[V9] How to Format USB into 2 Partitions for DashCam and Music [Windows]

[myblubu]

Thanks @SomeJoe7777 for such a great tutorial!

I purchased a Samsung 256GB USB 3.0 flash drive and used the tutorial to create 2 partitions. Since I wanted a 64GB for music, I figured I’d just leave the entire balance for TeslaCam / Sentry Mode. So I couldn’t use windows to format the first partition to FAT32 since it was larger than 32GB. So I ended up using the tool mentioned in the tutorial to format both partitions. The first turned out to be 193GB and the other ended up with the balance of the useable space at about 49GB. The smaller one was large enough for my music so I copied all the music onto it and placed the TeslaCam folder in the large one.

But when I place the USB in the car, it recognizes the music but not the TeslaCam (The camera icon on the screen has an X on it). If I remove the drive and replace it with another one I’d been using with only the TeslaCam (no music), the TeslaCam works.

I decided to try to switch the partitions. So I moved all of the music into the large partition and I put the TeslaCam folder into the small partition then inserted the USB drive into the car. The music worked and the TeslaCam begin working. However this is the opposite of what I desired. I wanted to use the large partition for the TeslaCam and the small one for the music. Is there a limit on the size of the partition that could be used for TeslaCam? Or did I potentially do something wrong in the process?

 

[CSFTN]

I think you did something wrong. I just set up a 500GB SATA drive, with 3 partitions; the video/TeslaCam partition is something like 400GB in size, and is working just fine. FAT32, GUID. But I did it on a Mac.

 

[gpetti]

Thanks for these detailed instructions. You have saved me a lot of time and effort.

 

[MrMannnilow]

So I racked my head around this for hours last night and could not come up with a working solution. I have a 128gb sd endurance card in a card reader for this application. I noticed that 32gb with sentry mode is now not enough for me.

I deleted all the partitions on my card. I then used the directions in post 1 with the exception of changing line

create partition primary size=16384 align=1024

to

create partition primary size=65536 align=1024 - in order to make the first partition 64gb. I then followed the rest of the steps but used the guiformatter to partition the 64gb Tesla Partition and the remaining 55gb Music Partition.

I did this maybe half a dozen times and I got no camera icon to show up in the car when I put the USB in, the music worked. I unplugged the Jeda pad and still no change - then I gave it a 2 finger reboot and the camera showed back up with the grey X in it. I thought I got somewhere at least so I tried to reformat and follow the directions a few more times again with no luck.

I ended up back with create partition primary size=32768 align=1024 and it is working again as it should with a 32gb for TeslaCam. However I am simply back to where I started

It seems others are using a Tesla partition larger than 32gb but I must be missing something here. Any help would be appreciated!

 

[whatthe2]

So I racked my head around this for hours last night and could not come up with a working solution. I have a 128gb sd endurance card in a card reader for this application. I noticed that 32gb with sentry mode is now not enough for me.

I deleted all the partitions on my card. I then used the directions in post 1 with the exception of changing line

create partition primary size=16384 align=1024

to

create partition primary size=65536 align=1024 - in order to make the first partition 64gb. I then followed the rest of the steps but used the guiformatter to partition the 64gb Tesla Partition and the remaining 55gb Music Partition.

I did this maybe half a dozen times and I got no camera icon to show up in the car when I put the USB in, the music worked. I unplugged the Jeda pad and still no change - then I gave it a 2 finger reboot and the camera showed back up with the grey X in it. I thought I got somewhere at least so I tried to reformat and follow the directions a few more times again with no luck.

I ended up back with create partition primary size=32768 align=1024 and it is working again as it should with a 32gb for TeslaCam. However I am simply back to where I started

It seems others are using a Tesla partition larger than 32gb but I must be missing something here. Any help would be appreciated!

I formatted my 256 with a Mac and it works fine. If you are using Windows you’ll need a third party formatting tool to do higher than 32.

 

[MrMannnilow]

I formatted my 256 with a Mac and it works fine. If you are using Windows you’ll need a third party formatting tool to do higher than 32.

I used the 3rd party tool as stated.

"I then followed the rest of the steps but used the guiformatter to partition the 64gb Tesla Partition and the remaining 55gb Music Partition"

If I use the tool I get a grey X - if i keep it at 32gb and use windows it works fine.

I tried on my mac and couldn't figure how how to create 2 partitions - will try again later

 

[whatthe2]

I used the 3rd party tool as stated.

"I then followed the rest of the steps but used the guiformatter to partition the 64gb Tesla Partition and the remaining 55gb Music Partition"

If I use the tool I get a grey X - if i keep it at 32gb and use windows it works fine.

I tried on my mac and couldn't figure how how to create 2 partitions - will try again later

Ah, sorry, missed that part.

 

[Rsdavis9]

Quick question:

Does the tesla overwrite when it runs out of space?
I had a X for the dashcam and when I brought the drive to a computer it was full.(sentry mode)
I erased a bunch of files and the car shows red dot now.

 

[Feathermerchan]

I don't think Sentry mode erases anything. The dash cam does erase unless you touch the icon save.

 

[whatthe2]

I don't think Sentry mode erases anything. The dash cam does erase unless you touch the icon save.

Correct, you have to manually delete Sentry and Saved files. When it fills up it won't record anymore.

 

[MrMannnilow]

Quick question:

Does the tesla overwrite when it runs out of space?

