Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
#341
matpolley said:
The vast majority of consumer grade flash drives don't include wear level tracking and algorithms because they aren't needed for the intended purpose of the device (infrequent writes and frequent reads) Commercial/industrial grade flash does. SSD drives do as well and that's why I was recommending them to people that were having repeated issues with their USB flash drives after a few months.
Click to expand...


I don't know that one can say "the vast majority"- but quite a lot of consumer grade flash drives absolutely have some wear leveling.

It's not always as advanced as what you get on a higher end SSD, but it absolutely exists... quite a few threads out there on various tech/storage forums about it if you care to look including folks digging down to the controller level to try and determine if it's static vs dynamic wear leveling, etc...

For example-

Any "Fit Size" USB Flash drives with static wear leveling?

That's a ~2 year old thread at this point and most of the brands flash drives discussed did have wear leveling (including confirmation from both Samsung and Lexar that their "fit" style tiny USB drives have it)
 
#342
Long time lurker here. I think I managed to solve my "drive too slow for dashcam, it needs 4 MB/s speed" issue. I had a good samsung usb 3.1 drive in there and as soon it filled up to like 25-30GB, I started to get that annoying failure.

Then I remembered I have a samsung 970 evo nvme sitting around and started looking for adapters and found this:

https://smile.amazon.com/SSK-Aluminum-Enclosure-Adapter-External/dp/B07MNFH1PX

$28 nvme -> usb adapter. Plugged that baby in, formatted to fat32 and voila 1GB/s of write speed.


:cool:
 
  • Like
Reactions: MrABRanch and sduck
#343
manto said:
Long time lurker here. I think I managed to solve my "drive too slow for dashcam, it needs 4 MB/s speed" issue. I had a good samsung usb 3.1 drive in there and as soon it filled up to like 25-30GB, I started to get that annoying failure.

Then I remembered I have a samsung 970 evo nvme sitting around and started looking for adapters and found this:

https://smile.amazon.com/SSK-Aluminum-Enclosure-Adapter-External/dp/B07MNFH1PX

$28 nvme -> usb adapter. Plugged that baby in, formatted to fat32 and voila 1GB/s of write speed.


:cool:
Click to expand...


I mean- it's plugged into a USB 2.0 port, so no.

60MB/s max in theory, and 30-40 MB/s in real world with overhead.

Or about the same as a good Samsung USB key does in sustained writes :)
 
#344
Knightshade said:
I mean- it's plugged into a USB 2.0 port, so no.

60MB/s max in theory, and 30-40 MB/s in real world with overhead.

Or about the same as a good Samsung USB key does in sustained writes :)
Click to expand...

That was meant as a ballpark figure, tested on PC before plugging into the tesla.

I have one of those samsung usb 3.1 128GB flash drives mentioned in the thread and as soon as 25-30GB are written on it, it started to get the error. Before that, yes it gets ~30MB/s sustained writes.
 
#345
manto said:
That was meant as a ballpark figure, tested on PC before plugging into the tesla.

I have one of those samsung usb 3.1 128GB flash drives mentioned in the thread and as soon as 25-30GB are written on it, it started to get the error. Before that, yes it gets ~30MB/s sustained writes.
Click to expand...


Weird... did you then test in a PC and see if the write speed had dropped 10x with data on the drive?

As I say mine has no issues, and I've usually got 50-70GB on there before I pull it out every few months to clear off old sentry footage so maybe you've got a bad USB key and should get it replaced under warranty?
 
#348
Got the 4MB/s write speed error today... Given that I drive 200 miles a day, anything can happen with those high-stakes gambling commutes. I was in the dark today, sent back to ICE-Age tech, or lack thereof...

So, I was about to jump on the Samsung Ultra Fit 128 or 256GB as I keep hearing good things... However... Comparing it to my current drive... It doesn't seem much of a difference, if at all.

