Creating the ULTIMATE USB drive for your Tesla

In this video I explain the steps on how to create the ultimate USB drive for your Tesla, from partitioning and formatting to getting the highest quality audio rip from your CD collection. This will allow you to enjoy your personal music collection as well as enable Tesla features like Sentry Mode, Dashcam, Light Show, Boombox, and more!
Software used: Windows Media Player, MP3Tag www.mp3tag.de/en/
LightShows for your Tesla: teslalightshar...
SSD: www.microcente...
SSD Enclosure: www.microcente...
0:31 Create Partitions
2:45 Create Folders
3:51 Ripping CDs to FLAC
5:18 Album art & metadata
7:57 Demonstration

[@ozesati3544]

Followed procedure to create USB drive and worked flawlessly on my 2023 Model Y RWD. However, I added my MP3 files instead and all good. Now I can use same USB drive for video recording and play my favorite MP3 music.

[@lovebeer84]

Just tried this with a SanDisk 1TB Extreme PRO Portable SSD and everything worked perfectly. I already had 290GB of FLAC files from my home audio setup so no ripping needed. Thanks!💯

[@wpaoff-road]

Your video is very informative, probably the best one I found for a "how to" on this subject, thanks! 👍👍 I created the partitions exactly like you said. The custom lightshow worked. So then I loaded up about +20GB of music in the TeslaMedia partition "music" folder, with each artist in individual sub folders, and after that the car didn't seem to recognize the drive anymore. Not sure if it was taking forever to index it or not, I waited about 10 minutes and the car never showed the USB drive existing. So I deleted all the music, then the car saw the drive immediately. I proceeded to add music in smaller groups then put the drive in the car and it read it no problem, did that until I filled it up, adding larger groups of music as I went on. Not sure what happened, but its all working now, so just a piece of advice if anybody runs into this. ✌ (FYI,. this was on a 2023 Model Y Performance.)

[@rainerlubke3766]

I have the same, now I have the tesla USB for tesla things and a USB for music. Boths stick are connected to a USB small hub and this is connected in the USB slot in the Tesla "glove box" ( don't know thew english word for that ) . The USB - C Tesla slots till now, they accept nothing...again a Tesla question for what it is there ? Best info Video I saw since I have my Tesla

[@ggalak]

I followed yourr instructions and it worked immediately, after many attempts following other instructions. Thank you from Greece.

[@joshmaier18]

I remember when you just plugged the iPod in and it worked

[@ToonyBe]

Awesome video! Came upon this on a reddit thread. Super helpful. Thank you.

[@davidswale7271]

This was an excellent video and super easy to follow. Thank you!

[@utjiism]

Brand new MY LR owner! This is the best video I found on replacing the Tesla USB stick; trying to learn all the features of Y. However, not sure why you skipped talking about how to use/invoke Boombox and Lightshow features after installing custom files. It would have made this video complete! Will have to dig it up on my own. Thanks for the video!

[@beelust4312]

This is way above my PayGrade by 50 years 😮.

[@flyguy320]

Great video! Thanks for the detailed info on how to set up the drive!

[@stephenross4333]

Thanks for this! I saw another video which talked about this, but they did NOT mention that the partition had to be named TESLADRIVE. It hasn't worked on our Tesla, and I suspect this is why. Much appreciated. I don't drive the Model Y because I can't listen to my music! I drive the manual 6spd Audi S4 instead (still very nice to drive !), but I've been pissed at Tesla for their lack of support for local music files. Also hate Tesla for not allowing customization of the homescreen by adding large icons for commonly used functions. I have to wear reading glasses while driving the Tesla. FAIL !

[@danem8470]

Thanks Alex!!! It worked. And I used a Windows laptop.

[@graciescottsdale]

Perfect. Thank you!

[@liquidiq]

I found the partition info in the Owner's Manual, but it wasn't specific enough with partition naming. Plus it didn't include any information on the light show. Thanks!

[@josmith2062]

Nice geekery! 😃👍👌

[@Jelly-Mack]

Why fat32 for light show partition. Mine works fine with exfat. Thx for any info

[@m3pgi16]

When I open my 1TB T7 SDD in disk management I don’t see an option to add partitions 🤔 no New Simple Volume Wizard. Anyone know why?

[@tveggemeyer8103]

I suspect you need to the delete the one that is already there. Be aware that this will delete everything currently on the disk. After doing this, you will have 100% free space to allocate as you see fit.

[@lovebeer84]

@@tveggemeyer8103 agreed, I had to delete the existing volume so I could partition out the 1TB SSD

[@bastianm5478]

Would it make sense to make the Sentry partition 128gb, just to have more space for Sentry? Or does it automatically delete files when the files reach a certain size?

[@Espiritiv]

If you like to save tons of clips then make it bigger than the minimum.

[@Sammy0003]

Very cool bro!!!!

