Dashcam USB too slow after V10 update

[adityapd]

its quite disappointing that the dashcam feature keeps on repeatedly failing with a gray "x" after updating to V10 2019.32.11 on my 2018 MX with MCU2. I have been using the Sandisk Extreme Go 3.1 128 GB Flashdrive with write speeds upto 150 MBps all these weeks without issues and had never come across this error before. One change i've noticed in V10 is that a 4th camera (rear) feed is now being recorded as well.

I have seen this issue reported on M3 forum but not on a MX forum and hence thought of starting this thread and get some feedback from folks who might be in the same boat as myself

Since the USB i am using is capable of writing at much higher speeds than what's mentioned in the error message, my first impression is that this is clearly a bug which will be fixed in the next upcoming update.

Here's the screenshot of the error

 

[jboy210]

I started a thread on this for the Model X. Getting USB too slow error with V10

 

[adityapd]

Already see a software update pending ...hope this fixes the issue

 

[boaterva]

Had this error come and go before v10 and it’s back. I’m using the wifi USB which I certainly thought was good enough since I got them to work with the SentryView app.

Hope we can find out if this is a bug or what. Hate to keep spending $70 on two new USBs for the two cars. Arg..

 

[LoveMX]

I could never get the USB to work even after formatting and trying multiple times.

Can anyone post a video or link to formatting a USB for Tesla cam/Sentry please?

 

[adityapd]

Already see a software update pending ...hope this fixes the issue

too bad the latest software update 2019.32.11.1 did not fix this issue.....

 

[jboy210]

I could never get the USB to work even after formatting and trying multiple times.

Can anyone post a video or link to formatting a USB for Tesla cam/Sentry please?

Here are the official Tesla instructions. Discover Software Version 9.0 Note that the commands are different for a Mac and PC. Also notice that you must manually create the "TeslaCam" folder after formatting. Not sure if the folder name is case sensitive, but doing it case sensitive works for me.

 

[verygreen]

v10 adds additional camera stream so a marginal usb drive performance could be toppled by the extra data I guess?

In general the whole approach Tesla uses is bad, instead of having in-memory buffer and writing to the drive when requested only - they dump it to usb all the time needlessly wearing it down amongst other things.

 

[shawn_]

I have had this problem 2 times since upgrading to v10 (never on v9) and both times it happened it was when I was parked away from home for a few hours and sentry mode had recorded over 7 clips. My theory is that when the car is cleaning up the older SentryClips to make room for new ones it causes extra read/write IO on the drive and pushes it over the limit. I've never had grey dashcam icon nor have had the save current feature not work.

 

[apacheguy]

v10 adds additional camera stream so a marginal usb drive performance could be toppled by the extra data I guess?

In general the whole approach Tesla uses is bad, instead of having in-memory buffer and writing to the drive when requested only - they dump it to usb all the time needlessly wearing it down amongst other things.

How much RAM does the ICE have? 4 gb? My guess is they simply don’t have enough free space to have a meaningful buffer.

 

[MP3Mike]

I have been using the Sandisk Extreme Go 3.1 128 GB Flashdrive with write speeds upto 150 MBps all these weeks without issues and had never come across this error before.

Since the USB i am using is capable of writing at much higher speeds than what's mentioned in the error message, my first impression is that this is clearly a bug which will be fixed in the next upcoming update.

I assume that the Sandisk rating is for writing one continuous stream. It is likely slower when writing 4 simultaneous stream. Maybe it was fast enough for 3 but not 4.

 

[verygreen]

How much RAM does the ICE have? 4 gb? My guess is they simply don’t have enough free space to have a meaningful buffer.

4G, yes.

at 100MB per stream (promised caching interval), that's just 400M for 4 cams. One could argue carving out 300M on the MCU1 is a problem (2G RAM, currently showing as 500M free on my car, but you obviously cannot have 0 free) but on MCU2? totally doable and in fact must have been done like that. But yeah, userspace programmers.... don't get me started...

(btw they could also cache the stream on APE where there's enough RAM to actually do that and it would also save the ethernet contention (already pretty bad), but nope, did not do that either. Proper software architecture is jsut not important anymore it appears.)

 

[miles267]

Does the new 2019.32.12.1 that just came out today address this issue?

