Sentry Mode/Dashcam Best Storage Method

[Bootneckshuffl]

Hi all

I’m sure this topic would have been covered in the past but it would be good to get recent advice and up to date tips.

What is the current recommended and efficient storage method for the above?

Is it still SD and USB Adaptor or SSD, or anything else for that matter?

Great to hear from people who are using something that’s efficient and stress free.

Thanks.

 

[Jason71]

Yes. SSD or Endurance SD is still the recommendation

 

[NickName]

Went for the Jeda Hub and using the Samsung T5 SSD. Working fine.

Still get problem with occasional Sentry recording being unreadable but that seems to be a Tesla software problem from what others are saying.

 

[MrBadger]

Also, its not like many dashcams that continuously save the journey. It only records dashcam on demand and sentry on event so size of media has little bearing on amount of useful footage you can record - larger drives just get filled up with stale footage that ultimately gets overwritten unless specifically saved. Bigger drives will be an advantage if you run sentry 24/7 and will leave the car for weeks on end, but the cars battery charge probably wont last very long!

 

[DaveW]

If you don't have a Jeda or TapTes hub, an SSD with enclosure is ideal (What SSD / thumb drive for Tesla Sentry mode / dash cam?)

If you are thinking about getting a TapTes or Jeda hub (it's a neat solution and cheap if you are patient enough to wait for TapTes 44+ day delivery) then a portable SSD like the Samsung T5 would be ideal (TapTes Model 3 Hub – Mini review, what storage fits and more.)

As said above, an SD endurance card with reader is also another option too, I've personally not gone down that route though.

 

[DaveW]

Also, its not like many dashcams that continuously save the journey. It only records dashcam on demand and sentry on event so size of media has little bearing on amount of useful footage you can record - larger drives just get filled up with stale footage that ultimately gets overwritten unless specifically saved. Bigger drives will be an advantage if you run sentry 24/7 and will leave the car for weeks on end, but the cars battery charge probably wont last very long!

This! ^^

Sentry is still a bit of an energy hog, so if you've got safe places, home for example where you have your own CCTV, I tend to leave Sentry off there and leave it to Nest to watch the car.

 

[Bootneckshuffl]

Yeh funnily enough we’ve got out driveway covered by Nest Cam and Hello

so Sentry is gonna be handy when you’re out and about, car parks etc yes?

I was under the impression that Dashcam constantly recorded or you could select the “honk to record”

 

[Chalks99]

Went for the Jeda Hub and using the Samsung T5 SSD. Working fine.

Still get problem with occasional Sentry recording being unreadable but that seems to be a Tesla software problem from what others are saying.

Agree 100% I have the Taptes Hub and have same Samsung SSD, everything fine apart from sentry footage being patchy

 

[bhav]

I haven't had any issues whatsoever with my set up, being:

• Sandisk SD card https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B073JY5T7T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• Sandisk SD card USB reader https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07G5JV2B5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Recording 24 hours a day.

Plugged directly into USB port (no hubs inbetween) - for anyone having issues viewing their footage I'd strongly encourage you to see if you get the same issue if you're plugged directly into the USB port.

By the way, if you read the manual (see link in sig) Tesla recommends a couple of options.

 

[Sparkeur]

I have a Taptes hub (the one that comes on the 7-week stopping train from China) with a Samsung T5. Sentry is OK if a bit fiddly to find an event but this should improve with the next s/w update as apparently, it puts a little red dot on the timeline for each event.

 

[DaveW]

Yeh funnily enough we’ve got out driveway covered by Nest Cam and Hello

so Sentry is gonna be handy when you’re out and about, car parks etc yes?

I was under the impression that Dashcam constantly recorded or you could select the “honk to record”

Yes, very handy for car parks etc.. find out if anyone dings your car, but hopefully more likely people just having a nose or getting freaked out when the car flashes at them, had a couple of videos early on of people having a good nose at the car and one guy really confused that a car with no one in seemed to flash him.

Dash cam is running whenever you are driving, honk saves a clip (if enabled - doesn't stop it running all the time) as does pressing the icon, it then records the last 10 minutes

 

[Bootneckshuffl]

Class that ha ha, guy getting freaked out.
They’re certainly head turners these cars eh. Currently driving a Velar (nowt but bother and getting rejected), that gets heads turning but the Model 3 beats it for sure

What do Tesla themselves recommend then, do they recommenced using hub or direct into USB?

Just wondering if those who’ve experienced some intermittent issues, might be to do with using a hub?

