# USB not sufficient for recording with new update



## Fishn4life (Jul 5, 2018)

I have a Sandisk 64gb ultra usb 3.1 that I've been using for my sentry/dashcam. It's been working great but since the recent update (2020.12.5) it's no longer able to keep sentry recordings (sentry tab is grayed out). I received a message stating that my usb is now "insufficient" for recording sentry. Is anyone else getting this message? Does this mean I need to get a SSD T5 to review & record sentry now? If so, is 500gb more than sufficient or is this new update going to use more memory?

Thanks


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## bradkeller (Nov 14, 2017)

I currently use a 500 GB SSD from Samsung, and it works fine with my new update (2020.12.5 e2179e0650). Here's a link to what I'm using: .

I currently have the disk partitioned so that part of the disk records Sentry and Dashcam footage, and the other part holds my entire music collection. That's handy because at times I want to listen to an entire album, and don't feel like streaming it from the phone.

Having a disk big enough for a dashcam AND all of my music made it easier to swallow the cost of this drive. I installed it right after Christmas and haven't even thought about it since -- it's worked perfectly.

I don't know if this is a solution that will work for you, but it's worked for me.

Good luck.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Fishn4life said:


> Does this mean I need to get a SSD T5 to review & record sentry now? If so, is 500gb more than sufficient or is this new update going to use more memory?


The problem isn't the size. The problem is the USB drive's inability to write data quickly enough for dashcam purposes.

Replacing it with an SSD is the best option. They are certainly designed to handle high sustained write speeds.

Another option is to get a MicroSD card that is advertised for dashcam use, and combine that with a MicroSD card reader that can handle sustained writing. This is a much less expensive solution than an SSD, but an SSD can withstand many more write cycles before failing.



garsh said:


> Temperature is less important than the ability to handle continuous writing. Basically, nobody designs USB drives to handle continuous writing, so they often simply fail when you try to use them in a Tesla for dashcam purposes.
> 
> I suggest switching to either an SSD, or a MicroSD card with a good MicroSD USB reader.
> 
> ...


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

bradkeller said:


> I currently use a 500 GB SSD from Samsung, and it works fine with my new update (2020.12.5 e2179e0650). Here's a link to what I'm using: .
> 
> I currently have the disk partitioned so that part of the disk records Sentry and Dashcam footage, and the other part holds my entire music collection. That's handy because at times I want to listen to an entire album, and don't feel like streaming it from the phone.
> 
> ...


I've been using the same Samsung T5 in my car since I got it 6 months ago. Never an issue or error. It's plugged into my @Jeda Products USB hub and just does its thing. Been through a cold Canadian winter with zero issues. Like you, I partitioned mine and have my complete iTune library on it. Highly recommend this solution over any USB stick .


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## Fishn4life (Jul 5, 2018)

Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a simple fix before throwing down another $100. 
Appreciate the info!


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## 2Kap (Jan 29, 2018)

I have my T5 partitioned with the hopes that the Tesla software eventually lets us play movies on the screen. (While in park of course) .mkv/.mp4 format. 😬


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## pacific dunes (Jan 6, 2018)

bradkeller said:


> I currently use a 500 GB SSD from Samsung, and it works fine with my new update (2020.12.5 e2179e0650). Here's a link to what I'm using: .
> 
> I currently have the disk partitioned so that part of the disk records Sentry and Dashcam footage, and the other part holds my entire music collection. That's handy because at times I want to listen to an entire album, and don't feel like streaming it from the phone.
> 
> ...


I have the same Samusng 500GB SSD and sentry is not working the same since the latest firmware update. I can't select any of the options in the Model 3 control panel where Sentry details are located.


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## Jeda Products (Oct 8, 2019)

Fishn4life said:


> Thanks for the feedback. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't a simple fix before throwing down another $100.
> Appreciate the info!


Thanks for the mention Trevor.

Just popping in to say this is a pretty known issue with Tesla and storage. Flash drives aren't intended for continuous read/write so sometimes they spazz out over time. Always best to use a high write/read speed device! Samsung T5 is a great option, as is any portable SSD. Some SD cards + readers can work well too.


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

We have the Samsung T5 512GB SSD in both our Model 3 and Model Y.
Very happy with it.


