# USB drive has no filesystem warning



## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

My MicroSD card and reader had been working fine for quite a while. But with recent builds, I started getting a warning message about the USB drive not having a filesystem. It's a strange warning, because everything appears to keep working regardless.










I was playing around with it last night, and I think I might have figured out what is going on. I noticed that the option to have the car format the USB drive for me was greyed out. That seemed strange. I unplugged my reader, then plugged it back in. The button became available for a fraction of a second, then greyed out again. This time, a message was displayed for a second: "Plug in only one USB device to format".










Well, I only have the one device plugged in. But it's this one:


It's a card reader with both an SD and MicroSD slot. So I'm guessing that it may be actually appearing as two different devices to the car. So my MicroSD card is working fine, but the SD card reader (which has no card inserted) causes the warning about having no filesystem. For anybody else who is also seeing this message, are you also using a card reader with multiple slots?


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

That makes sense, because those adaptors emulate a USB flash drive - the protocol is different for SD cards. I guess if it has two slots it's emulating two USB flash drives.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

I've put a formatted SD card into the other slot and plugged it back in.
So far, no more warning messages, but I haven't gone for a drive yet.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Park2670 said:


> Its an error message that says USB Drive Malfunction. I have had the same SD card in there for the past several months. Error showed up right after the update, figured it somehow corrupted the card and used my laptop to reformat. Still the same error message, but everything on Sentry and Dashcam works perfect. So its just a false error message.


@Park2670, is this the message you are seeing?
I should have taken a picture of the actual warning message.
Are you using a card reader or a regular USB thumb drive?


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## NR4P (Jul 14, 2018)

I use only Thumb Drives, 128GB. After about 18 months of constant use, I received the "USB Drive Malfunction" and had format button active briefly but could not format the drive. I checked the drive on a PC. It was not recoverable, could not reformat it. Do recall a file system error. Manufacturer replaced it under warranty. Save those receipts.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

NR4P said:


> I received the "USB Drive Malfunction"


This appears to be a different issue. There is no "usb drive malfunction" message.

Instead, there's a warning message that says that the USB drive "has no filesystem".


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

garsh said:


> I've put a formatted SD card into the other slot and plugged it back in.
> So far, no more warning messages, but I haven't gone for a drive yet.


I've gone on a few drives now, and have not seen the error message again.
It appears that my "fix" has solved the problem.


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

@garsh is there an advantage for using an SD card over a USB flash drive or external SSD? I assume you're using a Class 10 SD.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

$ Trillion Musk said:


> @garsh is there an advantage for using an SD card over a USB flash drive or external SSD? I assume you're using a Class 10 SD.


SSDs are designed for high-speed reading and writing. It's by far the best choice, but the most expensive.

The MicroSD w. USB reader combination is less expensive. Beyond the Class 10 rating, some MicroSD cards are designed for dashcam use - be sure to get one of those. You also need a MicroSD card reader that can actually handle the constant writing.

USB flash drives are the least expensive option. But most USB flash drives are not designed for this sort of constant-writing application. I've had a few fail - I assume failures are due to generating too much heat during the constant writing. So I find that it's more difficult to find one that will work. I had one that worked fine back when TeslaCam only recorded the front camera, but then failed after TeslaCam was updated to record four cameras.


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## Park2670 (Aug 24, 2017)

Several updates later, still have the same error message. I am using a USB to SD card reader, and yes it has two slots. I also tried a USB thumb drive, same error message. I am just ignoring it for now, as it still works fine.


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

garsh said:


> SSDs are designed for high-speed reading and writing. It's by far the best choice, but the most expensive.
> 
> The MicroSD w. USB reader combination is less expensive. Beyond the Class 10 rating, some MicroSD cards are designed for dashcam use - be sure to get one of those. You also need a MicroSD card reader that can actually handle the constant writing.
> 
> USB flash drives are the least expensive option. But most USB flash drives are not designed for this sort of constant-writing application. I've had a few fail - I assume failures are due to generating too much heat during the constant writing. So I find that it's more difficult to find one that will work. I had one that worked fine back when TeslaCam only recorded the front camera, but then failed after TeslaCam was updated to record four cameras.


Thanks - this is great!

Did you notice a reduction in video glitches? I wonder if it would make a difference.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

$ Trillion Musk said:


> Did you notice a reduction in video glitches?


Compared to the USB drives I had previously been using, yes.
I still see a few glitches though.


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## SimonMatthews (Apr 20, 2018)

garsh said:


> SSDs are designed for high-speed reading and writing. It's by far the best choice, but the most expensive.


An M.2 drive in a USB enclosure is a little more expensive, but compact and should be reliable. Prices are dropping and a 100GB drive plus enclosure can be found for less than $40.


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## Magnets! (Jan 10, 2019)

I'm getting this same message too with my SD reader USB stick.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Park2670 said:


> Several updates later, still have the same error message. I am using a USB to SD card reader, and yes it has two slots.


Insert a formatted SD card (with a FAT32 filesystem) into the empty slot, and the warning message should go away. Keep it empty - don't put a TeslaCam directory or anything else on it. It can probably be some old, slow SD card that you have lying around (or a MicroSD card in an adapter, which is what I did).

This "fix" is still working for me. I went on a weekend road trip, and didn't get the message.

Ok, that's not _entirely_ true. I did see the message once. My wife's Kindle died, and I plugged it into a front USB port to charge it, at which point the message popped up (complaining that the Kindle wasn't formatted, LOL). Unplugging the Kindle wasn't enough to make the warning message disappear though. I had to remove both the Kindle and the MicroSD card reader before the warning message went away. I then reinserted the MicroSD card reader, and all has been fine again.

So, once this message pops up, it appears that you need to remove all devices from all USB ports before the message will go away. Then you can reinstall a "fixed" device.


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## Magnets! (Jan 10, 2019)

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I was wondering how the car wasn't confused on which drive to store video, but without the directory I guess it just ignores that one. Using a regular USB stick for now as I don't have an old SD card hanging around.


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## $ Trillion Musk (Nov 5, 2016)

Saving Sentry Mode videos is buggy in general. I get formatting errors with the provided Tesla thumb drive too.

Tapped _Format Drive_ to make the error go away. I have no patience for this. 😂


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