 

[adityapd]

Does the new 2019.32.12.1 that just came out today address this issue?

no it doesn't ...infact i also received 12.2 update just minutes after receiving 12.1 and the issue still persists

 

[BBone]

no it doesn't ...infact i also received 12.2 update just minutes after receiving 12.1 and the issue still persists

I used to have the problem on and off. I'd unplug the USB drive for a few seconds and plug it in and it would sometimes work for a while. But I found the solution to be simple: I replaced my USB drive with a higher speed one. I chose what a bunch of other people recommended and went with a small external SSD from Samsung (the Samsung T5 500GB). For example here in Canada it's Canada Computers & Electronics

Works great - 540 MB/s rated so it's much faster than most USB sticks. And haven't had any problems since. And plenty of capacity. Highly recommend for anyone who has been having issues. There's also 250GB and 1TN versions. Remember to fornat in FAT32 and also to create a Teslacam folder in the root. You have to do both. There's plenty of articles on teslamotorsclub to do these on your PC or Mac.

 

[Daisame]

I use a dual SD card USB3/C stick. One SD card is for music, and the other is for TeslaCam. That way each 'drive' can manage throughput to the memory separately. Has been working great before and after V10 updates. I also use high speed temperature resistant memory SD cards to ensure they get enough bandwidth.

Low Profile SD to Micro SD adapter (so it does not stick out of the reader so much)
Dual SD Card reader (USB3 & C)
Samsung 512GB Micro SD Card (for TeslaCam)

I use a smaller SD card, that is not as fast either... for loading .mp3 songs. It does not need to be able to write to it quickly, just read and not terribly fast either.

 

[Dante]

So after having V10 for weeks, I suddenly got this error today as well. Came to find car had 5 sentry events, but apparently "full" so not able to save. I eject the drive, empty trash on my computer and plug it back in. Drive home. Just as I'm getting home, I have a new error: drive too slow. It's been fast enough since the feature debuted, and has worked just fine on V10 for weeks. Now all of a sudden there's a problem. I don't think there's anything wrong with the USB... I think it's the car's programming. Or does the USB drive eventually slow down with use? Does reformatting fix the issue? (Model 3 owner here). I don't really want to bother getting a portable HD just for sentry mode...

 

[Daisame]

I think it is worth at least deleting all your old files (back them up if you wish) and recreating the folder for TelsaCam. Reformatting is just going to delete the file table and re-create it. You can, but don't think it will make much difference. If you just wanted to reformat to make it clean and easy, it won't hurt anything.

Letting the car re-create the sub-folders in a clean TeslaCam folder will give it a chance to ovoid any stray files and things that it may not be able to reconcile. If after that, it is still acting up, you could try a new USB stick or SD Card or whatever you are using.

 

[dmu948]

Was using SanDisk Ultra Flair and having the same errors messages as everyone else after the V10 upgrade. Switched to a Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe SSD 250GB with a USB to M.2 Enclosure. It's a bit more expensive but I have not had any further issues.

 

[Daisame]

Was using SanDisk Ultra Flair and having the same errors messages as everyone else after the V10 upgrade. Switched to a Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe SSD 250GB with a USB to M.2 Enclosure. It's a bit more expensive but I have not had any further issues.

That sounds a little extreme, but glad it worked for you. Putting a NVMe SSD in a USB (limited to USB2) enclosure is a little like putting a jet engine on a bicycle. USB 2s theoretical top bandwidth is only 480Mbs or 60 Mega Bytes per second. That NVMe drive is capable of 2,300MBs per second sequential writes. That is about 2.6% the speed of the drive being used.

I mean your previous SanDisk SHOULD have worked just as well. It supposedly can do "up to" 60MBs write speeds, the full bandwidth of the USB 2 spec. However, it also prefers operating temperatures below 113 degrees F which could be problematic in a hot car. There may be USB sticks designed for that temperature, but I have not really searched for them. The SD cards that I have used are designed to be hardened against extreme temperatures. I don't know if that was the problem in your case, or maybe it was just a fluke of that particular USB stick.

As long as it works and you are happy, that is all that matters.

Quick last note. That NVME drive is rated to 70 degrees C (about 158 F), but only down to 0 degrees C (32 F). I don't know what your temps drop to, but you may want to pull it from the car on very cold nights.