Sentry Mode filling my USB flash drive extremely quick

[spdn4cr]

Hi all,

I only have a 32 GB flash drive and I always like to turn Sentry Mode on but it fills up my saved folder super fast. It's rather annoying that every two weeks I have to take out my flash drive and empty out the save folder. I'm hoping future updates will either allow us to empty it using the screen in the car or not put the sentry files into the save folder and have it overwrite itself when full (unless saved) just like the dash cam does. How is everyone else handling this other than buying a huge memory drive? thanks!

 

[gilscales]

The 256gb are not that much money these days

I bought this one because I figured I may want to download something straight to my phone
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUH9BET?tag=bgwr1b-20

But you can get this one cheaper and has the added benefit of being very smalls it won't stick out much
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-256GB-Ultra-Flash-Drive/dp/B07857Y17V/ref=sr_1_4?crid=12FKHUB88RDXQ&keywords=256gb+flash+drive&qid=1553413649&s=electronics&sprefix=256+gb+,electronics,185&sr=1-4

They actually have them all the way down to $21 but reviews are not great for that one.

 

[spdn4cr]

@gilscales thanks for the links...much appreciated! I'm still hoping they change the way Sentry mode saves files though. Even with these big ones we'll have to delete files a few times a year.

 

[PRLM3]

The 256gb are not that much money these days

I bought this one because I figured I may want to download something straight to my phone
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUH9BET?tag=bgwr1b-20

But you can get this one cheaper and has the added benefit of being very smalls it won't stick out much
https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-256GB-Ultra-Flash-Drive/dp/B07857Y17V/ref=sr_1_4?crid=12FKHUB88RDXQ&keywords=256gb+flash+drive&qid=1553413649&s=electronics&sprefix=256+gb+,electronics,185&sr=1-4

They actually have them all the way down to $21 but reviews are not great for that one.

Hey gilscales awesome links thanks much. What's the deal with the videos and Sentry -- everytime the camera comes on it stores the videos on an attached drive? And then it just keeps adding more?

 

[Matt L]

@gilscales thanks for the links...much appreciated! I'm still hoping they change the way Sentry mode saves files though. Even with these big ones we'll have to delete files a few times a year.

A few times a year? Seems like quite the hardship!

 

[PRLM3]

Yeah I agree that's no big deal ... I'm gonna go for the 256 and see where that gets me. Don't really need a network option and I'd just as soon plug it into my imac via usb or macbook pro with the adapter I already have. Went with the FAT 32 format on a trial smaller drive. I believe somewhere in this or a related thread it was mistated that meant you could only keep 32 gigs on it which is not correct. Another user correctly stated that the limitation is any single file is limited to 4 gig in size. Hopefully that won't be an issue ...

 

[gilscales]

Hey gilscales awesome links thanks much. What's the deal with the videos and Sentry -- everytime the camera comes on it stores the videos on an attached drive? And then it just keeps adding more?

My understanding is that Sentry saves videos when someone comes within 2 ft. of the car and never overwrites like TeslaCam does so if a lot of people are passing close by the car then you will fill up the drive faster, Sentry has to be manually activated each time though so it does not activate automatically.

I can see an update that would activate Sentry based on GPS location would be useful but not sure they would ever do that.

 

[BluestarE3]

I can see an update that would activate Sentry based on GPS location would be useful but not sure they would ever do that.

It's coming:
Elon Musk on Twitter

 

[insaneoctane]

I sure would love to review and delete my Sentry footage right from the touchscreen and maybe never even have to remove the usb drive

 

[Resist]

The 256gb are not that much money these days

I bought this one because I figured I may want to download something straight to my phone
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUH9BET?tag=bgwr1b-20

I'm really interested in this because we need to access the video on the fly, especially right after an accident to show the police. But how is the write speed on this drive?

 

[gilscales]

I'm really interested in this because we need to access the video on the fly, especially right after an accident to show the police. But how is the write speed on this drive?

Here is a review with read/write speeds, it is slower than most
SanDisk iXpand Flash Drive for iPhone REVIEW | Mac Sources

 

[Knightshade]

The slowest USB2.0 drives out there are still 3-5 times faster than needed for the 3 cameras to record. That SANDisk one just linked is about 40 times faster than needed.


As to viewing the footage in the car- Tesla seems to be making a point of not supporting any video playback of any kind presently.

