Hi All,
So I figured it out. I realized I needed to enable SSH on the RetroPie as looking at further documentation that it is disabled by default. Once I did that I had no problem.

Thanks,
Mark

So an update, the emulator is snes9x2002. I tried with 2005 and 2010, both of which performed significantly worse.

What is the best emulator for a Pi B with 256mb. I assume it's snes9x2002 ? If that won't run StarWing then I assume nothing will. Regardless, what's the best for just standard Mario games etc. I tried both and 2010 and 2002 work fine with those simple sprite games.

@edmaul69 said in USB hard drive help?:

@dizmodawg i use easeus partition master. It is capable of deleting the linux partitions and formatting it back.

Thanks for your help it worked!

does noone know the answer to this question please?

@FrustratedUser

Glad to hear it.

@BuZz Yup! that was it. Thanks for your help. Not sure how it got set that way, but now i feel dumb. Appreciate your time.

@rgnmud

A nice kid-friendly prevention.

@DarkWolf said in Snes Ball Dpad:

@skezza I don't even know what a "ball dpad" is (even google doesn't know that)? Or do you mean a regular dpad?

Sorry. The snes dpad is like a + that sits on top of a ball which acts like a pivot. This is why the dpad feels so good on an original snes + original controller. Unfortunately, my usb SNES copy, I've been having problems with the dpad. Turns out its pivoting on a post/stick rather than a ball. Not only does this reduce the accuracy but it seems to cause weird accidental presses. What's more, it's a common theme among aftermarket usb controllers.

I'm going to do a tear down thread tomorrow to show what I mean but it's a real shame because the rest of the controller is ok.

@lensdrifter
Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

Anyways:
Which emulators are you using to emulate "arcade-classics"?
Which roms/"arcade-classics" you tested it with?
Which 8bitdo controller do you use?

For anyone else having this issue:

I'm still not sure what caused it. But I "fixed" it by downloading 4.2 and doing a fresh install.

@jesterking said in Backup my retropie error?:

That being said, the best... method of backing up the entire SD card that I could find is in this link

At the end of the day, making an sd backup externally really is the best, most all-encompassing method. The same advice is given in the official RetoPie documentation as well.

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/updating-retropie#making-a-backup-option-1

The next one will be a Pi 3 B so I can have the option to include PS1 and N64 games as well as flexibility to try a bunch of other IoT stuff that's been on my mind for a couple years. :)

@mediamogul I see. Anyway, I'll try this out. Thanks!

Additionally, is your HDMI routing directly to your TV or is it passing through a soundbar or AV receiver?

@mikikiki

Moved to 'Help and Support'.

Thanks @Howitzer99, I'll have to give that a try. Hopefully I'll have some time over the weekend.