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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. Chronospoti

    Chronospoti Member

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2018
    Messages:
    8
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    I'm in need of some help here. My setup is as follows:
    • Nomad wireless charging pad using the splitter that caem along
    • Samsung Fit Plus (USB 3.1): generally highly regarded, reasonable speeds for a small drive like this, etc.
    • 2 partitions (music + camera)
    This setup worked great through all of 2019. Somewhere around 2020 or so, the drive would stop being recognized for both dashcam and music. In the past the device has worked great and has been able to record for sentry mode reliably, but since then it's been wonky. Very occasionally (like 10% of the time), the drive will be recognized.

    I've tried a bit of troubleshooting including:
    • Reformating the USB stick including using both my PC and MacBook per the tutorials here to create multiple partitions
    • Tried another Samsung Fit Plus drive (I have a 64gb and 128gb drive in addition to my 256gb drive): No big difference
    • Buying a new splitter, and making sure the Amazon reviews do call out working well on their Model 3
    • Swapping between the 2 splitter ports.
    • Plugging in the USB drive straight into the car (Nomad charger on one port only): This works reliably 100% of the time
    I'm curious if anyone has run into this. Should I try a yet another new splitter or a new USB drive? I feel like at least the single factor (splitter / usb drive) I've already tested, which is leading me to wonder if it's the combination of dual partition PLUS splitter that's the problem.
     
  2. sduck

    sduck Mr. Duck

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2017
    Messages:
    1,381
    Location:
    Nashville TN
    It could be a number of things. I would suspect the splitter-nomad combo - it's possible that the nomad is drawing enough power that it's not leaving enough for drive to operate properly. There's no power management with splitters. You might instead try a basic hub, which will have at least some kind of power management, or, if you can get one, a navak splitter - https://www.amazon.com/Navak-Splitter-Tesla-Model-Power/dp/B07Z2KQ719 (note that this is an older version, there's a newer one, but it's not available on amazon currently)
     
  3. Knightshade

    Knightshade Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2017
    Messages:
    11,085
    Location:
    NC
    FWIW I'm running navak splitters, the taptes wireless charging pad, and running separate storage devices for dashcam and music work just fine.
     
  4. GermanGuyUS

    GermanGuyUS Member

    Joined:
    Oct 30, 2020
    Messages:
    11
    Location:
    Minneapolis
    2021 Model 3 Refresh. Having trouble with the USB drive provided by Tesla - plugged into the USB port in the glovebox. Intermittently will not be recognized. The problem seems to be when writing events to the drive; does not happen all the time. Unplugging and replugging fixes it but it keeps happening. I formatted it several times. Any thoughts?
     
  5. elptxjc

    elptxjc Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2019
    Messages:
    706
    Location:
    El Paso, TX
    Did you format it thru the car, or your PC? I had trouble with the sentry not recording. Formatted it thru the car, and it seems to be working fine now. hence my asking. The other thing I read is that every time you turn the car off, the car generates an error file, and that over time, it acts up, so we need to erase those files from a computer. Has anybody else read about that? This is the long thread that discusses using the same USB stick for music and camera. I decided not to do that, since the largest space you can format for the camera is 32Gb, and I just want 10Gb for music, and 118 for camera. So just bought a USB-C stick for the music, and it's working fine now. Just have to be careful not to knocking out, and damage something, since it's on the way.
     
  6. LuvMyM3P

    LuvMyM3P Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2020
    Messages:
    7
    Location:
    Richmond
    I have 2020 version of M3P and bought the tesla flash drive since my SanDisk kept giving me the error message. I still get the same error message here and there, but it appears to be recording still. IDK but I feel like it shows the error message when I'm in a dip where satellite is spotty.
     
  7. Chronospoti

    Chronospoti Member

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2018
    Messages:
    8
    Location:
    SF Bay Area

    Just want to update I got a Navak V2 and this works great now. I can play music and record Dashcam. I know the Samsung Fit Plus USB 3.1 isn't the fastest drive around, but it's better than most mini USB drives out there, but I do occasionally (like once a week maybe) get a slow speed error. I know this drive has more than enough capability to sustain 4 MB/sec writing, so I'm surprised why it pops up. I hardly listen to music on the drive so I know it's not a simultaneous read/write issue either.
     
  8. stopcrazypp

    stopcrazypp Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 8, 2007
    Messages:
    9,830
    Depending on how full the drive is, it may be garbage collection. SSDs usually have some RAM built inside to buffer things while it is doing garbage collection. A small flash drive is unlikely to have that, so it'll dip down in performance while doing that.
     

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