cloud
If your goal is simply to keep uploaded videos looping as a YouTube live stream, StreamNeo is an alternative to managing a server, mounted storage, and encoder process. Upload a recording or build a playlist, add your YouTube stream key once, and go live; StreamNeo loops the uploaded video from the cloud, so your computer and home connection do not have to stay on.
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