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MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam

Discussion in 'Model 3: User Interface' started by KL670, Jul 30, 2019.

  1. bermuge

    bermuge Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2020
    Messages:
    7
    Location:
    Palmdale, CA
    I used a fairly cheap 3.0 USB flash drive...like 15 bucks or so. After about 3 months, the car tells me the card is now too slow, which I believe! At that point, the past few weeks have been the situation where the viewer wouldn't open for like 30-45 seconds. Just black.

    Flash memory has a limited number of writes, and going too cheap will bite you in the butt. If there ever was a time you REALLY needed a recording to work and it turns out the cheap flash drive let you down? Yeah, the drive is worth at least what you'd pay for a good dash cam.
     
    • Like x 1
  2. Keggers74

    Keggers74 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2020
    Messages:
    20
    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Tried the reboot. Also just got the update to 2020.40.4 and still the same. Sentry recordings still working fine when I check the viewer. Will have to get the Tesla service centre to check it next time it is in there.
     
  3. Kevy Baby

    Kevy Baby Dis-Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2019
    Messages:
    1,723
    Location:
    Brea, CA
    Gives credence to what many of us already believe: it is a software issue in the car (not just yours). Good luck and let us know what they say.
     
  4. LivingTesla

    LivingTesla Former Vendor

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2020
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    25
    Location:
    California
    • Informative x 1
    • Like x 1
  5. Knightshade

    Knightshade Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2017
    Messages:
    11,085
    Location:
    NC


    Your basic premise on the need for high endurance storage is incorrect (as explained in some detail with math elsewhere in these threads- but the tl;dr version is the tesla cam writes MUCH MUCH less data than traditional dual-4k dashcam setups that need high endurance storage).

    Also your webpage basic explanation of how the Tesla system works is incorrect.

    For example you claim sentry records 10 minute clips while the car is turned off. That's wrong on multiple points.

    Sentry doesn't record anything. Ever. Dashcam does. It's the only thing that does. Sentry may move dashcam recordings when going alert mode, but it doesn't ever "record" anything at all. Sentry mode still works fine even if you have no storage attached, it just skips the "move already recorded dashcam files" step.

    Sentry doesn't work if the car is off (which in the context of what you're writing means asleep, because if you mean something else then your description of when Teslacam records is also wrong). On the contrary one of the main things Sentry mode DOES is prevent the car from sleeping so that the dashcam keeps recording.


    Oh -and it's also out of date regarding the USB ports in the car- for some months now the 3 has been coming with only one USB-A front port, and the built-in charger goes to the other, USB-C, port....so you might wanna update that while you're correcting the other misinformation.

    While you're at it you might want to replace the cheap dumb USB hub and JEDA hub suggestions with links to the Navak splitters, that are designed and sold by an owner and forum member, and actually contain intelligent circuitry to offer (in one version) the ability to use a 2.1 amp wired charger and a USB storage device at the same time, or in the 2nd gen version the ability to run an SDCard, a game controller or music USB stick, and a 1.5 amp phone charging cable all at the same time.... and in a very small form factor.
     
    • Helpful x 2
    • Like x 2
  6. User3509

    User3509 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2020
    Messages:
    71
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    I bought the Navak adapter and a 128GB SD Card USB when I bought the car. Unfortunately, the Sentry Videos would consume the entire capacity in a week or so because it didn’t overwrite the videos.

    So yesterday I bought the 1TB Samsung T5 SSD because it was on sale for $130. Hopefully, this drive will allow many more days of recording.

    My wife has had the car for a month now and loves it
     
  7. Keggers74

    Keggers74 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2020
    Messages:
    20
    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    Just to bring my issue to a close, I had the car in with the service centre to fix some delivery issues today and had this issue on the list. Not sure what they did to it, but the dashcam is now working fine for me, and the problem is solved. Assume there was some sort of software issue that has been resolved.
     
  8. MamaSmurf

    MamaSmurf New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 16, 2020
    Messages:
    1
    Location:
    Seattle
    Is it possible to have Teslacam write to two different USBs at the same time? Effectively a RAID-10?
     
  9. srlawren

    srlawren Member

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2020
    Messages:
    339
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, Canada, Eh?
    @MamaSmurf RAID sounds like a bit of overkill IMHO, but it's probably possible. I doubt there's any sort of RAID functionality built into the car, but you could probably find a portable USB RAID enclosure, something like this? https://www.amazon.ca/StarTech-com-Enclosure-Raid-USB-10Gbps-Aluminum-SMS2BU31C3R/dp/B06ZYM7L9N. That's just one example, I'm sure there are several options out there.
     
