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Sentry USB drive recommendation
- Thread starter AnthonyLR
- Start date
Can usb 2.0 handle all 9 cameras recording and saving to the drive though?
Think that'll be the limiting factor and not the drive speed.
Agreed that endurance cards are better but SSD/usb thumb drive won't be too different.
Puddles
Member
I find it unlikely that all eight channels will ever be made available for recording.
But while we’re on (or near) the subject, I often see reference to “frequent read/write cycles“ when talking about video storage. I don’t see why this should be the case. A video stream is just one large file, and is therefore written once. You might read from it again later for playback. Maybe even two or three times. But “frequent“? I’m not seeing it. I could see an argument being made for this if using a small device, but most of us are using devices with a capacity much larger than the minimum necessary.
I think we are confusing the near constant reading and analysis of a live stream with the very static process of capturing a video file.
But while we’re on (or near) the subject, I often see reference to “frequent read/write cycles“ when talking about video storage. I don’t see why this should be the case. A video stream is just one large file, and is therefore written once. You might read from it again later for playback. Maybe even two or three times. But “frequent“? I’m not seeing it. I could see an argument being made for this if using a small device, but most of us are using devices with a capacity much larger than the minimum necessary.
I think we are confusing the near constant reading and analysis of a live stream with the very static process of capturing a video file.
dctek
Member
The Sentry drive is constantly recording footage then deleting it, that's happening on the same part of the flash, and USB Flash drives have quite limited writes.
It will go on reading the files forever, but of course at that point your sentry wont be recording any new events.
You are pretty safe with a decent SSD like the Sandisk Extreme, but eventually even that would fail to write.
I wouldn't go with either a USB Flash drive or Flash card personally.
Puddles
Member
Since I know *nothing* about this, it's safe to assume you know more than I do, but I have never seen anything from Tesla indicating this would be happening. Plus, if it looks like a zebra, I'm going to call it a zebra. Why would they devote resources full time to an activity that could be intermittent? I don't see any reason why the Sentry should be recording and deleting information, it's a one way street.
Let's even accept for the moment that it is a constantly active data stream. Blocks are being filled, then more, then more. Existing data is not going to be overwritten until you mark it for deletion.
I'm still not convinced. But you're welcome to keep trying
MrBadger
Badger out
At current TeslaCam write speeds, a 500GB drive would fill up in around 30-40 hours if dashcam or sentry was used continuously. So the device is constantly overwriting previously written areas of media to stop it filling up. There is only a limited number of times that you can reliably overwrite the same area before it 'wears out'. For some types of memory, this can be as little as around 300 times. Smaller devices will start to cycle more regularly, so will 'fill' proportionally quicker.
If you have a media device that has an activity light. When dashcam or sentry are running, the activity light will flash, when dashcam and sentry are off, the activity light remains off.
dctek
Member
I'm still not convinced. But you're welcome to keep trying
That's fine, it really doesn't matter, but if its not recording all the time (constantly writing to the storage) where do you think its storing the data when its detected motion? The MCU has no usable storage for Sentry mode, earlier MCU's had eMMC flash storage that failed due to constant logging of just plain text.
Puddles
Member
Let's crunch some numbers. I just checked my 500 GB SanDisk SDD after having it in place for a week. It has accumulated 2GB of data, so at this rate it would be full in 250 weeks. That's 5 years of letting it sit, in use, and the entire drive would have had ONE write cycle.
You're arguing that there is zero memory usage on board, and that all streaming goes directly from the video feed to the drive. I'm not sure where on board storage would occur, but there's no reason to think it would occur in NVRAM, which is the flash storage you're talking about (and yes, it was a poor choice for the application).
I found a source (TeslaTap) who says my HW3 unit has 16GB of RAM, and our media console should have a modern amount as well... 16GB? 32GB? This seems like plenty of conventional memory space to store video work files. It would only need to hold four channels worth, and each 1-minute video file is about 40MB, for a total of 160MB. That's only 1% of a theoretical 16GB RAM space. I think it is reasonable to think the process should use RAM as intermediate storage, rather than streaming everything live through the USB connection.
But, I say again, I have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm just trying to construct something sensible out of what we do know. If Tesla is trying to capture a video feed by branching it live, to a USB port, it would be no wonder that we are having no end of trouble with it.
As an aside, when I unplugged my SSD just now to take a look at the files, I felt it and thought "Hmm, warm." This is very different than when I would unplug my thumb drive, and would say "Ow! Hot!"
You're arguing that there is zero memory usage on board, and that all streaming goes directly from the video feed to the drive. I'm not sure where on board storage would occur, but there's no reason to think it would occur in NVRAM, which is the flash storage you're talking about (and yes, it was a poor choice for the application).
I found a source (TeslaTap) who says my HW3 unit has 16GB of RAM, and our media console should have a modern amount as well... 16GB? 32GB? This seems like plenty of conventional memory space to store video work files. It would only need to hold four channels worth, and each 1-minute video file is about 40MB, for a total of 160MB. That's only 1% of a theoretical 16GB RAM space. I think it is reasonable to think the process should use RAM as intermediate storage, rather than streaming everything live through the USB connection.
But, I say again, I have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm just trying to construct something sensible out of what we do know. If Tesla is trying to capture a video feed by branching it live, to a USB port, it would be no wonder that we are having no end of trouble with it.
As an aside, when I unplugged my SSD just now to take a look at the files, I felt it and thought "Hmm, warm." This is very different than when I would unplug my thumb drive, and would say "Ow! Hot!"
