Sentry and Dashcam - set and forget?

[MikeyC]

Just got my M3 2 days ago. Sorry if this has been covered but I spent 30 minutes searching and can't find any definitive answer on this specific question. I want to leave Sentry Mode turned on and not have any "maintenance" to clear the card. I found info that said Sentry Mode will now overwrite old clips so you don't have to clear the card regularly. If that's the case, let's say the card gets filled up with Sentry Mode clips that are continuously overwriting and then something "interesting" happens while driving and I press the dashcam button to record. Will the dashcam clip save with the card being full of Sentry Mode clips?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[jrweiss98020]

Page 74 in the manual. Yes, it will delete the oldest Sentry clip. However, if you fill the card with Saved Clips, you will not be able to save any more:

NOTE: As the USB flash drive runs out of available space, the oldest footage in Sentry Clips is deleted to make room for new footage. Once deleted, you are unable to retrieve them. When the flash drive is full, Sentry Mode and Dashcam can no longer save video footage. To prevent the flash drive from getting full, you must regularly move saved videos to another device, and delete them from the flash drive.

 

[Knightshade]

Also, solid state storage tends to slow down as it gets filled up... so it really would be better to clear it out on some semi-regular basis so it's never much more than 1/2-3/4 full.

If there's nothing you want to save long term the easy method is just reformat it in the car every few (insert weeks, months, or days here depending how quick your card fills up based on where you tend to park it and how many sentry events it grabs)

 

[MikeyC]

This all sounds good. I don't foresee having to use the dashcam much so I'll probably just reformat it in-car every time I wash it or something when I inspect it and I know I have nothing of interest stored.

Mike