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## NR4P (Jul 14, 2018)

I have a small USB 3.0 Sandisk 128gb flash drive. Been there since the Dashcam came into our M3's. Hasn't missed a beat. I think is was sub $30 on Amazon way back when. Not sure I see a need for anything larger or more exotic. Especially with auto delete of non saved files.


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## pacific dunes (Jan 6, 2018)

pacific dunes said:


> I have the same Samusng 500GB SSD and sentry is not working the same since the latest firmware update. I can't select any of the options in the Model 3 control panel where Sentry details are located.


I think I isolated my issue to my usb cable splitter. Just coincidence on the timing of the failure.


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

pacific dunes said:


> I think I isolated my issue to my usb cable splitter. Just coincidence on the timing of the failure.


I'd typically recommend staying away from these kinds of cable splitters.

You can format these drives to do sentry and music. I also recommend that over a splitter.

EVERYONE. THE CAR HAS *USB 2.0*. Ports. It doesn't matter how fast your 3.0 or 3.1 devices are, they are bottlenecked by the speed of the port 😉 (I'd love to know if the USB C in the Y are faster)


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> I'd typically recommend staying away from these kinds of cable splitters.
> 
> You can format these drives to do sentry and music. I also recommend that over a splitter.
> 
> EVERYONE. THE CAR HAS *USB 2.0*. Ports. It doesn't matter how fast your 3.0 or 3.1 devices are, they are bottlenecked by the speed of the port 😉 (I'd love to know if the USB C in the Y are faster)


but if someone wants to keep 2 power sources for charging a cell phone, you need a splitter when using a USB drive.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> EVERYONE. THE CAR HAS *USB 2.0*. Ports. It doesn't matter how fast your 3.0 or 3.1 devices are, they are bottlenecked by the speed of the port 😉 (I'd love to know if the USB C in the Y are faster)


True. But USB 2.0 supports 60 MB/s, which theoretically is fast enough to handle 12 1080p streams, so even that shouldn't be a bottleneck for the 4 lesser-quality streams from the Tesla's cameras.

USB thumb drives just generally aren't designed to handle sustained high-speed writing. I've never seen a "sustained write speed" specification listed for one, unlike MicroSD cards and SSD drives.


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## Fishn4life (Jul 5, 2018)

NR4P said:


> I have a small USB 3.0 Sandisk 128gb flash drive. Been there since the Dashcam came into our M3's. Hasn't missed a beat. I think is was sub $30 on Amazon way back when. Not sure I see a need for anything larger or more exotic. Especially with auto delete of non saved files.


Did you do the recent software update? I don't have any factual numbers but seems the new video playback is not working well (at least with my usb "sentry"). Curious if other usb flash drives are functioning ok with new update.

I ordered a T5 since my usb flash is not able to function with sentry anymore.


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## Jeda Products (Oct 8, 2019)

NR4P said:


> I have a small USB 3.0 Sandisk 128gb flash drive. Been there since the Dashcam came into our M3's. Hasn't missed a beat. I think is was sub $30 on Amazon way back when. Not sure I see a need for anything larger or more exotic. Especially with auto delete of non saved files.


That's the funny thing. Some experience issues, some don't - but over time it can happen. 


StromTrooperM3 said:


> I'd typically recommend staying away from these kinds of cable splitters.
> 
> You can format these drives to do sentry and music. I also recommend that over a splitter.
> 
> EVERYONE. THE CAR HAS *USB 2.0*. Ports. It doesn't matter how fast your 3.0 or 3.1 devices are, they are bottlenecked by the speed of the port 😉 (I'd love to know if the USB C in the Y are faster)


Most likely, as the Model 3 doesnt have USB C power delivery but the Model Y should. We're working on this now in terms of testing 


StromTrooperM3 said:


> I'd typically recommend staying away from these kinds of cable splitters.
> 
> You can format these drives to do sentry and music. I also recommend that over a splitter.
> 
> EVERYONE. THE CAR HAS *USB 2.0*. Ports. It doesn't matter how fast your 3.0 or 3.1 devices are, they are bottlenecked by the speed of the port 😉 (I'd love to know if the USB C in the Y are faster)


And partitioning and formatting to have both on one device is a good option if you use a quality storage device and can get through the partioning bit, also frees up extra USB space. 


