MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam

[EV8R]

I have tried a couple USB sticks which I've formatted and have working well for dash cam / sentry recording. However I can't get the media player to recognize either drive for audio files. I have ONE partition and two folders - "TeslaCam" and "Audio". I've not heard that a separate partition is necessary for the audio files. Might this be my problem?

Is it possible to use two USB drives simultaneously - one for TeslaCam and the other for audio files?

 

[EV8R]

Has anyone used an iPod via USB connection successfully? The manual seems to only concern bluetooth iPods.

 

[Kevy Baby]

Is it possible to use two USB drives simultaneously - one for TeslaCam and the other for audio files?

Yes - this is exactly what I do as do many others.

 

[New_Old_Stock]

Is it possible to use two USB drives simultaneously - one for TeslaCam and the other for audio files?

That’s what I have in our car right now. The first drive I loaded with audio files didn’t work. I moved them to a different drive (same FAT32 formatting) and it worked.

 

[Knightshade]

Has anyone used an iPod via USB connection successfully? The manual seems to only concern bluetooth iPods.

That won't work. Only audio you can plug in via USB is dumb storage.

I have tried a couple USB sticks which I've formatted and have working well for dash cam / sentry recording. However I can't get the media player to recognize either drive for audio files. I have ONE partition and two folders - "TeslaCam" and "Audio". I've not heard that a separate partition is necessary for the audio files. Might this be my problem?

It is. Audio and Dashcam must be on different partitions (or different drives)

 

[EV8R]

Gave up on elegance and got all working using two drives. Probably makes more sense when swapping out audiobook files. Thanks for the help, guys.

 

[caric]

I have tried a couple USB sticks which I've formatted and have working well for dash cam / sentry recording. However I can't get the media player to recognize either drive for audio files. I have ONE partition and two folders - "TeslaCam" and "Audio". I've not heard that a separate partition is necessary for the audio files. Might this be my problem?

Is it possible to use two USB drives simultaneously - one for TeslaCam and the other for audio files?

you need either two drives, or two partitions in one drive.

 

[JosephH]

Hi all.

Recent new owner of a Tesla Model 3.

Purchased a 500gb Samsung T5 SSD. Formated to FAT32. Its completely empty.

Tesla not recognising it when plugged it. Dashcam icon does not appear. Only appears when I format USB in car which causes an error message to appear "Dashcam unable to write - USB drive is full".

Please help, what I am doing wrong.

 

[lUtriaNt]

do you have another flash drive to test with to rule out any issued with your MCU?
did you reboot the MCU?

 

[sduck]

Did you create the TeslaCam folder?

 

[JosephH]

I tested the USB ports and both working. I created a TeslaCam folder. Do I NEED to create a partition? Even if I don't plan to store any music on this

 

[sduck]

No. Format the whole drive to fat32. Create one folder at root level that's spelled TeslaCam with that specific capitalization. It should work. If not, something might be wrong with the cable or the drive. According to the pictures you posted, it should work if the cable is good.

 

[JosephH]

I have formatted the whole drive to FAT32. Created a folder called TeslaCam. Cable/Drive is fine as it works and appears when plugged into Mac. I am so confused. I might just have to return and try a different one (but I don't believe that to be the issue as it appears on Mac)

Thank you all for responding

 

[JosephH]

My Samsung T5 SSD is password protected.. Could that be a reason why the car isn't picking it up?

 

[sduck]

Yes.

 

[rgedad]

Unable to reformat USB Drive

I have a 26GB SanDisk Ultra Fit USB memory stick. Originally formatted to FAT32 and seemed to be working just fine for some months (maybe like a year or so). This February it stopped recording. In looking at the unit it is all filled up with recordings. Looking at this point to just reformat the device and restart the recordings. I can still read the device and view the last February recordings so it is operational (from a read standpoint) - sort of. I can play the "Sentry Clips", but not the "Recent Clippings" . Upon further investigation up through 2/16/2020 I can view all of the Sentry Clips, after that - I can only play the Rear Camera Sentry Clippings - very odd. Recording stop after 2/17/2020.
Data Capacity: 30.75GB, available 848.8MB Sharing & permissions - Read Only
I am unable to reformat this unit as device is shown as Read Only. Tried in my 2018 MX to reformat, tried in my Apple Mac computer (My primary computer - and where I originally formatted the device), and tried with an old Windows XP laptop. Alas to no avail with all attempts.
I can still read the device and view the last February recordings so it is operational (from a read standpoint).

Any ideas how to reformat / make the device not write protected? or do I now have what could be termed a (very small) boat anchor.

 

[lUtriaNt]

try the official SD card formatter from the official SD card organization website:

SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0 for SD/SDHC/SDXC

 

[Petrolpants]

I made a super easy guide on how to set up Teslacam when I bought a Samsung T5. And also how to Edit and view them on my phone. Hopefully it might be useful to someone

 

[jdw]

Unable to reformat USB Drive

Data Capacity: 30.75GB, available 848.8MB Sharing & permissions - Read Only
I am unable to reformat this unit as device is shown as Read Only. Tried in my 2018 MX to reformat, tried in my Apple Mac computer
Any ideas how to reformat / make the device not write protected? or do I now have what could be termed a (very small) boat anchor.

Possibly the drive has failed - when removable flash drives fail they default into read only mode so you can get whatever data is on them onto something else.

 

[JohnSuhr]

I have tried a couple USB sticks which I've formatted and have working well for dash cam / sentry recording. However I can't get the media player to recognize either drive for audio files. I have ONE partition and two folders - "TeslaCam" and "Audio". I've not heard that a separate partition is necessary for the audio files. Might this be my problem?

Is it possible to use two USB drives simultaneously - one for TeslaCam and the other for audio files?

Maybe, Ive tried wireless charging pad with splitter cables, doesn't work. Then I got the Jeda hub which has the compartment for the DashCam/Sentry. Works for a week with intermittent results then I have to reformat everything. I use a 128g scan disk flash drive (you don't want thumb drives, use video camera flat drives with adapter for video) and still got a warning about the drive after the last update. I formatted everything again and it worked for a week and same issues or not showing Music drive which is a thumb drive.

So far what seems to be working
Cheap Amazon USB hub not powered, I plug the USB music and charging cables in to the hub in to the left side and the USB flash drive 3,0 adapter in to the right (they don't seem to like to be on a Y or hub). Been working for a week. Im asking Jeda what gives since I spent $100 for nothing.
Charging pads suck because they are throttled so I stopped using that and went to the cable.

For FAST phone charging get the PD 12V adapter under the arm rest with USB-C, the proper cable and it charges very fast, just like the included wall charger if you have a new phone
That 12V should be in the front, not under the arm rest then there wouldn't be any problems, they really didnt think this through and don't even have an official response on how you are supposed to make all 3 work with 2 ports