  10. sduck

    sduck Mr. Duck

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2017
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    Location:
    Nashville TN
    You could do the above method, but a more practical approach would be to install another dedicated dashcam.
     
  11. MidwestM3P

    MidwestM3P Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2018
    Messages:
    89
    Location:
    Des Moines, IA
    Has something changed with the above bolded area about writing at 2mb/sec? I haven't had a software update in probably over a month now, but suddenly, after more than a year of no issues, I'm getting warnings that the USB drive I'm using isn't adequate and I need to get a drive that allows for writing at 4mb/sec.

    A couple of days ago, it stopped recording altogether and said the drive was full. I put it in my laptop to see what was going on because it should just be writing over the previous video files unless I'm saving dashcam clips or having sentry triggered (neither of which had happened in weeks). The main directory had about 10 GB of files in it, the total available space was only about 2 GB. So I cleared all of those files out along with some from the sentry folder, freeing up about 20 GB of space. Put the drive back into the car and it's working now but giving me that warning about needing to be able to write at 4mb/sec.

    I haven't gone through this entire thread but it seems odd that it suddenly stopped writing over previous files like it always has, and had plenty of space in that directory to do so. Just wanting to check to see if that Samsung Fit Plus is still adequate for the current software we have. It's only $16 so I'm happy to get it to prevent issues going forward.
     
  12. joebruin77

    joebruin77 Member

    Joined:
    Dec 23, 2018
    Messages:
    954
    Location:
    Encino, CA
    I had a similar experience with my Samsung usb drive. According to some other posts on TMC, this may be an indication that the drive has simply worn out. You mentioned that you have had it for over a year. Even the most durable drive will konk out at some point, given the immense amount of data that is written to the drives. I personally replaced my drive with the new Samsung T7 SSD drive. Amazon has it on sale now for $79.99.

    Hope that helps
    Joebruin77
     
  13. Knightshade

    Knightshade Well-Known Member

    Joined:
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    11,085
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    NC
    AFAIK the files are still writing at 2MB/sec (0.5MB/sec each, 4 cameras) unless they've very recently changed the file size/encoding.

    The manual says 4MB to provide overhead, but that's still slower than any decent USB key, SDcard, or SSD can easily sustain write at.

    I still haven't had any issues with my own samsung storage and have used it continually since Oct 2018.

    (That said, with covid sentry is on a lot less this year than the previous one, and even regular dashcam as well driving a ton less miles)
     
  14. Thumpernator

    Thumpernator Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2019
    Messages:
    85
    Location:
    Georgia
    Only started having these same warnings after updating to 2020.48.10.
     
  15. Msjulie

    Msjulie Active Member

    Joined:
    Jun 26, 2016
    Messages:
    2,425
    Location:
    Monterey Bay Area

    Replying to my own post to add that in Dec 2020 the same above setup (same exact parts) continues to work w/o error - hoping I didn't jinx myself ;)
     
    • Like x 2
  16. srlawren

    srlawren Member

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2020
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    339
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, Canada, Eh?
    @Msjulie thanks for the update! That hub looks like overkill since the HDMI port wouldn't be used in a Tesla, but glad it's working well for you.
     
  17. Msjulie

    Msjulie Active Member

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    Location:
    Monterey Bay Area
    True enough, back when I got purchased it, it must have been cost-effective :)
     
    • Like x 1
  18. Moe55

    Moe55 Member

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2020
    Messages:
    29
    Location:
    NJ
    not sure if you bought it yet but i have this one and it stopped working. tried reformatting, didnt help. looks like its bricked
     
  19. MidwestM3P

    MidwestM3P Member

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2018
    Messages:
    89
    Location:
    Des Moines, IA
    I've had the Samsung Fit Plus sitting in my Amazon shopping cart since making my original post. My current drive seems to be working OK, the warnings about it being inadequate stopped a couple days after I posted this. I've done a few thumb wheel reboots, maybe those helped, maybe not.....who knows.

    I'll probably go ahead and order this drive anyway since it's not very expensive, and keep my current drive as a backup. Like others have mentioned, these drives just aren't meant for the constant writing/re-writing of large amounts of data, so it could just be teetering on the edge of failure.
     
  20. firstsnow

    firstsnow Member

    Joined:
    Oct 25, 2018
    Messages:
    21
    Location:
    Oregon
    For anyone else who is using microSD cards. I finally figured out why I couldn't format in the car, but otherwise it works fine. Format USB drive was greyed out for me. It's because of a compatability issue with Anker SD USB adapter (AR200). I had an extra of the same adapter laying around and that also didn't work. I then tried a completely different MicroSD card which had the same issue. Finally, I found an old generic microSD adapter and that works fine and can be formatted in the car. Strange compatibility issues
     

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