News Tesla's $350 1TB SSD Can Withstand Vehicle Vibrations Like All SSDs

[Admin]

Tesla's $350 automotive-grade external 1TB SSD for games and Sentry Mode footage goes on sale Feb. 2023.

Tesla's $350 1TB SSD Can Withstand Vehicle Vibrations Like All SSDs : Read more

 

[USAFRet]

And I should buy this silly thing why, exactly?

Tesla is the new Apple?
Calling all fanbois! Swarm swarm swarm!!

 

[Udyr]

ERMAHGERD! I want 4 for my full Corsair build!!!

No, seriously... read the room before you price your stuff. But I'm pretty sure it's gonna be "justified" because of the design, some proprietary connectors and some other silly stuff.

 

[King_V]

Look, he's gotta find SOME way to repay all that money he borrowed to acquire Twitter... $350 for a 1TB SSD in today's market of cratering SSD prices sounds like enough margin per unit to put a dent in all that debt.

Assuming he can find enough suckers to pay that much.

 

[JTWrenn]

Tom's should get a unit and test if it is indeed spec'd for anything better than a normal external SSD. It's always possible it actually is...even if it is not necessary, but knowing Tesla it is mostly likely just a fancy outside on an off the shelf external SSD and they should be exposed for it.

 

[drivinfast247]

Look, he's gotta find SOME way to repay all that money he borrowed to acquire Twitter... $350 for a 1TB SSD in today's market of cratering SSD prices sounds like enough margin per unit to put a dent in all that debt.

Assuming he can find enough suckers to pay that much.

He'll be fine. He found enough people to buy a silly electric car.

 

[umeng2002_2]

I find it funny that the writers for Tom's are complaining about social media blocking now.

 

[bigdragon]

This is ridiculous for a 1TB SSD. Reminds me of when Subaru demanded $250 to update the maps in the BRZ I used to have. Why should I pay when I get free maps over the internet, my phone, and my old standalone GPS? Automotive companies love to gouge. Tesla, Subaru, BMW, GM, Lexus -- they all pull this crap all the time.

 

[drivinfast247]

This is ridiculous for a 1TB SSD. Reminds me of when Subaru demanded $250 to update the maps in the BRZ I used to have. Why should I pay when I get free maps over the internet, my phone, and my old standalone GPS? Automotive companies love to gouge. Tesla, Subaru, BMW, GM, Lexus -- they all pull this crap all the time.

$1200/year will allow you the full potential of your vehicle. https://www.thedrive.com/news/mercedes-makes-better-performance-a-1200-subscription-in-its-evs

 

[emike09]

This is just another Elon/Tesla clickbait article that doesn't provide any factual data and is opinion based. What has Toms Hardware fallen to? The comments here also blow my mind and are all opinion based or the voices of people uneducated or unexperienced in IT infrastructure.

This article did not provide any data backing up why this drive isn't better, or why other SSD's can or cannot handle the extreme environments that cars go through. Here in Utah, we spend 4 months below freezing, with temps often hitting 0F or sometimes down to -30F. In the summer, we have temps that reach up to 110F. In a sealed vehicle in the summer, those internal temps can easily hit 170F+ on the hottest days. How do SSDs handle going from one extreme to another? What about vibration and impact resistance from potholes during both extremes of temperature? What about endurance during these extremes?

My 4 NVMe drives, several SATA SSDs, and 8 HDDs sit in a controlled home environment that only experience minor temp swings and almost zero vibration (my footsteps and cats running around). Why would you compare the average environment to that of a vehicle?

Long story short, I highly doubt the listed consumer USB SSDs can handle 10-15 years of massive stress that a certified automotive-approved SSD can go through. This entire article is about as amateur as a writer could ever write and screams novice in IT and a hater of Elon's works. Brandon Hill, take your opinions and personal preferences elsewhere. Write an article that is based on facts and not your own opinions.

 

[USAFRet]

This article did not provide any data backing up why this or other SSD's can or cannot handle the extreme environments that cars go through. Here in Utah, we spend 4 months below freezing, with temps often hitting 0F or sometimes down to -30F. In the summer, we have temps that reach up to 110F. In a sealed vehicle in the summer, those internal temps can easily hit 150F+ on the hottest days. How do SSDs handle going from one extreme to another? What about vibration and impact resistance from potholes during both extremes of temperature? What about endurance during these extremes?

