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    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

    running ROMS from external drive (exfat)

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    exfat external drive roms mame roms
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    • E
      EctoOne
      last edited by

      Are you using an external power supply for your drive? Otherwise it might be that it doesn't get enough power through the pi.

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      • K
        kombat @EctoOne
        last edited by

        @ectoone yeah both 3TB drive have an external power supply. Retropie must be recognizing the drive as I can see it mounted in the web interface for retropie manager and I am able to add roms that way, they just dont show up when I reboot

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        • E
          EctoOne @kombat
          last edited by

          @kombat do you have gamelist.xml files either in your rom folder or wherever emulationstation puts them by default (can't remember nor check right now what the default path is)? If not, you might have set emulationstation to parse gamelist only.
          Otherwise I have no other idea of what's going on. I'm only using a 128 GB stick, not a drive.

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          • K
            kombat @EctoOne
            last edited by

            @ectoone I think I have narrowed it down to a size issue. 500 gig and 1TB drives both work, but the 3TB does not. Testing out a 2TB tonight.....

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            • HurricaneFanH
              HurricaneFan
              last edited by

              Is it possible you need different drivers for it?

              https://gwynmorfey.com/notes/exfat-vfat-external-hard-disks-and-the-raspberry-pi

              K E 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • K
                kombat @HurricaneFan
                last edited by

                @hurricanefan I've been able to make exfat work with drives up to 2TB without a power supply, but 3TB with a power supply don't work so I think its a size limitation perhaps

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                • isrnickI
                  isrnick
                  last edited by

                  I have an 4TB drive without external power supply, formatted as NTFS, and the ROMS show up in the retropie menu correctly.

                  The only issue I see is that it doesn't show the ROMS when I first power up retropie, I always need to restart ES once for the ROMS to be loaded, but I don't if that is normal or not.

                  mituM K 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • mituM
                    mitu Global Moderator @isrnick
                    last edited by

                    @isrnick said in running ROMS from external drive (exfat):

                    The only issue I see is that it doesn't show the ROMS when I first power up retropie, I always need to restart ES once for the ROMS to be loaded, but I don't if that is normal or not.

                    4TB is a large drive, I think the mount operation - on start - takes a long time and it's not complete when ES starts up.

                    K isrnickI 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • K
                      kombat @isrnick
                      last edited by

                      @isrnick interesting I am going to explore down this path thanks isrnick. May I ask what method you use to restart emulationstation. Command line?

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                      • K
                        kombat @mitu
                        last edited by

                        @mitu I am able to see the drive in web manager and able to upload roms successfully if that counts for anything. They just never show up in the menu. Also have confirmed this is the case for both fat and exfat. Have tried with 2 different drives as well to confirm its not the drive causing the issue.

                        herb_fargusH 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • herb_fargusH
                          herb_fargus administrators @kombat
                          last edited by

                          @kombat said in running ROMS from external drive (exfat):

                          They just never show up in the menu

                          Restart es, check parse gamelist settings.

                          If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

                          Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

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                          • isrnickI
                            isrnick @mitu
                            last edited by isrnick

                            @mitu said in running ROMS from external drive (exfat):

                            4TB is a large drive, I think the mount operation - on start - takes a long time and it's not complete when ES starts up.

                            That certainly would explain it, thanks.

                            @kombat said in running ROMS from external drive (exfat):

                            @isrnick interesting I am going to explore down this path thanks isrnick. May I ask what method you use to restart emulationstation. Command line?

                            No, I just press Start and go to Quit > Restart Emulationstation.

                            K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • K
                              kombat @isrnick
                              last edited by

                              No, I just press Start and go to Quit > Restart Emulationstation.

                              This worked! Thanks and thanks all for your suggestions and help

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • E
                                EctoOne @HurricaneFan
                                last edited by

                                @hurricanefan said in running ROMS from external drive (exfat):

                                Is it possible you need different drivers for it?

                                https://gwynmorfey.com/notes/exfat-vfat-external-hard-disks-and-the-raspberry-pi

                                This helped me at least to mount my stick under Raspbian Stretch. Now i can start using ScummVM 2.0.0 and don't have to wait for Retropie to update.

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                                • isrnickI
                                  isrnick @mitu
                                  last edited by

                                  @mitu said in running ROMS from external drive (exfat):

                                  4TB is a large drive, I think the mount operation - on start - takes a long time and it's not complete when ES starts up.

                                  If that is the case, is there some way to delay ES' start up during boot? It would take longer for the system to load completely on boot but I have to restart ES every time anyway.

                                  mituM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • mituM
                                    mitu Global Moderator @isrnick
                                    last edited by

                                    @isrnick Modify the autostart script (from /opt/retropie/supplementary/ .. somewhere) and add a sleep X (X=nr. of seconds to wait) statement before the line that starts emulationstation. Adjust X with the number of seconds necessary - you might have to give it a few tests to find the right interval.

                                    isrnickI 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                    • isrnickI
                                      isrnick @mitu
                                      last edited by

                                      @mitu Thank you, I'll do that.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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