MY won’t recognize any flash drives

[paulk721]

Hi, first time poster. I received my MY in Sept, love the car, but my dashcam stopped working after a couple weeks when the glovebox USB stopped recognizing the Tesla USB. I tried two other brand new drives (Samsung T7 and SanDisk 500GB Extreme Portable SSD) to no success. For all three drives, when plugged in, on the car screen the “Format USB” is grayed out bc it’s not recognized. I also reformatted on PC a couple times to no success…

Whats most random is that when I had a mobile Tesla appt yesterday, the tech couldn’t figure out what’s wrong with the Tesla drive or my new ones, but his old 32gb flash drive worked just fine, so he just left after. I found an old 16gb flash drive and sure enough that works just fine too…

Anybody have any idea what the issue is?? I’m on 2021.11.103.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[jcanoe]

Tesla initially supported only USB storage devices that were formatted using the older FAT32 file system prior to use in the Tesla USB port for Dashcam and Sentry Mode recordings. If you had a PC then Microsoft only supported FAT32 for storage devices up to 32GB. If you needed to format a larger capacity storage device using FAT32 you could use do this using a Mac or else you needed to install third party software onto the PC. In March/April 2020 (about the time that the Model Y started to be delivered in large numbers) Tesla released a software update that would support EXFAT file system for the USB storage. It could be that 2021.11.103 that is the release that your Model Y has from the factory is not consistently recognizing storage devices formatted using other than FAT32.

If you want to try another option, the Sandisk USB reader and has always worked for my 2020 LRMY since new. My Model Y detected and formatted this storage device (I just accepted the default FAT32 file system format.) Other Model Y owner's have also reported no issues with this Sandisk MicroSD card and USB reader combo available in 128GB and 256GB:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PZTP34M/

Sandisk also offers a Max Endurance MicroSD card with an even longer rated life.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084CJ9T2R/

 

[paulk721]

Tesla initially supported only USB storage devices that were formatted using the older FAT32 file system prior to use in the Tesla USB port for Dashcam and Sentry Mode recordings. If you had a PC then Microsoft only supported FAT32 for storage devices up to 32GB. If you needed to format a larger capacity storage device using FAT32 you could use do this using a Mac or else you needed to install third party software onto the PC. In March/April 2020 (about the time that the Model Y started to be delivered in large numbers) Tesla released a software update that would support EXFAT file system for the USB storage. It could be that 2021.11.103 that is the release that your Model Y has from the factory is not consistently recognizing storage devices formatted using other than FAT32.

If you want to try another option, the Sandisk USB reader and has always worked for my 2020 LRMY since new. My Model Y detected and formatted this storage device (I just accepted the default FAT32 file system format.) Other Model Y owner's have also reported no issues with this Sandisk MicroSD card and USB reader combo available in 128GB and 256GB:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PZTP34M/

Sandisk also offers a Max Endurance MicroSD card with an even longer rated life.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084CJ9T2R/

Really appreciate the background! I formatted the T7 to FAT32 and plugged it in, and it worked enough for the 'Format USB' to not be grayed out so I could format and it was working. An white triangle alert was also there saying that the USB drive was not plugged into the glovebox drive, so I guess I got greedy thinking it was now resolved so I unplugged and plugged back in and now nothing.. even when I went back and formatted back to FAT32 to re-do. I'm starting to think its potentially a software issue...

Having said that, I just ordered the Sandisk combo you linked to see if that'll work, so I have my fingers crossed...

Thanks again!

 

[Bshop856]

Really appreciate the background! I formatted the T7 to FAT32 and plugged it in, and it worked enough for the 'Format USB' to not be grayed out so I could format and it was working. An white triangle alert was also there saying that the USB drive was not plugged into the glovebox drive, so I guess I got greedy thinking it was now resolved so I unplugged and plugged back in and now nothing.. even when I went back and formatted back to FAT32 to re-do. I'm starting to think its potentially a software issue...

Having said that, I just ordered the Sandisk combo you linked to see if that'll work, so I have my fingers crossed...

Thanks again!

Did the Sandisk work for you? I’m having the same issue with my SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD 500GB in my refreshed Model s and can’t figure it out. I can format it but I get there not plugged into glove box message…thanks

 

[drtimhill]

Really appreciate the background! I formatted the T7 to FAT32 and plugged it in, and it worked enough for the 'Format USB' to not be grayed out so I could format and it was working. An white triangle alert was also there saying that the USB drive was not plugged into the glovebox drive, so I guess I got greedy thinking it was now resolved so I unplugged and plugged back in and now nothing.. even when I went back and formatted back to FAT32 to re-do. I'm starting to think its potentially a software issue...

Having said that, I just ordered the Sandisk combo you linked to see if that'll work, so I have my fingers crossed...

Thanks again!

Are you sure this isn’t a hardware issue? it sounds more likely .. you might have a bad USB connection oR bad cable in the car?