Well, the microSD cards in my various dashcams have endured (almost) that temp swing.
In operation for several years.
None failed yet.

Also, this particular device is not necessarily for installation IN the car, but rather just another external drive.
Like buying a RollsRoyce or Ferrari branded drive. meh, except for the label.

 

[cyrusfox]

Automotive grade Flash is expensive, look it up on Mouser(Micron 2100AT going for $500 per 1tb). That Micron 2100AT is rated to function @ 115°C. If it is truly using automotive grade NAND, $350 is actually quite reasonable, especially as it is Tesla branded

As this really just a usb C to usb A NVME enclosure (guessing), nothing is stopping you from using your own storage so why complain? Some people love branded technology items (Porsche branded electronics anyone?), I am sure it will sell well.

Slow news day I guess...

 

[JTWrenn]

Automotive grade Flash is expensive, look it up on Mouser(Micron 2100AT going for $500 per 1tb). That Micron 2100AT is rated to function @ 115°C. If it is truly using automotive grade NAND, $350 is actually quite reasonable, especially as it is Tesla branded

As this really just a usb C to usb A NVME enclosure (guessing), nothing is stopping you from using your own storage so why complain? Some people love branded technology items (Porsche branded electronics anyone?), I am sure it will sell well.

Slow news day I guess...

The real question is...can you use anything in there or will Tesla lock it out. I sure as hell don't trust them not to do it.

That being said, Tom's get a drive, tear it down and tell us what it really is. If it is some higher grade ssd that can handle extreme conditions great, not too crazy. If it is what I expect...another makers ssd with a tesla label slapped on it, then lambast them.

 

[JTWrenn]

This article did not provide any data backing up why this drive isn't better, or why other SSD's can or cannot handle the extreme environments that cars go through. Here in Utah, we spend 4 months below freezing, with temps often hitting 0F or sometimes down to -30F. In the summer, we have temps that reach up to 110F. In a sealed vehicle in the summer, those internal temps can easily hit 150F+ on the hottest days. How do SSDs handle going from one extreme to another? What about vibration and impact resistance from potholes during both extremes of temperature? What about endurance during these extremes?

Didn't read the whole article huh?
"As for temperatures, the $89 Samsung T7 Shield(opens in new tab) has an operating temperature range of 0 C to 60 C, a non-operating temperature range of -40 C to 85 C, and an operating humidity range of 5% to 95%. "

So that's 32f to 140f operating, and -40 f to 185f resting. So they did quite clearly say you can already get a drive that both handles shocks and temperatures

I do think that Tesla is likely gouging on brand but also putting this up with no specs sucks as well. They are calling it something without saying what that means.

 

[emike09]

Well, the microSD cards in my various dashcams have endured (almost) that temp swing.
In operation for several years.
None failed yet.

That's a drive that's primarily write based and doesn't demand high-output reads/writes cycles. The use case here is far more demanding.

Didn't read the whole article huh?
"As for temperatures, the $89 Samsung T7 Shield(opens in new tab) has an operating temperature range of 0 C to 60 C, a non-operating temperature range of -40 C to 85 C, and an operating humidity range of 5% to 95%. "

So that's 32f to 140f operating, and -40 f to 185f resting. So they did quite clearly say you can already get a drive that both handles shocks and temperatures

I do think that Tesla is likely gouging on brand but also putting this up with no specs sucks as well. They are calling it something without saying what that means.

Yes I read it. My thoughts are the same. My interior cabin can break 0C+ by the time I finish commuting to work. Can the drive handle both those temps and shock values for a long duration of time for many years? Most electronics die between 5-10 years. Automotive electronics are usually hardier to last longer than that (but some still fail, no matter the manufacture.)

All I'm saying is the article is poorly written, isn't based on data sheets and doesn't account for the fact that this Tesla drive may or may not have XYZ. It's a terrible article and mostly entirely clickbait.

 

[USAFRet]

That's a drive that's primarily write based and doesn't demand high-output reads/writes cycles. The use case here is far more demanding.

"Store everything. From Tesla Arcade games to Dashcam footage, our 1 TB Solid State Drive (SSD) allows you to save all your vehicle data in one place. This automotive-grade external SSD "

Its an external drive, with a tesla branded case.
Dashcam and "games".

Even Tesla does not give any actual specs.

I'd wait until someone pops one of these open and sees what actual drive is in there, before going all gaga over it.