Where I think they're missing some $ is offering a cloud storage/viewing service for a monthly fee as some 3rd party dashcams offer.

Basically dashcam/sentry with local storage is free. But it's $X/mo if you want the video uploaded by the car for remote viewing/storage.

 

[gilscales]

Where I think they're missing some $ is offering a cloud storage/viewing service for a monthly fee as some 3rd party dashcams offer.

Someone who matters Tweet Elon!

 

[spdn4cr]

@Knightshade - That cloud would also solve the problem where the thief takes your flash drive too!

I'm hoping they at least start where sentry mode overwrites itself over a period of time like the dash cam does if not saved.

 

[tamtam]

OK, reviewing this thread it seems pretty clear that you need a BIG flash drive to record footage. I tried to set up my dashcam with a 8GB drive. Between sentry mode and just pressing the dashcam icon once it filled up within a day or two. (less than 2 hours driving time). Going to buy a 64 GB USB flash to try.... as people pointed out, "sentry" can waste a lot of video, it's saved automatically when using the TeslaCam folder..... but it doesn't overwrite itself in a loop, like the dashcam footage does. Does anyone in Tesla Engineering think these things through? So much hassle that has to be learned by trial and error. First of all, why can't they put storage issues in the damn documentation? Secondly, why doesn't dashcam footage and sentry footage work the same - meaning loop over itself unless save is manually triggered. Oh well, let's hope they make things smoother and more consistent over time!

 

[Knightshade]

OK, reviewing this thread it seems pretty clear that you need a BIG flash drive to record footage. I tried to set up my dashcam with a 8GB drive. Between sentry mode and just pressing the dashcam icon once it filled up within a day or two. (less than 2 hours driving time). Going to buy a 64 GB USB flash to try.... as people pointed out, "sentry" can waste a lot of video, it's saved automatically when using the TeslaCam folder..... but it doesn't overwrite itself in a loop, like the dashcam footage does. Does anyone in Tesla Engineering think these things through? So much hassle that has to be learned by trial and error. First of all, why can't they put storage issues in the damn documentation? Secondly, why doesn't dashcam footage and sentry footage work the same - meaning loop over itself unless save is manually triggered. Oh well, let's hope they make things smoother and more consistent over time!

They can't work the same (or it'd be dumb if they did anyway)

For dashcam it keeps the last hour, overwriting continuously. But this is mainly happening when you are IN THE CAR- so if you need something saved, you hit the button and it's saved.

Anything overwritten is something you explicitly chose not to save.


Sentry mode might be running for days with no human inside the car to decide what is "important" and what isn't...so it has to assume it's ALL important.

 

[bram-atmire]

In my experience, the sentry "trigger" to start recording something is also very very sensitive. To the point that your drive WILL fill up soon if you are parked in some kind of public parking. Every time a car drives by, it seems to record.

 

[PRLM3]

They can't work the same (or it'd be dumb if they did anyway)

For dashcam it keeps the last hour, overwriting continuously. But this is mainly happening when you are IN THE CAR- so if you need something saved, you hit the button and it's saved.

Anything overwritten is something you explicitly chose not to save.


Sentry mode might be running for days with no human inside the car to decide what is "important" and what isn't...so it has to assume it's ALL important.

So does DashCam write anything to the thumb drive if I never tap the button on the nav screen?

 

[BluestarE3]

So does DashCam write anything to the thumb drive if I never tap the button on the nav screen?

Yes, if the Dashcam feature is turned on (red dot on the camera icon) recordings are written to the storage media, but it does so in a loop and older files get overwritten by newer ones, except for those recordings you explicitly save.

 

[Dinoraptor101]

The slowest USB2.0 drives out there are still 3-5 times faster than needed for the 3 cameras to record. That SANDisk one just linked is about 40 times faster than needed.


As to viewing the footage in the car- Tesla seems to be making a point of not supporting any video playback of any kind presently.

Where I think they're missing some $ is offering a cloud storage/viewing service for a monthly fee as some 3rd party dashcams offer.

Basically dashcam/sentry with local storage is free. But it's $X/mo if you want the video uploaded by the car for remote viewing/storage.

Incorrect statement, slow drives will melt and stop working, by only extreme edition drives above 50Mbs to make this work. and "especially" If you plan to later us it with TeslaCam