[@czechmate1974]

awesome vid--best in it's class, hands down! BUT HERE'S A QUESTION: Does ANYONE know how to SEARCH for songs on SSD (by either voice or search command??). i have 1000 songs from the 80's and dont have time to scroll. Just looking for simple SEARCH option...anyone? thanks a million in advance!

[@wtrskrs]

I don't supposed you've done this with a Mac? I've tried watching multiple videos but can't seem to be able to put everything on one drive (most of the time the car doesn't see anything. I've been able to do just LightShow on a drive and that worked, but no go on multiple drives on partitions.

[@PATTT_]

cool video but how about the new 2024 model y? has things changed? maybe something easier

[@alexkno11]

Nope, it should be the same process! This should work for most Teslas new and old, since they typically share the same software. Mine was a 2023.

[@mikeh.853]

At 3:10 in the video there's a photo of a Model 3 with wheels I've never seen... they are sweet! Obviously aftermarket wheels...do you know who makes them...?

[@afrose71]

Very helpful vid, thanks! Is album art restricted to small thumbnail views, or is there a way to make it bigger so it uses more of the screen?

[@alexkno11]

Unfortunately I haven't found a way to make the album art any bigger than the thumbnail in the corner of the screen. Thanks for watching, glad it was helpful!

[@Espiritiv]

Does the Sentry partition really have to be named TESLADRIVE or can it just be TeslaCam with a folder in it called TeslaCam?

[@GlitterRainStorm]

Thank you. I selected this video because I thought the guy was cute

[@cmdrbillpaxton4302]

I purchased a 256GB MicroSDXC card (using USB adapter) and it came formatted into a single volume. I selected "delete volume" so that I could then break it up into 3 volumes. But after removing the volume, windows 11 doesn't respond when I select "new simple volume" on it. I tried multiple times and also removed it, put it back into the computer, but it just doesn't respond to the command. It does show up in Disk Management as Unallocated just like on your screen. When you put it back into the pc, windows prompts and says it needs formatted for windows to be able to use it, but when I try to format it, windows says "it was unable to complete the format". What to do?

[@ozesati3544]

Windows 11 for me was saying usb drive is in read only mode and would not let me do anything to usb drive. Pop it into a win 10 device and all good.

[@no-oneman.4140]

You make me feel very old and even more thick.

[@alexkno11]

Sorry 😅 What part is tripping you up?

[@no-oneman.4140]

My brain.

[@usefulrandom1855]

Ive yet to even be a passenger in a Tesla! Is the Tidal app native or is just mirrored from your phone?

[@alexkno11]

It's a native app! the car also comes with Apple Music, Spotify, Slacker, and TuneIn. Video streaming services like KZbin and Netflix too! You can stream if you have Premium Connectivity or have it tethered to your phone hotspot.

[@usefulrandom1855]

@@alexkno11 cheers, I knew they Netflix and Spotify, didn't expect Tidal!! Im a shareholder and would a Tesla but only do around 3000 miles per year so am happy to drive a shit box and buy more shares haha

[@Kicken74]

I tried to get this to work on a usb stick and I got the first step done, but when I tried to format the second partition it got an error saying it couldn't be formatted.

[@Nyemaster]

USB sticks can have only 1 partition. That Is why he used a ssd

[@Kicken74]

@@Nyemaster Thank you for that information as I was unaware of that.

[@wpaoff-road]

@@Nyemaster That's not true. I used a "SAMSUNG MUF-256AB/AM FIT Plus 256GB" and was able to partition it with three volumes.

[@spacesurfer1206]

This is not true. I used Tesla's 128gb stick that came with car and was able to partition it. It might have to do with minimum size of stick.

[@evbase-official]

Can we collaborate on a KZbin Video about the Model Y Wheel covers?

[@alexkno11]

Sure - send me a DM on Twitter @knollster

[@archemity]

Where do you put the sound files for the horn?

[@tonespeaks]

@archemity Boombox

[@alexkno11]

On the TESLADRIVE partition (the same one the sentry clips go). Be sure it's a *.wav file, on the root folder of that partition, and is named "LockChime.wav".

[@tonespeaks]

@@alexkno11Thanks for that!!!!

[@iToddi]

Computers don't even have CD drives any more

[@brandonng6000]

where can i download boombox files? thanks

[@alexkno11]

I'd just Google it... The Road Runner can be found here: free-loops.com/7196-roadrunner-sound.html Any WAV/MP3 will work, other formats probably will too.

[@brandonng6000]

@@alexkno11 thanks

[@Traveling_Texas_in_a_Tesla]

128 GB? This is so 1994! Go with at least 500 GB, if not 1 TB in 2024!

[@Jelly-Mack]

I tried this partition thing exactly like on thjs vid and hasnt worked. The car sees my usb with songs in it but the lightshow songs do not show up in the lightshow. Pain in the arse this system