 

[Amdlova]

350 for a drive... when you have to pay thousands for a car it's not that much, need to pay the certification and other process. Xbox ssd 1tb says hello

 

[dimar]

I mostly care about the endurance in TBW. The speed comes second.
Are the specs public?

 

[Co BIY]

3.5x normal cost = Standard Auto Dealer Markup (Not defending it - I've never bought a car new - sometimes forced to the dealers for parts though)

Feel like Tom's needs to do full standard review before throwing stones at the product. Also would like to see if a standard drive would work in the cars.

For a big corporation with expectations to service items they need to have a standard to fall back on. If a customer says "what should I get to hold my Games , Movies, ect. " They need to have one thing they can recommend and support. Otherwise they would have to support everything.

I know at my work we went away from Panasonic Toughbooks for vehicle mounted applications for several years to try and avoid the high costs involved. Bought systems that allowed for mounting standard Dell laptops in the vehicles. The experiment did not last more than six months because neither did those laptops. Continuous vehicle use is a very challenging environment for complex electronics. The Panasonics will actually warm themselves with an internal heater prior to operation at very cold temps.

For a standard SSD maybe not too challenging. I have had zero issues using standard USBs in my car stereo even in the negative Fahrenheits. (Sorry, can't get C temps right in my head.)

 

[taz-nz]

Well, the microSD cards in my various dashcams have endured (almost) that temp swing.
In operation for several years.
None failed yet.

A microsd card has the flash memory incapsulated by design, meaning there is little to no stress on the solder between the chip and the PCB, A 1TB external SSD has multiple chips (controller. DRAM, flash) all of which have much large footprints than the tiny chip in a micro sd card, and they are typical just soldered to PCB inside an empty case, vibration stress on the solder joints is going to much higher on an external SSD due the size and weight of the chips and flex in the PCB. The automotive spec SSD likely has the chip edge bonded to the PCB to reduce stress on the solder joints.

 

[neojack]

ahah are you genuinelly surprised ? seriously ALL dealers practice price gouging.

Check the price of a wiper at the dealer vs on amazon fr exemple. can be 3x times as much.
Tires ? ouch

 

[JTWrenn]

Yes I read it. My thoughts are the same. My interior cabin can break 0C+ by the time I finish commuting to work. Can the drive handle both those temps and shock values for a long duration of time for many years? Most electronics die between 5-10 years. Automotive electronics are usually hardier to last longer than that (but some still fail, no matter the manufacture.)

All I'm saying is the article is poorly written, isn't based on data sheets and doesn't account for the fact that this Tesla drive may or may not have XYZ. It's a terrible article and mostly entirely clickbait.

I can deal with that. I see it as a grumpy article written about a bs new ssd from Tesla that doesn't say why it is better than a normal ssd at all...and that in this world usually that means it's a branded POS. So I can see both sides on this one.

In short if you are gonna charge that much for a 1tb ssd and don't say why it is worth it, you are gonna get shredded, and you kind of deserve it.

 

[JTWrenn]

Most electronics die between 5-10 years. Automotive electronics are usually hardier to last longer than that (but some still fail, no matter the manufacture.)

Oh and one more thing. If the Samsung drive lasts 5 years...then at that price you could buy 4 of them for the same as the Tesla drive, and probably outlast the Tesla drive. I get what you are saying but...it's a weird product that I don't think will make sense for what they are using it for. I mean buy a cheap one, from Samsung no less, then in 5 years buy one that is 4 times bigger.

Just an odd product with no reasoning behind the price.

 

[DavidLejdar]

Yeah, if the specifics don't get mentioned, it can be quite misleading. E.g. in the neighbourhood here, the headline: "New fiber optics connection!". Reading a bit into the details though, which the landlord letter did at least mention a bit, it turns out that it is about FTTB. Something which isn't bad as such, still boosting available bandwidth up to 500 Mbit/s (if one goes for it). But improving possible min. latency of 15ms (I currently have) only to 10ms, that just isn't as cool as it would be with 2ms with FTTH. So at this point I am like: "whatever" about this recently installed new offer.

 

[Elusive Ruse]

I expected Tom's to have made more efforts into investigating the drive before comparing it regular desktop SSDs, would have been educational to know if there's sth that makes it different. The Micron product mentioned in the article is not widely available but where it's in stock it goes around £450 ~ $550.