MelindaV said:


> but if someone wants to keep 2 power sources for charging a cell phone, you need a splitter when using a USB drive.


You can also utilize a hub! Whether it be the Jeda USB Hub, or not. Something which has good power distribution can help.


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## Jeda Products (Oct 8, 2019)

Fishn4life said:


> Did you do the recent software update? I don't have any factual numbers but seems the new video playback is not working well (at least with my usb "sentry"). Curious if other usb flash drives are functioning ok with new update.
> 
> I ordered a T5 since my usb flash is not able to function with sentry anymore.


T5 is the way to go, or a great option.

Flash drives have been facing issues for a while, some don't have them, and some have them consistently. Lots of factors at play - but in general they can be less reliable and cause "read/write" speed errors or problems with saving files/corrupted files.


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

garsh said:


> True. But USB 2.0 supports 60 MB/s, which theoretically is fast enough to handle 12 1080p streams, so even that shouldn't be a bottleneck for the 4 lesser-quality streams from the Tesla's cameras.


What does this have anything to do with everyone asking about USB 3.0 devices. The bottleneck is most likely the media being used and the fact the port is 2.0. use a USB 12.0 device and it makes the discussion similarly irrelevant

Again. Most devices are marked with their theoretical READ speeds not write speeds.

USB thumb drives NOR portable ssds are really designed for constant writes(I'm a data center admin I know a thing or two about this)

Splitters as previously mentioned are not great when it comes to data or charging for that matter. You're splitting the resources from one port into two. This becomes irrelevant when you move to thunderbolt


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

Taptes offers a nice hub for 1/3 of the cost.

https://www.taptes.com/products/tap...tesla-model-3-dashcam-sentry-mode-model-3-hub

As this is not a splitter and uses both USB ports it's a much better design for trying to reinvent the wheel(making 3 or more ports out of what was designed to be 2 ports total)


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

Jeda Products said:


> but the Model Y should


The model Y DOES


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## Fishn4life (Jul 5, 2018)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> Taptes offers a nice hub for 1/3 of the cost.
> 
> https://www.taptes.com/products/tap...tesla-model-3-dashcam-sentry-mode-model-3-hub
> 
> As this is not a splitter and uses both USB ports it's a much better design for trying to reinvent the wheel(making 3 or more ports out of what was designed to be 2 ports total)


I just received my taptes and installed today. I was using the splitter so now I'm wondering if my usb flash will function better with the new software now that I'm not using the splitter.


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

Fishn4life said:


> I was using the splitter so now I'm wondering if my usb flash will function better


I will bet my last week's paycheck that it does. Those splitters are nothing but trouble


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

Fishn4life said:


> have a Sandisk 64gb ultra usb 3.1 that I've been using for my sentry/dashcam


Just an FYI.. performance of those are quite slow. I kept one of these as a spare in my car just in case my SD card got filled up. You just taught me it wasn't really up to the job now with the 4 cameras. Now with the dashcam viewer and ability to delete in car I'll throw it in my book bag. I'll pickup another sd card to have as a backup in case of failure

https://usb.userbenchmark.com/SanDisk-Ultra-Fit-USB-30-64GB/Rating/2698










Grab yourself a dashcam sd card. I have the top rated pick here but 128gb > https://carcamcentral.com/guide/recommended-microsd-cards-for-dash-cameras

And a USB micro SD card reader.


If you want to go the more expensive route you can get an SSD like a T5 but they are not necessary


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> Taptes offers a nice hub for 1/3 of the cost.
> 
> https://www.taptes.com/products/tap...tesla-model-3-dashcam-sentry-mode-model-3-hub
> 
> As this is not a splitter and uses both USB ports it's a much better design for trying to reinvent the wheel(making 3 or more ports out of what was designed to be 2 ports total)


If you get one that works. Mine was dead when it arrived. I took it apart, ascertained that it was the connector between the 2 pcbs that was the problem, but wasn't determined enough to fix that.

A great option for a splitter is this -


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> What does this have anything to do with everyone asking about USB 3.0 devices.


Just that USB 2.0 has plenty of bandwidth for this purpose and isn't the bottleneck.


> The bottleneck is most likely the media being used and the fact the port is 2.0.


