run an image from external hard drive instead of sd card.
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@moonston333 If you use this method you won't need a sd card anymore!
I did this for myself some months ago, I found this somewhere on the internet and wanted to test it... So here you go:
Pros:
- More storage for same/lower price
- More write cycles (lasts longer)
- Easy to install
- Take it with you, only a pi3 required somewhere else
Cons:
- Consuming more space
- Partition not accessable on windows (usb thumbdrive only)
Some important notes before starting:
- Backup your sd card first
- Have some spare time, this takes some time
- Make sure SSH is enabled and working (if you want to do it remotely, you don't have to)
- Make sure the pi can handle the usb drive (e.g. power consumption, detecting etc)
- The usb device you want to install it on has to be connected all the time
- Only plug in the usb drive and a keyboard, nothing else
- This only works with images allready installed on the rpi (you can expand it later and get an image of it and put it onto another device)
So let's beginn:
- Update the pi:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get install rpi-update
- Update
boot/config.txt
echo program_usb_boot_mode=1 | sudo tee -a /boot/config.txt
- Reboot
sudo reboot
- Check if your usb device is compatible;
This should return17:3020000a
vcgencmd otp_dump | grep 17:
- Start to create the partitions on the usb device (Be carefull now!)
Explanations: (in command order)
Open parted,
Create a new partition table,
Create the boot partition,
Create the "data" partition,
Print the partition table (should contain 2 partitions now),
Quit parted
sudo parted /dev/sda mktable msdos mkpart primary fat32 0% 100M mkpart primary ext4 100M 100% print quit
- Create some folders and mount the usb device to it (to be exact: mount the partitions to folders) (one command)
You will install rsync which helps transfering/syncing the data with the usb device and will start rsync (copying the files could take some time, depends on the amount and size of files)
sudo mkfs.vfat -n BOOT -F 32 /dev/sda1 && sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2 && sudo mkdir /mnt/target && sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/target/ && sudo mkdir /mnt/target/boot && sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/target/boot/ && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install rsync && sudo rsync -ax --progress / /boot /mnt/target
- Bind some folders to setup SSH (on the usb device) next (otherwise it wasn't working anymore for me) (One command)
cd /mnt/target && sudo mount --bind /dev dev && sudo mount --bind /sys sys && sudo mount --bind /proc proc
- Reconfigure SSH
sudo chroot /mnt/target rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host* dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server exit
- Unmount the previous mounted folders (one command)
sudo umount dev && sudo umount sys && sudo umount proc
- Setup partitions/files so it boots from them (one command each)
sudo sed -i "s,root=/dev/mmcblk0p2,root=/dev/sda2," /mnt/target/boot/cmdline.txt
sudo sed -i "s,/dev/mmcblk0p,/dev/sda," /mnt/target/etc/fstab
- Unmount usb device (one command)
cd ~ && sudo umount /mnt/target/boot && sudo umount /mnt/target
- Power off the pi
sudo poweroff
This should be it!
Take out your sd card and reconnect the pi with the power supply and see if it works! -
@DarkWolf brilliant thanks very much
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@moonston333 Updated my post with the instructions
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@DarkWolf thanks very much for this appreciate it.
i think i watched the video on this yesterday it looks like the same instructions but it put me off as thought it might not work as the guy was saying id need a y splitter cable to power the external drive and it only worked on certain drive but he didnt say what drive.did u get this from the video dont think i can post a link on it but it was a guy with a beard and red t shirt on is it the same one.
also what external drive are u using.
ive got a seagate expansion portable 2tb.
do i actually burn the 128gb image to the external with Win32DiskImager
after i have done all the above.or do i just drag and drop it onto the drive then plug drive into pi then switch on
thanks
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did u get this from the video dont think i can post a link on it but it was a guy with a beard and red t shirt on is it the same one.
I don't know to be honest, sadly
also what external drive are u using.
Uh, some 500gb seagate drive, I don't really now which one as it isn't here right now
do i actually burn the 128gb image to the external
No, that wouldn't work... You have to set it up on the sd card and then it gets copied over... after you did this once you can take a image of the usb drive and burn it onto another one
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@DarkWolf so i still need to buy a 128gb sd card to burn the 128gb preconfigured image onto then it transfers over to the usb when pi is powered up.
also did u have a powered external usb drive
thanks again
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so i still need to buy a 128gb sd card to burn the 128gb preconfigured image onto
I assume you mean an image someone created and shared to download... If this is the case: We don't support unofficial images
Also: I would recommend setting it up by yourself, learn how you do it yourselfalso did u have a powered external usb drive
Yes, the raspberry pi can't handle external usb drives (usb thumbdrives are fine though)
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@DarkWolf no i mean an image that me and afew others are makeing. say if my friend finishes an image can i use his on mine. if so then i would need to buy an 128gb sd card to transfer it to my external.
but i understand i can just get the retropie 4.2 image (which is on my 16gb sd card now im using) then when i power on it will transfer this to my external then do i just add my own stuff to the external drag and drop connect it to my pc ie games art video n that.
when u say yes hard drive needs to be powered do u mean powered if im going to be running retropie image from hard drive instead of sd card.
as ive got all my games on external now and its not powered
so more power is needed for the image booting form ex HDD
and no power is needed for just loading games from ex HDD -
@moonston333 If the pi can handle your current external hard drive it will be fine :-)
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@DarkWolf true thats what i thought. is it also possible to put game boxart and videos on external drive instead of on sd card
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@moonston333 with the os on a hard drive?
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@DarkWolf with os on sd card or on hard drive wanting to know with os on sd card for now
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there will probably be alot of work to have the boxart and videos on the external wont there
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