Now I'm trying to figure out what to do. I keep my car garaged, but in the California desert, ambient temps can hit anywhere from -4*C to 40*C, cabin temps skyrocket in the heat, so we'll say 70*C as a max temp.

This is the drive I have next to the Ultra Fit... Maybe I should go with a Raspberry Pi or a Micro SD despite what I've heard of Micro SDs being worse than Flash Drives in terms of longevity of overwrites?

Screenshot_20191105-030616.png

Edit: I've decided to just go with this wombo combo. Hopefully this works out! I just wish that the drive recordings would last longer than 1 hour... And that it worked to 5%, not 20%... I really push my daily usage from 97% to 10%.

Screenshot_20191105-033909.png
 
Last edited:
#349
Black Dahlia said:
Edit: I've decided to just go with this wombo combo. Hopefully this works out! I just wish that the drive recordings would last longer than 1 hour... And that it worked to 5%, not 20%... I really push my daily usage from 97% to 10%.

View attachment 473374
Click to expand...

That microSD is specifically made for dashcams and constant video writing. Should work like a champ, as long as you don't get a knockoff.
 
#351
**How Temp Hit Me Badly**

I have been using Sandisk Ultra 128 Micro SD with USB reader from Costco. Sandisk never advertises its write speed on its package but my software told me it is around 20M/s. In theory it is much faster than 4M/s. Have been using it since September. No issue untill last week, got the the 4M error message a couple of times. A replug resolve the issue almost immediately.

After a couple of incidence, I notice the pattern:
1. The error message was always triggered by the sentry mode, not the dash cam, and it is always when the car is parked outside.
2. If I got a couple of incidences from sentry mode, the car stops recording after about 30 minutes.
3. The temperature was around freezing point (welcome to Canada).

I thought I was going to get Sandisk Extreme to fix the issue, until I met this very knowledge guy at Canada Computers. He told me Sandisk Extreme won't help because all consumer grade micro sd and usb sticks slow down significantly when temp drops. When it reads "temp proof" on the package, it only means the data won't loss when it gets cold. It does not guarantee read/write speed at low temp.

He suggested to get the professional grade sd for outdoor photography. Unfortunately, Canada Computers does not carry one. Did some researches, Kingston does have a few that specifically guarantees read/write speed in cold temp.

As an alternative, I used styrofoam and foil paper to build a case for the micro sd card + usb read. If it works, I will let you know and post the pic.

In summary, if you live somewhere that gets cold and you like to keep you sentry mode running all the time, you will need a micro sd that guarantees performance at low temp.
 
  • Informative
  • Like
Reactions: brianman and superblast
#352
Can we make a new Master Thread on this where people can ONLY post the link to a device that HAS worked for them for a period of 6 months or longer? i'm finding this thread incredibly hard to follow, with a lot of anecdotal information and opinions.. I think it would be much simpler if we skip all the conversation and just see a real list of products that have worked for people for an extended period of time.. I'm tired of reading stories of what doesn't. Only success stories. Thoughts?
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: angus[Y]oung, StephanB and doghousePVD
#353
BZM3 said:
Can we make a new Master Thread on this where people can ONLY post the link to a device that HAS worked for them for a period of 6 months or longer?
Click to expand...

They'd largely be the same devices others have had issues with.

For example my Samsung 128GB FIT Plus drive- which I've been using for over a year now without ever getting the "slow" message- but another user with the same drive has. (from the benchmark they posted it sounded like theirs was defective though)

Not to mention many get different results on the same HW with different versions of the cars software.

So anyway, a HW list is pretty pointless since it's a software problem, not a hardware one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kevy Baby, VQTRVA and BZM3
#354
Knightshade said:
They'd largely be the same devices others have had issues with.

For example my Samsung 128GB FIT Plus drive- which I've been using for over a year now without ever getting the "slow" message- but another user with the same drive has. (from the benchmark they posted it sounded like theirs was defective though)

Not to mention many get different results on the same HW with different versions of the cars software.