Agreed that it's the thumb drive itself that's the bottleneck.
I'm just pointing out that if you plug in a USB 2.0 device that can actually handle the continuous writing, you won't have a problem.


> Splitters as previously mentioned are not great when it comes to data or charging for that matter. You're splitting the resources from one port into two.


Those splitters only split the power lines. The data lines are only connected to one of the outputs. They're a horrible non-compliant hack that ends up confusing a lot of people who don't realize the limitations they impose. But they can solve the issue of supplying additional USB power-only ports cheaply. But USB HUBs are spec-compliant devices and they're generally not very expensive, so a HUB would be a better choice.


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

sduck said:


> A Great option for a splitter is this -


There are a ton of options on Amazon. Some even without the markup simply because they have Tesla in the description.


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## NR4P (Jul 14, 2018)

Fishn4life said:


> Did you do the recent software update? I don't have any factual numbers but seems the new video playback is not working well (at least with my usb "sentry"). Curious if other usb flash drives are functioning ok with new update.
> 
> I ordered a T5 since my usb flash is not able to function with sentry anymore.


I have the latest update. Enjoying the Sentry playback.
But I wish when it shows a Sentry event and I tap it, it doesn't start at the very beginning of the 10 min clip. Take me to the "event". Home cameras now show you the event with 5 sec lead in. Maybe 30 seconds for Tesla?


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> There are a ton of options on Amazon. Some even without the markup simply because they have Tesla in the description.


The one I linked was actually designed by a model 3 owner - I'm not sure if he's a member here, although he is on the other tesla forum. There's a thread where he chronicles the development of it, and the choices involved.


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

sduck said:


> The one I linked was actually designed by a model 3 owner -


It's a USB hub, based on a standard USB protocol. I'm standing by my opinion is double or triple the price because it says Tesla. #snakeoil


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> It's a USB hub, based on a standard USB protocol. I'm standing by my opinion is double or triple the price because it says Tesla. #snakeoil


The item sduck linked isn't a HUB. It's another non-spec-compliant "splitter".


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

garsh said:


> The item sduck linked isn't a HUB. It's another non-spec-compliant "splitter".


Good observation I was immediately was put off by the name Tesla in the product 😂. So it's even more of a rip off then I originally thought


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

Whatever. I'm not trying to sell anything, just thought some folks might be interested. Knowledge is empowering and all that. I actually use one of those sabrent hubs you posted a few posts back. Here's the original thread on this device for those that might be curious, and willing to take the time to read it and make their own decisions - https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/custom-usb-splitter-solution-for-m3.158348/


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

StromTrooperM3 said:


> Taptes offers a nice hub for 1/3 of the cost.
> 
> https://www.taptes.com/products/tap...tesla-model-3-dashcam-sentry-mode-model-3-hub
> 
> As this is not a splitter and uses both USB ports it's a much better design for trying to reinvent the wheel(making 3 or more ports out of what was designed to be 2 ports total)


Point of order - the taptes hub isn't actually a hub, it's just a data router/power splitter. I have one in pieces on my desk in front of me. The data pins are just routed directly - the right USB port on the car to the internal USB port on the "hub", and the left USB on the car to the the left side "data & power" port on the "hub". The data pins on the other 3 USB ports are not connected to anything. The power from both inlet ports is shared between all 5 outlet ports, with no management. There are no chips at all in this device except for 2 resistors on the USB C outlet (for whatever reason). While this will still fill the needs of some people, it might help explain why it doesn't fill the needs of everyone.


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## TomT (Apr 1, 2019)

My 128Gb Roadie has no issues with it.



Fishn4life said:


> Curious if other usb flash drives are functioning ok with new update.


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## StromTrooperM3 (Mar 27, 2019)

sduck said:


> Whatever. I'm not trying to sell anything
> 
> Knowledge is empowering and all that.


There seems to be a ton of premium added on so many accessories. Having a tech company my mission is to have who I deal with make informed spending decisions when it comes to tech. That thing is just a rip off. That's all there is to it.

I want to see some testing done on the USB C ports in the Y. Are they higher output? Does it connect to the car wiring the same? Can we retrofit them going forward?

I've been in a lot of rentals that can do fast charge. It's really unacceptable to me personally these ports are so neutered for such a little cost


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