USB Drive for Music Only?

[JLOC]

I know some people use a Samsung T5 or T7 SSD, and I have seen others mentioning the Samsung Fit Plus or Sandisk Ultra Fit, but does it really matter what kind of USB drive is used, if that USB drive is used solely for music (plugged into the USB-A slot underneath the wireless charging pad)?

I already own a few high capacity USB flash drives (128GB-256GB), including some generic ones from Microcenter, so I am wondering if I can just use my existing flash drives for MP3's, since there is already a dedicated USB flash drive (in the glovebox) for the the dashcam and sentry mode.

In fact, can I use an old spinning 2.5" hard drive, in a USB 3.0 hard drive enclosure, for the music?

 

[angus[Y]oung]

I know some people use a Samsung T5 or T7 SSD, and I have seen others mentioning the Samsung Fit Plus or Sandisk Ultra Fit, but does it really matter what kind of USB drive is used, if that USB drive is used solely for music (plugged into the USB-A slot underneath the wireless charging pad)?

I already own a few high capacity USB flash drives (128GB-256GB), including some generic ones from Microcenter, so I am wondering if I can just use my existing flash drives for MP3's, since there is already a dedicated USB flash drive (in the glovebox) for the the dashcam and sentry mode.

In fact, can I use an old spinning 2.5" hard drive, in a USB 3.0 hard drive enclosure, for the music?

@JLOC for the teslacam/sentry drive, the drive is being continuously written to, which can stress a typical USB drive to the point of premature failure. For music use, you should be fine with a USB stick. I'm not sure about a traditional hard drive. You could try it, but be prepared to potentially lose the drive should the Model Y's notoriously firm ride cause a head crash going over a bump or pothole.

In either of these scenarios, I'd make sure that the music in the vehicle is only a copy, and that you have another copy elsewhere (on your PC or phone, for example) in the event that the drive in the car should fail.

 

[JLOC]

@JLOC for the teslacam/sentry drive, the drive is being continuously written to, which can stress a typical USB drive to the point of premature failure. For music use, you should be fine with a USB stick. I'm not sure about a traditional hard drive. You could try it, but be prepared to potentially lose the drive should the Model Y's notoriously firm ride cause a head crash going over a bump or pothole.

In either of these scenarios, I'd make sure that the music in the vehicle is only a copy, and that you have another copy elsewhere (on your PC or phone, for example) in the event that the drive in the car should fail.

@srlawren - thank you. I was not planning on using a traditional hard drive, but thought the question was worth asking. For now, I am using a 256GB USB 3.0 flash drive for my music, and yes, these are merely copies of music that I have stored on a network attached storage at home. I've lost gigabytes of music/video/photos in my younger days because I did not have backups, so I have learned my lesson!

As for your other comment re: teslacam, I am using the USB flash drive that Tesla included with the car. If/when that fails, do you recommend it be replaced with a high endurance microSD card (Samsung and Sandisk seem be recommended), or would an external SSD (such as the Samsung T5) be better?

 

[angus[Y]oung]

As for your other comment re: teslacam, I am using the USB flash drive that Tesla included with the car. If/when that fails, do you recommend it be replaced with a high endurance microSD card (Samsung and Sandisk seem be recommended), or would an external SSD (such as the Samsung T5) be better?

@JLOC from what I gather, some prefer an SSD and some prefer a high-endurance microSD card. Again I'm not an expert and am still a future owner (as I mention in your other thread) so I have zero hands-on experience with it. That said, the addition of the USB stick in the glovebox is relatively recent (started late 2020), and originally before that came to be I was planning to be in the microSD camp. If you get one of the microSD designed to be used in security cameras, I think you're going to get the best reliability personally. There may well be similar spec'd SSDs designed for use in DVRs or security systems as well, but I'm betting they will be more expensive. That said, the "regular" SSDs such as T5 and T7 are also very popular with owners, it seems.

The important thing with either is not to focus on read/write speeds as the Tesla doesn't have high requirements here, but rather focus on the reliability of the drive in high use and in extreme temps (it can get pretty hot and pretty cold in your vehicle depending on your weather and time of year).

 

[angus[Y]oung]

@JLOC this is popular combo: MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam. The same adapter along with a Samsung Pro Endurance is also popular.

And just to represent another view, the responder immediately below that post argues that high endurance SD cards are overkill: MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam

 

[JLOC]

@JLOC this is popular combo: MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam. The same adapter along with a Samsung Pro Endurance is also popular.

And just to represent another view, the responder immediately below that post argues that high endurance SD cards are overkill: MASTER THREAD: USB drives that work with Sentry and TeslaCam

Thanks - I think I've seen that post, and I've also read posts about people who have disagreements about the necessity of an endurance microSD card. For me, since this is for a dash cam, I'd rather have the peace of mind to spend a little bit more for the endurance card, even if people are right that it is ultimately unnecessary.

 

[MGWrench]

My MY came with a 128GB USB drive in the glovebox for Tesalcam, I used a cheap, generic MicroCenter 128GB USB for my music. It works fine, my only complaint is that I have not found any mechanism to figure out how to build playlists using the Tesla onboard Player.

 

[27ragbag]

the brand of USB drive used for the teslacam doesn't really matter, what matters is the write speed of the memory inside whatever brand you want to use. Keep in mind companies like SanDisk, Kingston, etc negotiate for the best price NAND memory to use in manufacturing, meaning... the memory type will vary from month to month. To define a "good" flash drive you need to benchmark the write speed. For USB 2.0 you need write speeds above 10MB/s. For USB 3.0 media you want write speeds above 30MB/s. If your drive hit's those benchmarks, it will be fine to use.

 

[tomas]

Wow, some people really don’t even read the question.

yes, you can use almost any solid state thumb drive and many mechanical drives for music. I’ve used a 1tb toshiba mechanical dive for 8+ years. My only advice for you: rip some lossless. The fidelity will amaze you.

 

[Frank99]

Even the cheapest USB flash drive will work fine, and work forever, as a music-only drive. That’s a very low stress, low performance use. Buy a big enough one to put your music collection on and call it a day.
Teslacam/ sentry usage is a different kettle of fish, and unfortunately requires a bit more research to get a reliable long term solution. But you didn’t ask about that.