So anyway, a HW list is pretty pointless since it's a software problem, not a hardware one.
Click to expand...

The problem with requiring a six month period of evaluation is most products don't have a lifespan of six months in the stores. Products are frequently replaced with newer and not always better products. So until Tesla learns to specify their requirements in terms of industry standards it will be trial and error and finding the USB stick of the day here. By "industry standards" I mean the codes they use on the USB sticks like the 10 inside a U with is a write speed standard. I don't know the details of this standard, but it exists. Saying they require write speeds of 4 MB/s (I am assuming Mbytes and not Mbits but I'm not sure which Tesla has actually spec'ed) isn't good enough since the write speed for flash depends on the block size. A drive that writes at 25 MB/s at large block sizes may not even reach 4 MB/s when used with 4 kB sized blocks.
 
#355
BTW, I don't know if testing software has been mentioned in this thread, I expect so, but here's my two cents worth. Before I do anything else I test the drive to see if it is really the size they claim it is. No point in doing anything else if it is a counterfeit/fake unit. I use H2testw for this. Easy to use, but it only has one testing mode where it fills the drive, so a 256 GB drive takes some 12 hours to run. Another program has a quick mode, but when it was testing a bad drive it seemed to lock up which makes me worry about the test, so I just go with the slow but reliable software, H2testw.

Then I format with FAT32 using RMPrepUSB. It is a bit more capable software than others, but once you get past the extra controls you don't need, it is easy to use.

Finally I speed test with FlashBench which tests using block sizes between 16 MB and 1 kB. Very few devices can write 1kB blocks at 4 MB/s. I don't know what the Tesla specified block size is for their performance spec. One drive that had been working fine crapped out after it was filled once.
 
#356
Wanted to get your opinion if it's the flashdrive (Samsung FIT) or it's a cam problem that I am having.

On Sentry mode & usually stationary saved clips - recently, the clips from 1 or 2 of my cams have displayed green screen video - as though the file is corrupted. I can make out some ghosting of objects in the recording but primarily the cam vid is green.

I usually take out my drive by greying out the cam icon & only after downloading the last 60 mins.


Thoughts?
 
#357
VQTRVA said:
Wanted to get your opinion if it's the flashdrive (Samsung FIT) or it's a cam problem that I am having.

On Sentry mode & usually stationary saved clips - recently, the clips from 1 or 2 of my cams have displayed green screen video - as though the file is corrupted. I can make out some ghosting of objects in the recording but primarily the cam vid is green.

I usually take out my drive by greying out the cam icon & only after downloading the last 60 mins.


Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Have you tested the drive using any of the software available? Do any captures work ok or are they all bad? Easy enough to get another drive and try it.
 
#358
FrederickBound said:
Have you tested the drive using any of the software available? Do any captures work ok or are they all bad? Easy enough to get another drive and try it.
Click to expand...
I review the captures via Win 10 PC using:

1) 3 view Tesla Cam Viewer in a browser (by TMC member here)
2) VLC
3) Win 10 Media Player.

This has been my second Samsung FIT only larger capacity & this has been first time I've gotten the green captures.

Wondering if SSD drive would solve this or will a trip to service center.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Only 1x USB Serial Bus for data? "UI_a112 - USB device malfunction - I/O Error"
Replies
5
Views
716
Model 3: User Interface
ElectricAnt54
ElectricAnt54
X
2020 Model S usb drive issues
Replies
9
Views
3K
Model S
RazorPig
R
Shelburne
"USB drive unavailable" message
Replies
18
Views
8K
Model 3
LukeO
L
aloharai
Sentry events but no footage? Without buying an external SSD
Replies
9
Views
270
Model Y
jeremymc7
J
J
2021 Tesla Y USB Drive Formats. not Recognized
Replies
47
Views
7K
Model Y: User Interface
KJSS4
K
Top
Back
Blog
New
Forum list
Marketplace
Menu