Size of USB drive needed for TeslaCam?

[Trekboy]

Just got a usb adapter and endurance 128gb microsd. No issues

I will second this recommendation. The "Endurance" micro SD cards are made for continual writing, unlike a normal USB thumb drive. These are specifically marketed for security cameras and dashcams. Also, they're rated to function in high temps like 185 degrees F. This is what I bought and I get no errors now.

 

[LSTM.Builder()]

All these flashdrive errors are likely attributed to them getting corrupt and failing from the excessive dashcam read\write cycles. It's not a speed issue, it's a cycle issue.

Highly recommend an endurance type card.
SanDisk 256gb Endurance
Samsung 128gb Endurance

As for the ease of viewing. I have an Android personally and use the TeslaCam Reviewer app. With this 4 in 1 SD Card Reader Adapter I can review any clips quick and easy. The app shows you all 3 cameras at once and ability to play at high speed.

Yes. For everyone else’s benefit, cycles here is referred to as the number of read/write life cycle. For SLC (high-endurance) it can support up to 100,000 cycles vs 5,000-10,000 on MLC flash (i.e.,cheap usb memory sticks) so you can see why the usb ones will start to throw errors sooner.

 

[skip8jj]

Recently... maybe the past month or two? Don't recall the exact firmware version. I'm currently on 24.4 and ext4 works.

Where do you find "ext4"? My only options on my MAC are "macOS extended, journaled, macOS extended, journaled case sensitive, ExFAT and MOS-DOs (FAT). Very confusing all of this. Thanks

 

[john85775]

Where do you find "ext4"? My only options on my MAC are "macOS extended, journaled, macOS extended, journaled case sensitive, ExFAT and MOS-DOs (FAT). Very confusing all of this. Thanks

Use MS-DOS (FAT). That is actually FAT32 (needlessly confusing I know).

 

[Hugh-SG]

the bigger the better. I have a 256 gb sandisk ultrafit and a 128 gb on standby. Seems no matter what eventually the drive fills up and needs to be reformatted. One of these days they'll build that feature directly into the car - "your usb drive is full, ok to reformat?" or USB drive corrupt, press OK to repair.

If I may suggest, (and much simplier), "Loop and Over Write oldest files?" Yes - No

Now we request the addition of two more Foldiers..

2nd folder "tesla-saves", where any Impact Trigger, Emergency Braking Trigger occurs or a User "Save" Button is pressed.

3rd folder "tesla-sentry", where there is a Side Cam Motion Trigger, or Window Break, or Bump (vehicle motion) Trigger.

Then Sentry mode would behave just like my ThinkPro F200 dash cam.

Food for thought...

Cheers, Hugh-SG

 

[moorej999]

I tried to format a 64GB drive with FAT32 using a suggested freeware program. Tesla would not recognize it. Would love to know how I can format the 64GB to that it will work with Tesla model 3.

 

[ecospider5]

You shouldn't need to reformat it- just delete the files you don't need.

Since the car can't know which Sentry or other saved video is important it can't just randomly delete that stuff automatically.

I reformat because it is faster in windows 10 to do that than deleting 256gb of files.

 

[ecospider5]

How much space is actually required by Tesla for your teslacam?

I keep sentry mode on all the time so a 256gb fills up in under a month.

 

[ecospider5]

Not really sure what your question is. I think you are referring to the size of the USB stick that's needed for TeslaCam. I do not believe there's a minimum size required. However the bigger the size, the better. Depending on how you use it, it can fill up rather quickly. At the very least, I wouldn't do anything smaller than a 16gb

Also since this fills up the drive on a regular basis a high endurance Micro SD card will last longer and you won’t have to deal with the files constantly getting corrupted in 2 years.

SanDisk 256GB High Endurance Video microSDXC Card with Adapter for Dash cam and Home Monitoring Systems - C10, U3, V30, 4K UHD, Micro SD Card - SDSQQNR-256G-GN6IA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P4HBRMV/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_mRBxDbN9AJSZR

 

[brucekrymow]

New Tesla S owner - I've seen voluminous posts scattered here and there throughout the site when searching... but are there any go-to definitive guides anywhere w/ clear, precice directions are available where a a new Tesla owner can set up the the Tesla Dash Cam, and for setting up the SentryMode recording/viewing/etc.?

 

[Dan203]

By the way, ext4 now works for Teslacam as well as for music. That is, you're no longer limited to just FAT32.

Is it only ext4? No ext3?

 

[sduck]

I think the other flavors of ext work also - I accidentally did one volume with ext3, and it worked ok.

 

[sduck]

Where do you find "ext4"? My only options on my MAC are "macOS extended, journaled, macOS extended, journaled case sensitive, ExFAT and MOS-DOs (FAT). Very confusing all of this. Thanks

You'll need some additional tools to use ext4 with a mac - there's a command line way, or Paragon Software makes a (nonfree) utility addon. It's normally a linux thing.

 

[1agkirk2]

I got this one from Amazon in the 480 GB size and it's been perfect for over two months and about eight firmware versions:

Adata's SD600Q is a quick and affordable SSD for on the go

I use the same drive. It seems to work most of the time but when the SW is updated it stops for a day or two. Soft resets don't seem to fix it, then it starts working again.

 

[asterothe]

Thank you all for your suggestions!

 

[Aberrant]

Can you recommend me an exact drive that works for you?

I had a lot of trouble with corruption using Sandisk and Kingston USB drives. I read that MLC NAND - type memory holds up better for dashcam use.

Both Transcend and Mushkin make drives that use this type of memory. I purchased a 256GB Mushkin Impact USB 3.0.
So far, no issues after 4 months and 6,000 miles of TeslaCam and Sentry use.

 

[SVMike]

Yes. For everyone else’s benefit, cycles here is referred to as the number of read/write life cycle. For SLC (high-endurance) it can support up to 100,000 cycles vs 5,000-10,000 on MLC flash (i.e.,cheap usb memory sticks) so you can see why the usb ones will start to throw errors sooner.

I'm sure that the high endurance drives are better. But if you fill up your flash drive every day and it only gets 5000 cycles you will be sad because it will only last for 13 years and 8 months. Maybe you'll get lucky and go for 10,000 cycles so you'll get to 27 years.

 

[Knightshade]

I'm sure that the high endurance drives are better. But if you fill up your flash drive every day and it only gets 5000 cycles you will be sad because it will only last for 13 years and 8 months. Maybe you'll get lucky and go for 10,000 cycles so you'll get to 27 years.

Yeah. With a 128 or 256 GB drive, literally any brand or type, it'll take at least 5-10 years before you approach the rated # of write cycles for even the cheapest/crappiest flash memory used in such drives.

The high endurance stuff is worth mentioning for multiple-4k-camera aftermarket setups where massively more data is being written constantly- but not so much for Teslacam situation where it's taking days at a time to use a single full write cycle.

 

[David Kirchner]

There is another storage option not mentioned here. At forums.Tesla.com they have a thread "Raspberry Pi uploads Dashcam & Sentry videos to my NAS". I am personally looking into geeking out on Pi. This transfer files over your home WiFi to your NAS and you can schedule house cleaning. (for the computer technology inclined)

 

[Knightshade]

There is another storage option not mentioned here. At forums.Tesla.com they have a thread "Raspberry Pi uploads Dashcam & Sentry videos to my NAS". I am personally looking into geeking out on Pi. This transfer files over your home WiFi to your NAS and you can schedule house cleaning. (for the computer technology inclined)

quite a few threads on that method have been posted here, including links to the relevant github projects with the code to do it with essentially a 1-step setup, so only marginal tech inclination needed