@petrockblog Thanks for the reply.

Shorting the wires (just touching the signal and the ground together) doesn't solve the problem. I should have mentioned earlier that the controlblock works perfectly with my pi2, but I'm trying to upgrade.

I can't get the jtest to work. I can't find the command in /dev/input.

The more I'm playing around with this I think it is a problem with my retropie install, but I can't figure out what

@retropieuser555

Using this product: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRK4YB4C?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Uses the PCIe Ribbon connection available on the Pi5 and some of the pins from the I/O header.

@t01mkr said in Setting up an nvme as rom storage...:

. I was wondering if it's possible to use symbolic links instead. Does anyone know?

Yes, but why ? You're already mounting your disc, why not use the right folder for it in the first place.

@truglodite said in How can I boot RetroPie from NVMe or SSD (without SD)?:

I am guessing retropie still will write heavily to the sd card despite roms being on an external, correct? Not sure if sd wear is a big deal with retropie, so figured I'd ask if it was and if there's a similar way to mitigate.

Not really, gaming is not a write-heavy process. Game saves and save states are written to the ROM's folder by default and unpacking .zip ROMs is usually done in RAM.
There is no constant write load using RetroPie, like a monitoring/data collection/aggregation process entails, so a good sdcard and proper power source is usually enough.