 

[paulk721]

Did the Sandisk work for you? I’m having the same issue with my SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD 500GB in my refreshed Model s and can’t figure it out. I can format it but I get there not plugged into glove box message…thanks

It did not- I’ve tried the top 5 or so recommended flash drives and none of them worked unfortunately… only my very old 16gb flash drive works, and I’m at a loss at this point.

 

[laservet]

Will it work plugged into a different USB port? I use a 1 tb Sandisk Max Endurance MicroSD card in a Sandisk card reader, works just fine. My Y is a late June 2020 vehicle.

 

[paulk721]

Are you sure this isn’t a hardware issue? it sounds more likely .. you might have a bad USB connection oR bad cable in the car?

You’re probably right, but what trips me up about it being bad hardware is that I have a very old 16gb flash drive that somehow works…

Will it work plugged into a different USB port? I use a 1 tb Sandisk Max Endurance MicroSD card in a Sandisk card reader, works just fine. My Y is a late June 2020 vehicle.

Mine was a Sept/Oct 2021 and it only has the one USB port in the glove box. The two in the center console are USB-C

 

[wynnek]

Did the Sandisk work for you? I’m having the same issue with my SAMSUNG T7 Portable SSD 500GB in my refreshed Model s and can’t figure it out. I can format it but I get there not plugged into glove box message…thanks

I'm using the same Samsung drive in my 2021 Model Y and it works great.

 

[Jamezam]

Hmm, I have a Samsung PRO Endurance 128GB MicroSDXC Memory Card with adapter and my Y doesn’t recognize the memory card, but if I put the memory card in the SD Adpater for microSD, then the Format USB is not greyed out. However, the Y will not format the memory card.

 

[FnkyCool 3-P]

Hi, first time poster. I received my MY in Sept, love the car, but my dashcam stopped working after a couple weeks when the glovebox USB stopped recognizing the Tesla USB. I tried two other brand new drives (Samsung T7 and SanDisk 500GB Extreme Portable SSD) to no success. For all three drives, when plugged in, on the car screen the “Format USB” is grayed out bc it’s not recognized. I also reformatted on PC a couple times to no success…

Whats most random is that when I had a mobile Tesla appt yesterday, the tech couldn’t figure out what’s wrong with the Tesla drive or my new ones, but his old 32gb flash drive worked just fine, so he just left after. I found an old 16gb flash drive and sure enough that works just fine too…

Anybody have any idea what the issue is?? I’m on 2021.11.103.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I had the same issue with a T7 2TB
, then I found this forum, and hearing that I wasnt alone, I tried this:

1) I formatted the drive via my Tesla 3

2) connected the drive to my Laptop, and followed the manual format instructions.
(Upon connection to my Laptop I noticed that the drive was named Tesla Drive) So I added the base folders (New Folder) renamed it TeslaCam and Tesla TrackMode.

3) reconnected it to the USB port in the Glovebox, and "VOILA" it worked.

 

[FnkyCool 3-P]

Hi, first time poster. I received my MY in Sept, love the car, but my dashcam stopped working after a couple weeks when the glovebox USB stopped recognizing the Tesla USB. I tried two other brand new drives (Samsung T7 and SanDisk 500GB Extreme Portable SSD) to no success. For all three drives, when plugged in, on the car screen the “Format USB” is grayed out bc it’s not recognized. I also reformatted on PC a couple times to no success…

Whats most random is that when I had a mobile Tesla appt yesterday, the tech couldn’t figure out what’s wrong with the Tesla drive or my new ones, but his old 32gb flash drive worked just fine, so he just left after. I found an old 16gb flash drive and sure enough that works just fine too…

Anybody have any idea what the issue is?? I’m on 2021.11.103.

Thanks in advance for any help!

I had the same issue with a T7 2TB
, then I found this forum, and hearing that I wasnt alone, I tried this:

1) I formatted the drive via my Tesla 3

2) connected the drive to my Laptop, and followed the manual format instructions.
(Upon connection to my Laptop I noticed that the drive was named Tesla Drive) So I added the base folders (New Folder) renamed it TeslaCam and Tesla TrackMode.

3) reconnected it to the USB port in the Glovebox, and "VOILA" it worked.

 

[jeremymc7]

My two year old Samsung T7 just randomly stopped being recognized. Format button greyed out. Tried all the different format options on both my Mac and PC and neither worked. Tied a reboot and the T7 worked once and then next drives not again. Not even with a reboot. Stuck in an old Sandisk USB microSD reader with a 256gb pro endurance card and the format button was available but it wouldn’t format and kept telling me to try on computer. I keep trying the format button and now it’s working. Guess we’ll see how long this lasts.

Obviously the usb port was fine and the T7 works fine on both the PC and Mac so why it no longer works on the Tesla is anyone’s guess.