-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Best Usb Drive For Sentry Mode?
- Thread starter 413jreese
- Start date
- Status
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Pretty much yeah.
Some folks like the idea of buying a super-high-endurance-made-for-dashcam one... but at 256GB (or even 128GB) you're looking at something like a decade or more on the low end, and 20+ years on the high end, before you'd wear out even a "regular" drive with just dashcam/sentry use.
Some folks like the idea of buying a super-high-endurance-made-for-dashcam one... but at 256GB (or even 128GB) you're looking at something like a decade or more on the low end, and 20+ years on the high end, before you'd wear out even a "regular" drive with just dashcam/sentry use.
Leafdriver333
Somewhat Active Member
WiFi capable?
There is an app for WiFi USB drive so that you can view the videos on your phone.
I bought this for mine. 128gb Sandisk drive. Very small and low profile.
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128G...s=p_n_size_browse-bin:10285018011&s=pc&sr=1-4
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-128G...s=p_n_size_browse-bin:10285018011&s=pc&sr=1-4
follow.johnny
FSD Beta Tester
I would recommend at least a 32GB size drive or large. Even with the 32GB, the drive would get filled within a week or so.
I went with a 128GB Samsung FIT USB 3.1 Flash Drive that has been working flawlessly for me.
• No Red [x] or issues with the drive being filled within a week or so. I usually clear space every 2-3 weeks depending on how many events are triggered.
• Small profile
• Heat resistance so the USB drive doesn't get warm in hot climates (This is important so footage doesn't get corrupted or image artifacts)
Cost: $27.99
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D7PDLXC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I went with a 128GB Samsung FIT USB 3.1 Flash Drive that has been working flawlessly for me.
• No Red [x] or issues with the drive being filled within a week or so. I usually clear space every 2-3 weeks depending on how many events are triggered.
• Small profile
• Heat resistance so the USB drive doesn't get warm in hot climates (This is important so footage doesn't get corrupted or image artifacts)
Cost: $27.99
Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07D7PDLXC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
RScottyL
Member
You definitely do not want to get the cheapest, as you want something reliable, especially since you may need the footage at some point!
I would go with a name brand, not sure what the USB speeds are of the vehicle, but won't hurt to get a USB3.0 or 3.1 as mentioned above.
Not sure if there is a limit on the size either, although I think they have to be formatted as FAT32, IIRC!
I would go with a name brand, not sure what the USB speeds are of the vehicle, but won't hurt to get a USB3.0 or 3.1 as mentioned above.
Not sure if there is a limit on the size either, although I think they have to be formatted as FAT32, IIRC!
LunkHead
Member
I have this one and it works great.. Sandisk 256GB for $38...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07857Y17V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07857Y17V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
The ports are USB2
The cameras write at only 1.5mb/sec
Literally any USB storage is many many times faster than needed for this application.
(which is why the issues folks have seen with corrupt video and the like have happened across the entire spectrum of hardware- USB keys cheap and expensive, SDcards cheap and expensive, and even SSDs-- it's a software issue, not a hardware issue)
There's no real size limit... (well, technically FAT32 has a max size of 16 terabytes, but I don't think that's much of an issue here...) but you'll probably want something in the 128-256 gb range to be safe (and to offer a decade or two of write cycles under typical use)
DanCar
Active Member
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Not really- the footage is uploaded to Tesla for 72 hours as well (if the alarm actually goes off, allegedly)
Hope you are aware that even dashcam sellers will tell you that made-for-dashcam-use microSD cards used on a daily high write basis will last generally 6 months to a year. If anyone realistically expects these flash devices to last even a decade I think they will never see that in actual use, so I would never throw out those numbers even if they come from the manufacturer for people to consider when they are buying these.
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
Hope you are aware most dashcam sellers are selling 4k dashcams that write vastly larger files though- and often on smaller cards since they have a cloud service offered and don't have a ton of permanent files.... so their math has no relevance.
They come from basic math and known specs.
Even "cheap" flash ram is rated for 1000 write cycles (that's a full capacity of writing).
Running the dashcam uses 5.4GB per hour of writes. Saving 10 minute clips (either via dashcam or sentry) uses 900 mb of writes.
So if we take someone who does, say, 2 hours a day of driving (which is significantly above average) and runs sentry mode another 8, that's 10 hours a day... or 54GB of writing. Let's call it 60GB with some sentry events.
And let's say you drive the car 350 days a year (again probably above average).
A 128GB drive will use 1 "cycle" of writing every 2 days, so 175 write cycles per year.
1000 cycles/175 per year= 5.714
So it will take over 5.7 years before you've hit the rated life of the cheapest flash memory in common use- and that's again with above-average usage every step of the way.
Make it a 256GB flash drive and you're well over a decade before you've hit the rated life of the cheapest flash drives.
Now let's look at "dashcams"
Video Quality Settings And Recording Time - BlackVue
According to that a dual 4k setup will be writing at 35 mbps max total....
That's 23.3 times more data per second than the Teslacam feature.
So you'll burn through those write cycles (very roughly) 23.3 times faster
5.7 years suddenly becomes 3 months to hit 1000 write cycles on a 128GB drive.
Apples and Warp Drives.
ggenge
Member
Don't buy this one, I got it in July 2020, and it just crapped out May 2021. SanDisk Ultra Flair USB 3.0 128GB Flash Drive High Performance up to 150MB/s
Are there better ones that will last at least a few years?
Are there better ones that will last at least a few years?
Knightshade
Well-Known Member
MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam
A few days ago this message showed up: “Dashcam: USB drive is too slow to save-please use a drive with higher write speed” Then I tried to format the usb stick but it still didn’t work. The worked flawlessly for months until now. Any suggestions? Thanks.
teslamotorsclub.com
=====================
(moderator note: locking this thread as there is an entire master thread (40+ pages) of discussion on this topic. Not merging this thread into that one as it will destroy this thread, but discussion on this topic is in the thread I linked above.
- Status
Similar threads
