Run ROMs from USB flash drive instead of microSD card - manual

mediamogul · 24 Oct 2016, 15:51

@cyperghost said in Run ROMs from USB flash drive instead of microSD card - manual:

We want easy solutions

There are no easy solutions, only small actors. Personally, I use the fstab method, but I believe every solution has a drawback or two.

cyperghost · 24 Oct 2016, 16:29

@mediamogul I think the easiest solution will be a setup within RetroPie which scans all connected drives and asks for the current roms place for every emulator that can be selected by joypad control :)

mediamogul · 24 Oct 2016, 17:13

The ability to run roms off of external media is probably the most requested feature that doesn't have a gui solution of any kind. RecalBox handles this from Emulation Station, but even a terminal menu would be a welcome addition. The other side of the argument is that there are so many ways to achieve this that leaving up to the user's own personal preference might be best.

Kreibich · 25 Oct 2016, 12:40

@Rion Thank you, this might be a safe, but hard way... anyway thanks for explanation... It would be great if this would be implemented in next RetroPie version as simple swith SD / USB.

cyperghost · 25 Oct 2016, 16:37

@Rion said in Run ROMs from USB flash drive instead of microSD card - manual:

I would highly recommend to "not" move /home/pi/RetroPie/* to /media/usb0/.
This will likely break things in the long run.

.... long posting :)

Rions' method got the big advantage to mount specific drives marked by an UUID.
So we can use several USB stick, HDDs.... whatever we want and every partition can be mounted seperatly. So we can use an old small USB stick for NES, SNES, Genesis Roms and we can use a big HDD with several GB to mount PSX, MAME, SCUMMVM and Dreamcast games for ex.

The big clue is the mount --bindcommand.
The content of USB stick1 can be mounted to a specific folder maybe /home/pi/retropie/roms
and also the content of HDD1 can also be mountend to same location :)... Without editing RetroPies config data (es_systems.cfg)

Sometimes automount and it's specific USB0, USB1 method can cause errors, because sometimes the devices responds differently. So the volume identification via UUID is a good deal :)

Thanks again rion for your entry.

Kreibich · 25 Oct 2016, 18:37

For multiple flash drives in one folder you can also use mhddfs: https://romanrm.net/mhddfs

That is probably the best solution, how you can merge all folders in one.

cyperghost · 25 Oct 2016, 19:06

@Kreibich As you see there are several ways to solve one problem. But as I said some postings before...

Yes but it's really better to use the fstab-method :)
Just for maintaining and helping the forum members :)

I suggest this thread as a infopool ;)

Rion · 25 Oct 2016, 20:07

@cyperghost said in Run ROMs from USB flash drive instead of microSD card - manual:

@Rion said in Run ROMs from USB flash drive instead of microSD card - manual:

I would highly recommend to "not" move /home/pi/RetroPie/* to /media/usb0/.
This will likely break things in the long run.

.... long posting :)

Rions' method got the big advantage to mount specific drives marked by an UUID.
So we can use several USB stick, HDDs.... whatever we want and every partition can be mounted seperatly. So we can use an old small USB stick for NES, SNES, Genesis Roms and we can use a big HDD with several GB to mount PSX, MAME, SCUMMVM and Dreamcast games for ex.

The big clue is the mount --bindcommand.
The content of USB stick1 can be mounted to a specific folder maybe /home/pi/retropie/roms
and also the content of HDD1 can also be mountend to same location :)... Without editing RetroPies config data (es_systems.cfg)

Sometimes automount and it's specific USB0, USB1 method can cause errors, because sometimes the devices responds differently. So the volume identification via UUID is a good deal :)

Thanks again rion for your entry.

mount --bind should work.

There is a Feature Request about it here

Play games from USB [Feature Request] #1130

Darksavior · 25 Oct 2016, 20:49

I just edit es_systems.cfg and make it point to /media/usb0/ done and done.
It does get overwritten with updates so I back it up. I wonder if I can make it read-only.

Kreibich · 26 Oct 2016, 00:38

Well, in my opinion mhddfs method is probably the best, because you don't care where the files are located. If there is no free space left on one device, it automatically switchs you to another and it looks still as one merged folder.

Rion · 26 Oct 2016, 00:44

@Darksavior said in Run ROMs from USB flash drive instead of microSD card - manual:

I just edit es_systems.cfg and make it point to /media/usb0/ done and done.
It does get overwritten with updates so I back it up. I wonder if I can make it read-only.

If you want to customise your es_systems.cfg or add themes without them being overwritten on updates you can add them to /home/pi/.emulationstation EmulationStation first checks in /home/pi/.emulationstation and then checks /etc/emulationstation.

Rion · 26 Oct 2016, 00:47

@Kreibich said in Run ROMs from USB flash drive instead of microSD card - manual:

Well, in my opinion mhddfs method is probably the best, because you don't care where the files are located. If there is no free space left on one device, it automatically switchs you to another and it looks still as one merged folder.

I care where my files are located.
But i agree to disagree. We all have our own preferences.

Kreibich · 26 Oct 2016, 00:59

@Rion You can still view files separately in their original folders.