MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam

[MRGEDU]

I am CIO and have used flash memory for lots of things. High Endurance memory is good if you are consistently writing and deleting. For this application, the larger drive makes more sense since the cycles will be less in between the write/ rewrite process. I have a Samsung 256GB 3.1 flash drive that we have used as a computer hard drive for a year without a problem. The 3.1 speed can’t be used but the dirive stays cool since the whole thing acts as a heat sync.

You will need to format it with a exFat program or know how it use Windows Disk Management.

 

[sduck]

exFat won't work. Needs to be Fat32.

 

[KingBozo]

I'm using a Sandisk extreme 256 GB micro SD card with an adapter that is USB on one side and lightning connector on the other side. Have not had any issues and the adapter allows me to view the videos on my iphone.

Question my friend, can you tell me how you're able to view videos via your iPhone, did think the iPhone had the ability to read external files. I've got a museum of thumb drives, using a Samsung SSD 250 and still got corrupt files. One other question, if the camera only records for 1 hour the deletes and rewrites, what's the purpose for larger drives, lol most of my videos are pics while in my garage. Enough

 

[3Krazy]

Today I erased and re-formatted my Samsung 128gb USB drive. Plugged it back in the Model 3, and the drive is working correctly. No more "too slow" warnings from the Model 3. Files are playable via Quicktime on my MacBook Pro.

I did the same with my 256GB Samsung USB drive again today and it worked for 15 minutes! Must be a software bug in recent releases as I never had this problem sine purchase in late March. Now it is a constant issue making the system useless. Is anyone reporting this issue with SSD drives?

 

[jkoya]

Question my friend, can you tell me how you're able to view videos via your iPhone, did think the iPhone had the ability to read external files. I've got a museum of thumb drives, using a Samsung SSD 250 and still got corrupt files. One other question, if the camera only records for 1 hour the deletes and rewrites, what's the purpose for larger drives, lol most of my videos are pics while in my garage. Enough

The Micro SD card reader/adaptor comes with a free iOS app that allows you to view the dashcam videos on an iPhone.

The 256 GB Micro SD card I'm using was the only one I had. I started with a regular 32 GB flash drive, but when Sentry Mode first came out, it was filling the drive quickly with videos of Sentry events for people walking by the car while it was parked. I don't seem to have this issue anymore with the later updates..

 

[MRGEDU]

exFat won't work. Needs to be Fat32.

Mine works just fine with exFat - I have a month of videos to prove it and still have 140 GB free. I have a newer P3D+ so maybe that’s the difference. Either way it does work on mine.

I was not able to get a SSD to work formatted in exFat.

For those who want to watch the videos on their phone ASAP this is always an option for a few $ more.

 

[sduck]

Maybe something has changed very recently, as exfat definitely didn't work until you said it did. I'll check it out.

 

[GuyDude]

Still no recommended usb drive from Tesla..... ridiculous

 

[Knightshade]

Use sd card or ssd drive as it’s more suited than a usb

People keep saying this but it's unsupported by any evidence

All the various issues have been reported by folks using USB sticks, and SD cards, and SSDs to varying degrees since dashcam became a thing. Fewer reports from SSD owners likely because there simply ARE fewer SSD owners- but they too have reporting corrupt video files, problems recording, etc. And likewise you get folks who tell us "I just used some rando cheap 32GB stick I had in a drawer and it works perfectly"

With a 4th camera added the car is recording at a whole 2 Mb/s... significantly slower than any decent USB key (or SD card or SSD) can handle.

And even cheap flash media is rated for ~1000 full write cycles which means you're looking at roughly 5-10 years of use for a 128GB-256GB recording device before you hit that limit.


The issues folks keep having are software issues, not hardware.

(See also the fact even some folks with the same hardware get different results)

 

[yerEVan]

Mine works just fine with exFat - I have a month of videos to prove it and still have 140 GB free. I have a newer P3D+ so maybe that’s the difference. Either way it does work on mine.

I was not able to get a SSD to work formatted in exFat.

For those who want to watch the videos on their phone ASAP this is always an option for a few $ more.

View attachment 466169

i have two of these and now both have failed and no longer work, even in a PC. these are not rated for constant video monitoring and SanDisk is saying that in their warranty section of the website. sucks.

 

[MRGEDU]

i have two of these and now both have failed and no longer work, even in a PC. these are not rated for constant video monitoring and SanDisk is saying that in their warranty section of the website. sucks.

I have zero experience with the San Disk version - The Samsung ones are bulletproof.

 

[MrABRanch]

Today I erased and re-formatted my Samsung 128gb USB drive. Plugged it back in the Model 3, and the drive is working correctly. No more "too slow" warnings from the Model 3. Files are playable via Quicktime on my MacBook Pro.

I did the same, got the same message! then swapped USB ports and so far no message, if it's something wrong with the port I'll have to put in a service request.

 

[sduck]

Mine works just fine with exFat - I have a month of videos to prove it and still have 140 GB free. I have a newer P3D+ so maybe that’s the difference. Either way it does work on mine.

Well, I can't get exFat to work. Tried several ways of formatting it. Back to Fat32, it works fine now. Anyone else able to get exFat to work?

 

[CrazyPierrot]

I use the the SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07855LJ99/ref=pe_3034960_236394800_TE_dp_1) with exFAT (formated with MacOS).
Works great for Sentry, never had an issue with videos, but sometimes music playback is stopping for a few seconds with no apparent reasons...

 

[sduck]

I use the the SanDisk 128GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07855LJ99/ref=pe_3034960_236394800_TE_dp_1) with exFAT (formated with MacOS).
Works great for Sentry, never had an issue with videos, but sometimes music playback is stopping for a few seconds with no apparent reasons...

Can you post details about how you get exfat to work? I've tried formatting to exfat various ways, both on a mac and a pc, and can't get exfat to work, only Fat32. Screen caps of your formatting page in disk utility would be appreciated. You're the second one to say that exfat works, but I can't get it going...

 

[Ferengii]

Probably already posted but this $33 256GB Sandisk from Costco has been working great for me for about a year:
https://www.costco.com/SanDisk-CZ600-Cruzer-Glide-USB-3.0-256-GB-Flash-Drive.product.100290584.html

That’s the same drive I’m using without any problems. My other two different SanDisk flash drives continue to get the “too slow” warning even though they have faster ratings (and even after I’ve reformatted them multiple times).

 

[TheLocNar]

Today I erased and re-formatted my Samsung 128gb USB drive. Plugged it back in the Model 3, and the drive is working correctly. No more "too slow" warnings from the Model 3. Files are playable via Quicktime on my MacBook Pro.

wait until tomorrow.

 

[brianman]

It’s not the drives. It’s the Tesla software. Otherwise, why would drives that previously worked not work now?

Performance degradation of the drive is also a possibility. Manufacturers have used tricks -- err, "optimizations" -- to make "at purchase" performance noticeably better than long-term performance. I don't think it's the reality here generally, but it's a possibility in some cases.

 

[tvad]

Performance degradation of the drive is also a possibility. Manufacturers have used tricks -- err, "optimizations" -- to make "at purchase" performance noticeably better than long-term performance. I don't think it's the reality here generally, but it's a possibility in some cases.

I don’t think so.

 

[PDA64]

FYI, I ordered the Samsung 128GB USb, photo attached, and it has worked fine with this.

Is this still working well for you?