MrBadger
Badger out
Thats incorrect. Whilst it may be correct for statically retained data, TeslaCam, when in operationally is constantly writing dynamic data to the device. Its easy to check if you have a drive, easier with an activity light to see what is going on. You can either view the last drive from on screen, or take the drive offline and view latest drive in a PC/Mac having correctly dismounted it*. With the latter, its not in RAM, its physically on the media. Then after a few days driving, do the same looking for the clips that you just viewed. Unless you saved them, they will have gone and been overwritten. When TeslaCam is in use, it is constantly writing to the drive and logically constantly overwriting stale date, although physically the drive may be handling this overwrite in a different way to reduce the number of times that it rewrites the same physical area of memory. *Do remember to correctly dismount the drive, because if you don't you risk corrupting it as the media is constantly being written to. If you do get away with not corrupting the device having suddenly pulled the device without dismounting, you will see that media footage on disc. Its not confined to onboard RAM.
This is the QED moment. Just applied it to a different argument. If the device was not constantly in use, it would not be hot, or warm. Put the USB device in a PC/Mac, it remains ambient until you start reading/writing it. So these devices do not get warm/hot unless being used.
Agree that less compact devices handle the heat better. But you don't need an SSD to achieve that, other smaller devices can remain warm rather than hot too.
webbah
Active Member
Since I know *nothing* about this, it's safe to assume you know more than I do, but I have never seen anything from Tesla indicating this would be happening. Plus, if it looks like a zebra, I'm going to call it a zebra. Why would they devote resources full time to an activity that could be intermittent? I don't see any reason why the Sentry should be recording and deleting information, it's a one way street.
Let's even accept for the moment that it is a constantly active data stream. Blocks are being filled, then more, then more. Existing data is not going to be overwritten until you mark it for deletion.
I'm still not convinced. But you're welcome to keep trying
It does not record a continuous video stream. This is why there are many posts about 3 second (or so) gaps between recording clips. I don't recall exactly how long each clip is, but I think it's 10 minutes.
webbah
Active Member
Valid point, and this may be an issue in the future if they DO decide to use all 9. Keep in mind that now all cars are shipping with USB-c. And there are quite a few of us, myself included, that are upgrading our front and rear consoles with new parts from Tesla and a custom wiring harness to upgrade from the older USB-A to USB-c.
I would use 1TB SSD drive like this (to be used for TeslaCam and MP3 music):
https://amzn.to/35PIEPP
Put your drive into your computers USB port.
0. Delete the partition who is there original.
Please let me know if this works for you.
Want me to make a Youtube clip of how to do this? Let me know.
https://amzn.to/35PIEPP
Put your drive into your computers USB port.
0. Delete the partition who is there original.
a.) The easiest ways to launch anything in Windows is to use the search. In Windows 10, enter the words "disk management" in the search field on the taskbar and then click or tap "Create and format hard disk partitions."
b) Right click on your volume and delete.
1. Make new volumes... Two partitions, then use 750GB for TeslaCam and 250GB for MP3 files.b) Right click on your volume and delete.
a.) The easiest ways to launch anything in Windows is to use the search. In Windows 10, enter the words "disk management" in the search field on the taskbar and then click or tap "Create and format hard disk partitions."
b) Format the each partition with NTFS with right click and format, and assign some drive letters to each of them. For example F and G.
2. Now, format both partitions in FAT32, NOT exFAT or NTFS. Yes, you need to format yet again.b) Format the each partition with NTFS with right click and format, and assign some drive letters to each of them. For example F and G.
a) This format must be done by a utility downloaded here: Ridgecrop Consultants Ltd
b) Name the partition for example one called TeslaCam and the other MP3.
c) In the partition called TeslaCam, make an folder with name TeslaCam.
d) In the partition called MP3.. fill it up with your music.
b) Name the partition for example one called TeslaCam and the other MP3.
c) In the partition called TeslaCam, make an folder with name TeslaCam.
d) In the partition called MP3.. fill it up with your music.
Please let me know if this works for you.
Want me to make a Youtube clip of how to do this? Let me know.
Does the usb c provide extra power over usb2 in the new cars?
If so what's the power output?
webbah
Active Member
With the right wiring harness adapter and gauge wire you can pull 27 watts.
webbah
Active Member
webbah
Active Member
Everything you need to do is posted in this thread to upgrade. At your own risk of course! Mine is working great.
Model 3 new USB C center console data hub from model Y?
Just to add in to this discussion. I bought one of these a year ago for my sentry drive.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GRXFW52/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Has performed flawlessly. Never come-up with any errors and never had to reformat it. For under £20 if tou had to replace it wach year it is still a bargain.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GRXFW52/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Has performed flawlessly. Never come-up with any errors and never had to reformat it. For under £20 if tou had to replace it wach year it is still a bargain.
MrBadger
Badger out
Did you pay for the 'expert installation'
Honestly nearly £60 to plug a USB plug in...
I think it is extremely clear that the Model 3 does not have any on-board storage that the car can use to store video footage. So the USB device is used as a circular log repository, where video is *constantly* being written to the USB device, until something triggers the need to keep footage (either you pressed the horn or tapped the DashCam icon, or Sentry decided an "event" occurred and needed to keep the footage). It is this constant circular logging of video footage that is hostile to cheap USB storage devices.
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It is USB A so there was always the chance of putting the connector in upside down. Better to get it done by an expertDid you pay for the 'expert installation'
Honestly nearly £60 to plug a USB plug in...
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