At this time it does not - I would hope that in future updates this will be addressed and added as an option. Its a pain to take the drive out every couple weeks and delete everything.

Oddly enough during my testing of formatting I noticed that if the drive is full or the partition is unreadable by the car, you can still toggle on/off sentry mode, it apparently doesn't do a check for free space or a place to record it to turn it on. I could see this leading to problems that one might think it's recording only to come back to find damage and no video of it

 

[Alfred]

On the Mac using Disk Utility (Mojave):

!!! Always make sure you are working on the correct Volume, the stick e.g. !!!

Format stick first as Mac OS Disk with Disk Utility, use GUID Partition Map:

Now, still in Disk Utility, click Partition in the top line of the Utility, click "+" to create a second partition and resize partitions by dragging or by entering GB size.
Give names and define FAT (will be FAT32), as shown below. Do that for both partitions created in the same dialog. Simply click on the partition (blue or white) you wish to specify.

Click Apply. Wait until the the partitions appear on your desktop. Get the Information for both.

Should names or format not be correct, you can individually erase and reformat them (one by one) again with your Disk Utility.
Once all is well, create in your camera partition a Folder named TeslaCam and in the music partition a folder named Music.

This sequence worked. A newly purchased stick may be formatted in FAT e.g. and the Utility would not be able to partition this file format.
I have yet to test how durable this format will be.

 

[Knightshade]

At this time it does not - I would hope that in future updates this will be addressed and added as an option. Its a pain to take the drive out every couple weeks and delete everything.

Oddly enough during my testing of formatting I noticed that if the drive is full or the partition is unreadable by the car, you can still toggle on/off sentry mode, it apparently doesn't do a check for free space or a place to record it to turn it on. I could see this leading to problems that one might think it's recording only to come back to find damage and no video of it

You can use sentry mode with no stick in the car at all- it'll still show the HAL thing on alert, and still do the loud music and text alert on alarm, just won't actually record the video.

FWIW I pulled my USB stick yesterday for the first time in 2 months, it had used about 1/3rd (roughly 35 GB) of the 128GB stick- this'd be extremely YMMV based on how "busy" the places you park and use sentry mode are though.

 

[MrMannnilow]

You can use sentry mode with no stick in the car at all- it'll still show the HAL thing on alert, and still do the loud music and text alert on alarm, just won't actually record the video.

Ah thanks for clarifying - I thought Sentry was the video recording portion. IMO the rest of that should always be the default car alarm regardless of if you have A USB Stick in or not...

 

[danix]

I just went through this and found that ExFAT would not work in my car. Only FAT32 works for the music to be recognized.
To make things easier setting up the USB on a Mac, I wrote a script that you can run in the terminal window.
I tried to make it verbose and safe, hope it's useful (I will continue tweaking).
dansimoes/teslastuff

 

[srs5694]

@Alfred and @danix, FWIW, there's a Mac-specific thread on partitioning for music and TeslaCam here:

[Mac] How to Format USB into 2 Partitions for DashCam and Music

 

[MXn00b]

Ah thanks for clarifying - I thought Sentry was the video recording portion. IMO the rest of that should always be the default car alarm regardless of if you have A USB Stick in or not...

My car alarm went off during last night's fireworks. There were people seated nearby that also set off Sentry when they were checking it out. Just lights flashed, not alarm. My USB drive was full, so I can't check the video. I do have data sharing on, so I'm hopeful there's a chance Tesla could pull a Sentry video if it helped solve a crime or insurance claim.

 

[nrohs]

Need help!!

I recently purchased 2TB WD Passport Ultra to use for the dash cam. I formatted it to FAT32 using disk utility in mac, but still it is not being recognized when I connect it to my M3. Any suggestions to make it work?

 

[humbaba]

Need help!!

I recently purchased 2TB WD Passport Ultra to use for the dash cam. I formatted it to FAT32 using disk utility in mac, but still it is not being recognized when I connect it to my M3. Any suggestions to make it work?

I'm not sure the port supplies enough power for a hard drive? Although posts above suggest there may be a limit of 32GB for the teslacam partition to be used my current setup uses 48GB for the teslacam partition.

If the telsacam partition is 64GB or larger try using a smaller partition and see if that works. If it doesn't, I'd go for a fast USB drive. Long story short, I tried using a 500GB corsair thumb drive and -- despite claims to speed -- it was too slow and the car started not using it with that as the reason for the error. I also tried a 500GB external because it was handy, but the car never recognized it. I then bought a 256GB sandisk that is fast and it is working fine.

For the $70 price tag, the SanDisk was well worth it. No, it isn't 2TB, but it just works.

(I think I only ever tried the external drive as a single partition, so if there is a partition size limit I may have hit that. If I can remember to I will experiment with another external drive that I can power from the inverter.)

 

[PoitNarf]

Need help!!

I recently purchased 2TB WD Passport Ultra to use for the dash cam. I formatted it to FAT32 using disk utility in mac, but still it is not being recognized when I connect it to my M3. Any suggestions to make it work?

Did you create the TeslaCam folder at the root of the partition? Also I wouldn’t use a hard drive. With all of the motion in the car it’s likely to fail pretty quick. If you really need that much storage capacity go with a SSD. If you’re not storing music and only using it for TeslaCam / Sentry Mode the you really don’t need anything above 256GB, so a fast USB flash drive or micro SD card with USB adapter will work fine.