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Looking for ideal USB drive that does not stick out

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G

Greg

Member
Jan 17, 2013
41
11
USA
#1
The USB drive for the sentry and dash cam videos in my Y is in the center console compartment just in front of the cup holders. Unfortunately, the two spots to plug the USB drive into are halfway down the wall. If I was to use a normal USB drive, it would stick out a couple of inches. If I was to use this compartment to store stuff, when I put in or remove items I may hit the USB drive which may unplug it or worse break it. I want to get a USB drive that does sticks out only a few millimeters lessening the chance to unplugging or damaging the drive of the plug it inserts into.

I did some research online, but did not find any suitable options. I'm sure I'm not the first person to want this kind of USB drive. Does anyone have reocmmendations?
 
#3
ucmndd said:
I used one of these with an appropriate micro sd card in my Model S for several years. You can probably find one even smaller.

Rocketek Aluminum USB 3.0 Portable Memory Card Reader Adapter for Micro SD Card/TF Card Reader Adapter Amazon.com
Click to expand...
I have a few of this microSD card reader and they are great. Also have a few of the SanDisk MobileMate adapter and I think it's a tiny bit smaller.

There are even smaller adapters, but they are USB 2.0 and not 3.0. Amazon.com

I recommend using a high endurance microSD card rated for use with cameras that record continuously, like Samsung Pro Endurance or SanDisk High Endurance or SanDisk Max Endurance (I have some of all of those cards).
 
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#4
Greg said:
The USB drive for the sentry and dash cam videos in my Y is in the center console compartment just in front of the cup holders. Unfortunately, the two spots to plug the USB drive into are halfway down the wall. If I was to use a normal USB drive, it would stick out a couple of inches. If I was to use this compartment to store stuff, when I put in or remove items I may hit the USB drive which may unplug it or worse break it. I want to get a USB drive that does sticks out only a few millimeters lessening the chance to unplugging or damaging the drive of the plug it inserts into.

I did some research online, but did not find any suitable options. I'm sure I'm not the first person to want this kind of USB drive. Does anyone have reocmmendations?
Click to expand...
Do you have a USB port in the glove box? If so, could just use that one instead and not have any impingement issues.
 
#5
Greg said:
The USB drive for the sentry and dash cam videos in my Y is in the center console compartment just in front of the cup holders. Unfortunately, the two spots to plug the USB drive into are halfway down the wall. If I was to use a normal USB drive, it would stick out a couple of inches. If I was to use this compartment to store stuff, when I put in or remove items I may hit the USB drive which may unplug it or worse break it. I want to get a USB drive that does sticks out only a few millimeters lessening the chance to unplugging or damaging the drive of the plug it inserts into.

I did some research online, but did not find any suitable options. I'm sure I'm not the first person to want this kind of USB drive. Does anyone have reocmmendations?
Click to expand...
Could you not use use an angle USB adapter? (Search Amazon)
 
#7
Mrdrbot23 said:
I have a couple of these that I use: https://amzn.to/48la39X. They're meant to be inserted into laptops and left there so they're very low profile. The only issue is that they top out at 256GB (which is still double the space of the drive Tesla included with the car).
Click to expand...
There are even smaller SanDisk flash drives than this that require a lanyard to be able to unplug them. But these flash drives are not rated for continuous use to record video and will eventually wear out the memory.
 
#9
android04 said:
There are even smaller SanDisk flash drives than this that require a lanyard to be able to unplug them. But these flash drives are not rated for continuous use to record video and will eventually wear out the memory.
Click to expand...
Been using Sandisk micro flash drives. They are tiny, fast and ideal for glove box and center consoles. Some of them are more than 5 years old and they still function well. Amazon has a ton of them for less than 25 bucks for a 256 GB
Screenshot 2024-02-06 184732.png
 
#13
Ctuna said:
Most of the flash drive I have seen a standard USB which means you need
an adapter to make them work with the center console usb c 's.
Click to expand...
Plenty of adapters available on Amazon but that will make the USB drive stick out a little further. Better to put a USB hub that integrates well. BTW the center console USB does not carry any data in late 2023 and 2024 model 3 and Model Y
 
#14
I've tried many different things and have settled on a usb hub like this one that brings the usb ports into the cabin. I use silicone port plugs for the usb ports I'm not using and I use a Verbatim Nano usb flash drive for my music. My TeslaCam device is in the glovebox. For that I use a Samsung Pro Endurance micro sd card with a Samsung adapter.

I don't know of a better solution. There are now slimmer usb hubs that seem slightly more elegant. I may try one of those although I quite like the one I have with the blue led lighting. The light turns off automatically after about a minute and turns on with what I think is a motion detector. It's on when I want it to be on and off when I want it to be off without thinking or intervention on my part.
 
