diff --git a/frigate/models.py b/frigate/models.py
index 5f6ac7339..8591b33b5 100644
--- a/frigate/models.py
+++ b/frigate/models.py
@@ -65,3 +65,11 @@ class Recordings(Model):  # type: ignore[misc]
     motion = IntegerField(null=True)
     objects = IntegerField(null=True)
     segment_size = FloatField(default=0)  # this should be stored as MB
+
+
+# Used for temporary table in record/cleanup.py
+class RecordingsToDelete(Model):  # type: ignore[misc]
+    id = CharField(null=False, primary_key=False, max_length=30)
+
+    class Meta:
+        temporary = True
diff --git a/frigate/record/cleanup.py b/frigate/record/cleanup.py
index f2e9a4fb5..75a1f9508 100644
--- a/frigate/record/cleanup.py
+++ b/frigate/record/cleanup.py
@@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ import threading
 from multiprocessing.synchronize import Event as MpEvent
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from peewee import DoesNotExist
+from peewee import DatabaseError, DoesNotExist, chunked
 
 from frigate.config import FrigateConfig, RetainModeEnum
 from frigate.const import RECORD_DIR, SECONDS_IN_DAY
-from frigate.models import Event, Recordings, Timeline
+from frigate.models import Event, Recordings, RecordingsToDelete, Timeline
 from frigate.record.util import remove_empty_directories
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -217,34 +217,62 @@ class RecordingCleanup(threading.Thread):
         logger.debug("Start sync recordings.")
 
         # get all recordings in the db
-        recordings: Recordings = Recordings.select()
+        recordings = Recordings.select(Recordings.id, Recordings.path)
 
-        # get all recordings files on disk
-        files_on_disk = []
-        for root, _, files in os.walk(RECORD_DIR):
-            for file in files:
-                files_on_disk.append(os.path.join(root, file))
+        # get all recordings files on disk and put them in a set
+        files_on_disk = {
+            os.path.join(root, file)
+            for root, _, files in os.walk(RECORD_DIR)
+            for file in files
+        }
 
-        recordings_to_delete = []
-        for recording in recordings.objects().iterator():
-            if recording.path not in files_on_disk:
-                recordings_to_delete.append(recording.id)
+        # Use pagination to process records in chunks
+        page_size = 1000
+        num_pages = (recordings.count() + page_size - 1) // page_size
+        recordings_to_delete = set()
+
+        for page in range(num_pages):
+            for recording in recordings.paginate(page, page_size):
+                if recording.path not in files_on_disk:
+                    recordings_to_delete.add(recording.id)
+
+        # convert back to list of dictionaries for insertion
+        recordings_to_delete = [
+            {"id": recording_id} for recording_id in recordings_to_delete
+        ]
+
+        if len(recordings_to_delete) / recordings.count() > 0.5:
+            logger.debug(
+                f"Deleting {(len(recordings_to_delete) / recordings.count()):2f}% of recordings could be due to configuration error. Aborting..."
+            )
+            return
 
         logger.debug(
             f"Deleting {len(recordings_to_delete)} recordings with missing files"
         )
-        # delete up to 100,000 at a time
-        max_deletes = 100000
-        for i in range(0, len(recordings_to_delete), max_deletes):
-            Recordings.delete().where(
-                Recordings.id << recordings_to_delete[i : i + max_deletes]
-            ).execute()
+
+        # create a temporary table for deletion
+        RecordingsToDelete.create_table(temporary=True)
+
+        # insert ids to the temporary table
+        max_inserts = 1000
+        for batch in chunked(recordings_to_delete, max_inserts):
+            RecordingsToDelete.insert_many(batch).execute()
+
+        try:
+            # delete records in the main table that exist in the temporary table
+            query = Recordings.delete().where(
+                Recordings.id.in_(RecordingsToDelete.select(RecordingsToDelete.id))
+            )
+            query.execute()
+        except DatabaseError as e:
+            logger.error(f"Database error during delete: {e}")
 
         logger.debug("End sync recordings.")
 
     def run(self) -> None:
-        # on startup sync recordings with disk (disabled due to too much CPU usage)
-        # self.sync_recordings()
+        # on startup sync recordings with disk
+        self.sync_recordings()
 
         # Expire tmp clips every minute, recordings and clean directories every hour.
         for counter in itertools.cycle(range(self.config.record.expire_interval)):
diff --git a/frigate/record/record.py b/frigate/record/record.py
index 9d3106d0f..ab6cd3450 100644
--- a/frigate/record/record.py
+++ b/frigate/record/record.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ from playhouse.sqliteq import SqliteQueueDatabase
 from setproctitle import setproctitle
 
 from frigate.config import FrigateConfig
-from frigate.models import Event, Recordings, Timeline
+from frigate.models import Event, Recordings, RecordingsToDelete, Timeline
 from frigate.record.cleanup import RecordingCleanup
 from frigate.record.maintainer import RecordingMaintainer
 from frigate.types import RecordMetricsTypes
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ def manage_recordings(
         },
         timeout=60,
     )
-    models = [Event, Recordings, Timeline]
+    models = [Event, Recordings, Timeline, RecordingsToDelete]
     db.bind(models)
 
     maintainer = RecordingMaintainer(