It appears to be a software bug. It began with one of the updates late last fall. I've even had a notification to remove and reinsert the USB drive with nothing plugged into the USB ports. Guess we'll have to wait for Tesla to fix the problem.
I'm very cautiously optimistic that I just fixed it on my vehicle. The one thing that I never tried, or knew was an actual process, was fully power cycling the vehicle by disconnecting the 12V, disconnecting the main battery contractor, waiting a few minutes, and then undoing that process. Where all week I couldn't get a single sentry recording (the drive would always disconnect AT the time of each event as seen in the car's service notifications section), after doing the power cycle the car successfully recorded three sentry events and did not show any signs of corruption or disconnection. I'll continue to test this over the next few days and, fingers crossed, I can cancel my service appointment.
I'm having the exact same problem in my Model Y. I ordered the USB stick and reader on amazon. I'll post back if it seems to work as well.
Anyone notice the front USB ports seem to have a loose fit no matter what is plugged into them? Very different feel compared to say those on a laptop or PC. I’ve tried the original charge cables, aftermarket cables and various flash drives. Wiggle around like crazy. I wonder if this may be causing connectivity issues with devices plugged in. Been this way since day one. 2018 RWD LR
Do you have USB-A or USB-C ports? The USB-A for the dashcam is fine, but the other 4 (USB-Cs) are crap. Disappointed they weren't As. Had to buy new cables and adapters, even OEM Apple ones, and all have a loose fit. I bet yours is not worse than mine .
Same problem on and off dash cam and viewer. 2021 with Tesla USB stick. Today someone reversed into me and of course nothing was recorded. I hit the horn before he actually made contact and it also didn’t trigger dash cam. Why is this so hard to get right. Even updated the software 2 days ago…. Brutal
I have a 2021 Model 3 I got in January. It came with a 128GB USB drive, with Tesla labelling, but I believe it is a Samsung BAR Plus USB 3.1 Flash Drive 128GB (as sold on Amazon for $21. It looks exactly the same. It works for several days, then simply stops recording. I can still play but it won't write until I pull it out and reinsert it. It has happened with the last two software updates (I now have2021.4.6). I am going to try reformatting on my Linux system to ext4 and see if that's more reliable. I may get a 256GB model from Amazon for $36, possibly in silver so it's more visible to someone rummaging about in the glovebox. I attached a picture of the Samsung drive if anyone's interested.
I could never get the included Tesla flash drive to work. Dashcam is extremely sensitive to write speeds. I currently use this one and it has worked 100% for the last 4 days (I've only had the car 8 days as of this writing). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7Q41PM/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PRVN3KSMKC8H44KN6RDP I've also ordered this as a backup when summer comes because the NC heat can get intense come July. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PZTP34M/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_TFFTWC3E7QKT06RTNVVG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
We picked up our car this week, once home I swapped the provided flash drive for the recommended Sandisk Micro SD Card Reader and 128 gig High Endurance Micro SD. It won't stay connected, format, everything shows good, then disappears. I fought it for 2 days and last night put the provided thumb drive back in, went for a drive and it worked, my Wife drove the car to work today, I will be interested to see if it's still functioning when she gets home. I did notice connectivity of the Micro SD in the recommended readers can be hit/miss while accessing on a computer, you can move the Micro SD side/side in the slot of the reader.