Your Sentry footage is still on that drive.

I formatted my Tesla USB drive and need the footage for an insurance claim. Can I still get it?

Almost certainly yes, if the drive has not been reused since formatting. Quick format only erases the file system index — your video data is physically still on the drive. Do NOT put the drive back in your Tesla or write anything to it. Download Sentry Recovery, create a disk image of the drive first (preserves the evidence), then scan the image. You can recover clips with timestamps and camera positions intact, which insurance companies accept as evidence.

My Tesla was in a hit-and-run and the dashcam clip is missing. How do I recover it?

The clip may have been overwritten by newer recordings if your drive was full, or it may still be in a deleted state. Remove the USB drive from the car immediately to prevent further overwrites. Scan it with Sentry Recovery — deleted clips that have not been overwritten will appear with confidence scores showing their integrity. Even partially recovered footage (lower confidence) may contain enough visual data to identify a license plate.

How long do I have before the footage is permanently gone?

There is no time limit — what matters is whether the sectors have been overwritten, not how long ago the files were deleted. A formatted drive sitting in a drawer for a year is fully recoverable. A formatted drive put back in the Tesla for one day of driving may have significant overwrites. The rule: stop using the drive the moment you realize footage is missing.

I need Tesla dashcam footage for a police report. Will recovered files be accepted?

Recovered files are byte-for-byte identical to the originals — they are the same MP4 files Tesla created, not reconstructions. The confidence score indicates file integrity. Clips scoring 85-100 will play back perfectly. Provide the original files along with the confidence scores as documentation.

Sentry Mode said it detected an event but there's no video on the drive. Where did it go?

Tesla stores Sentry events in the SentryClips folder, but if the drive runs low on space, older clips are automatically deleted to make room. The deleted data is still on the drive until those sectors are overwritten. Sentry Recovery's file carving scans the raw disk sectors — not the file system — so it finds these deleted clips even though they do not show up in the file browser.

Can it really recover videos from a formatted drive?

Yes. File carving works at the raw data level — it scans for MP4 file signatures directly on the disk, bypassing the file system entirely. Formatting only erases the directory structure, not the underlying data (unless you did a secure erase). Sentry Recovery's cluster-aligned scanning checks only at filesystem boundaries, making it ~131,000x faster than byte-by-byte scanning on typical exFAT drives.

How many clips can I recover in the free trial?

The free trial includes full scanning, thumbnail generation, confidence scoring, and preview — no payment required. You can see everything that is recoverable before deciding to purchase. The trial limits only the number of files you can actually save: 3 files free, no time limit.

Is the $29 a one-time fee or a subscription?

One-time fee. Pay once, own it forever. No subscription, no annual renewal. All future updates are included. The license works permanently on one device at a time.

What is the confidence score?

A 0-100 score based on the structural integrity of each recovered file. It checks seven factors including MP4 header validity, video data presence, metadata integrity, timestamp plausibility, file size range, cluster alignment, and Tesla-specific dimensions. High confidence (85-100) means the file should play perfectly. Low confidence means the file may have gaps or artifacts.

What cameras does it recognize?

All six Tesla camera positions: front, back, left repeater, right repeater, left pillar, and right pillar. Camera identification requires recovering the original filename from the drive's directory entries. When filenames cannot be recovered, the video data is still fully recoverable — camera position will show as "Unknown."

What file systems are supported?

exFAT (Tesla's default) and FAT32. The scanner also works on drives with unrecognized or corrupted file systems by falling back to default 128KB cluster settings. The engine does not require a functioning filesystem — it works by scanning raw disk sectors for MP4 signatures.

Is my footage safe during recovery?

Completely. Sentry Recovery is read-only — it never writes anything to your drive. For extra safety, use the built-in disk image feature to work from a copy of the drive, leaving the original untouched.

Does it work with all Tesla models?

Yes. Sentry Recovery works with all Tesla vehicles that use USB-based dashcam and Sentry Mode storage — it understands Tesla's file naming and folder structure across all models and firmware versions.