Can you use a DVD-Rom disk as a sd card to run the operating system, and use the sd card slot to hold the data like a console?

Seedname101 · 22 Mar 2019, 21:14

Can you use a DVD-Rom disk as a sd card to run the operating system, and use the sd card slot to hold the data like a console?
I had a random idea to add another "retro" feel to your console.
If you have an SD card that's full, and you don't have any room for data on your games, you can run the OS from your DVD-ROM disk and let the SD card do the rest. Of course this would take some programming to change the code to what external device it saves to, but I still think it's an easy thing to do. You'll need to burn all of the files to your dvd-rom and it boots up every time to the dvd rom while it's connected through the usb ports. I would like to get this idea up and running very quickly! Thank you.

mitu · 22 Mar 2019, 21:47

@Seedname101 https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive/

Seedname101 · 22 Mar 2019, 22:05

@mitu I said that I wanted it to run from a DVD-ROM drive not a flash drive. Also, I dont want the roms to run from it. I want the operating system to run from the DVD-ROM and the roms to run from a flash drive. I'm sorry If I didn't make it clear enough.

Seedname101 · 23 Mar 2019, 16:09

@mitu If the operating system cant run from there, Is there a way to make the DVD-ROM disk to act as a USB stick?

mitu · 23 Mar 2019, 16:15

@Seedname101 Why a DVD ROM ? It's a read-only media and, while you can use it for ROMs, you're not going to be able to add games to it once you've written it.
I know you're trying to get a certain look-and-feel, maybe you can use a DVD case and mod it to put an USB stick/disk inside. This way you can even run the system from it - so you can use the SD card as a removable ROM source.

Seedname101 · 25 Mar 2019, 02:59

@mitu That could work... I still want to know if there is a way to use a dvd-rom. Obviously one double sided 9GB dvd won't hold all of my games, so I'll have multiple. Besides, it wouldn't matter if I can't add more because I'll use the other ones. If this doesn't work, I'll go to your idea. Thanks!