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#15
BitJam said:
I've tried many different things and have settled on a usb hub like this one that brings the usb ports into the cabin. I use silicone port plugs for the usb ports I'm not using and I use a Verbatim Nano usb flash drive for my music. My TeslaCam device is in the glovebox. For that I use a Samsung Pro Endurance micro sd card with a Samsung adapter.

I don't know of a better solution. There are now slimmer usb hubs that seem slightly more elegant. I may try one of those although I quite like the one I have with the blue led lighting. The light turns off automatically after about a minute and turns on with what I think is a motion detector. It's on when I want it to be on and off when I want it to be off without thinking or intervention on my part.
Click to expand...
The slimmer USB hub does not have any blinking lights. I use one in my MY just for charging as the 2024 MY does not have data in the center console. It looks very nice matching the color perfectly and does the job well without causing any obstruction. I am a big fan of SanDisk Ultra Fit USB drives that are tiny, cheap and perform very well. They have also been very reliable.
 
#16
arvindm said:
I am a big fan of SanDisk Ultra Fit USB drives that are tiny, cheap and perform very well. They have also been very reliable.
Click to expand...
For many years I worked on a version of Linux that runs from usb stick. We have many thousands of users. From my personal experience and from problems reported by our users SanDisk Ultra Fit are the worst and least reliable flash drives you can get.

The problem is they run way too hot. The current surge this creates on some systems then causes additional problems that prevent the device from operating correctly.

Personally, one of these apparently melted the motherboard of a fancy new Dell XPS-13 laptop. I had another nearly brand new one die unexpectedly. So far that is the only usb drive from my stable that has done that.

The weird behavior from the current surge is hard to pin down because it manifests differently on different systems. But whenever a user had weird problems with their system that we couldn't track down, I would ask them if they were using a SanDisk Ultra Fit. Nine times out of ten, the answer was "yes".

Name brand usb flash drives are remarkably reliable. Even most SandDisk Ultra Fits are reliable (except when you use them in a system where their power surge prevents them from booting). But the vast majority of problem flash drives I've encountered were SanDisk Ultra Fit.

I've had much better luck with Samsung devices. The only Samsung failure I remember was a T5 SSD that I kept in my glovebox for TeslaCam. After about a year of use it started to sometimes disconnect. I switched to high endurance Samsung micro sd cards and have not had any problems since. My car sits out in the hot New Mexico sun and it gets hot inside. I attribute the early failure of the Samsung T5 to the excessively hot environment.
 
#17
BitJam said:
For many years I worked on a version of Linux that runs from usb stick. We have many thousands of users. From my personal experience and from problems reported by our users SanDisk Ultra Fit are the worst and least reliable flash drives you can get.

The problem is they run way too hot. The current surge this creates on some systems then causes additional problems that prevent the device from operating correctly.

Personally, one of these apparently melted the motherboard of a fancy new Dell XPS-13 laptop. I had another nearly brand new one die unexpectedly. So far that is the only usb drive from my stable that has done that.

The weird behavior from the current surge is hard to pin down because it manifests differently on different systems. But whenever a user had weird problems with their system that we couldn't track down, I would ask them if they were using a SanDisk Ultra Fit. Nine times out of ten, the answer was "yes".

Name brand usb flash drives are remarkably reliable. Even most SandDisk Ultra Fits are reliable (except when you use them in a system where their power surge prevents them from booting). But the vast majority of problem flash drives I've encountered were SanDisk Ultra Fit.

I've had much better luck with Samsung devices. The only Samsung failure I remember was a T5 SSD that I kept in my glovebox for TeslaCam. After about a year of use it started to sometimes disconnect. I switched to high endurance Samsung micro sd cards and have not had any problems since. My car sits out in the hot New Mexico sun and it gets hot inside. I attribute the early failure of the Samsung T5 to the excessively hot environment.
Click to expand...
Been using SanDisk in my Jeep Grand Cherokee WK2 where the USB ports are in a tight location and now in Tesla for years. Some of the old USB 2.0 drives from 2012 still working fine. There is no delay in playing music or changing tracks even in the older drives. Only difference between USB 2.0 and 3.0 is that the USB 2.0 drives take longer to fill up while the 3.0 are faster. I have used Samsung Drives and they are much larger and not any better in terms of speed or reliability. Heat has never been as issue for playing music in cars. It may be an issue if you are running huge programs on a PC! In a car I like something that is small, convenient and stays hidden away instead of sticking out like a sore thumb!
 
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