 

[DaveW]

Class that ha ha, guy getting freaked out.
They’re certainly head turners these cars eh. Currently driving a Velar (nowt but bother and getting rejected), that gets heads turning but the Model 3 beats it for sure

What do Tesla themselves recommend then, do they recommenced using hub or direct into USB?

Just wondering if those who’ve experienced some intermittent issues, might be to do with using a hub?

I think the issue with it sometimes being it bit flaky is firmly with Tesla, there's no pattern I'm aware of.

The last time I read it, Tesla actually recommended a thumb drive, but unless they are an endurance one, people found they failed quickly.

SSD with enclosure has been really reliable for me and now the Samsung T5 so it fits in my hub

 

[JupiterMan]

timely thread.. I've also been researching for latest thinking on this for dashcam/sentry.

I'm looking at getting a SSD drive - what GB storage is recommended ?

I note comments on Sentry -my usage case would be 9 hours a day when I finally get back to the office (use public carpark), my home driveway is also fully covered by Nest cam so don't need sentry at home.

I'm not up to speed with IT things these days... Been looking at a 240GB SSD drive, is this a good fit?

 

[DaveW]

timely thread.. I've also been researching for latest thinking on this for dashcam/sentry.

I'm looking at getting a SSD drive - what GB storage is recommended ?

I note comments on Sentry -my usage case would be 9 hours a day when I finally get back to the office (use public carpark), my home driveway is also fully covered by Nest cam so don't need sentry at home.

I'm not up to speed with IT things these days... Been looking at a 240GB SSD drive, is this a good fit?

240 will be fine (quite a bit more than you need I'd imagine unless you put music on it too) - highly recommend considering a portable one though as it means you don't have to buy again if you go down the hub route, they are also a good bit smaller than an SSD in an enclosure.

 

[MrBadger]

I've got two 128GB endurance drives that I rotate. Good media size that will cover a couple of weeks staycation and having two allowed me to swap a used card with an empty card to view the footage offline at my leisure. Not so important now with the in car viewer, but still would be a useful option if I needed to permanently save off some footage. It means that car has always got usable media in it if you forget to replace it before its next needed.

Dash cam is running whenever you are driving, honk saves a clip (if enabled - doesn't stop it running all the time) as does pressing the icon, it then records the last 10 minutes

Clarifying this further, the dashcam is constantly recording and saves the last 60 minutes worth of footage, but this footage is not available in the in car viewer unless you save it as above. It is often available if you remove the media, but as it gets overwritten on a constant basis when in the car, you need to remove it quick to be able to salvage the up to 60 minutes not yet overwritten.

The only dashcam footage that you can rely on is the 10 minutes that you manually saved and even then, 1 - it may be corrupted for various reasons, 2 - its only a series for non contiguous 5x second clips with a few seconds gap between then, 3 - often hitting save too soon after an incident will not capture the incident as the incident will fall within the gap in 2.

Don't go selecting dashcam fitted for insurance discount purposes as, imho, it is not reliable enough and if it misses the incident that you are claiming for, it won't look bad on you if the critical footage that they ask for is unavailable due to 1 - 3 above.

 

[Jdrebel]

Class that ha ha, guy getting freaked out.
They’re certainly head turners these cars eh. Currently driving a Velar (nowt but bother and getting rejected), that gets heads turning but the Model 3 beats it for sure

What do Tesla themselves recommend then, do they recommenced using hub or direct into USB?

Just wondering if those who’ve experienced some intermittent issues, might be to do with using a hub?

Same, just going through the lease handback for a Velar. Well used to software issues with that so any with the Tesla I'm sure won't be as bad.

 

[Jason71]

SSD used to be an advantage due to size before the car started looping the footage so you did not have to wipe so often. But I am interested to know what advantage do people think they are getting from an SSD now over a simple endurance SD card of say 128GB which is much cheaper and smaller?
The only one I can think of is that a larger SSD will spread the writes over the whole capacity so less writes per bit meaning statistically it might last longer than the SD.
Given the above am using an Endurance SD card and will probably replace it periodically before it fails maybe once per year at a cost of £15-20 for a good one

 

[NewbieT]

Page 84 of the Manual:
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

I’ve been using a Samsung T5 for 9 months with no issues.

 

[chr15toffer]

There really is no need to use an SSD, just go with what the manual says. I've been using this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FD878SJ for 8 months with no issues. More than enough storage, only £25 and neater than other solutions.