Symbolic Links and External Storage Potential

edmaul69

@used2berx i read roms from both my hard drive and sd card at the same time just fine by editing my es_systems.cfg

Used2BeRX

True, but I think this is something important for people who want to tinker with things to learn. I've done a few other really cool things with it that I'll talk about when I get back to that work.

Also, I don't know if your media would show up after editing es_systems.cfg with a new destination for your media with your gamelist.xml as is. I suspect that you'd have to re-scrape things, or do whatever you did in the first place to regenerate a new gamelist.xml. At the very least I'd imagine you'd have to do a big find and replace session for the new spot on all of the effected xmls.

Maybe I'm wrong about that. I haven't tested it myself.

All I know is that with the symbolic link, the remote media is treated as if it were exactly where that folder is on your SD card.

herb_fargus

@used2berx said in Symbolic Links and External Storage Potential:

There are a few ways to set up the USB stick to work with the RetroPie, but hands down the Symbolic Link is the best way to do it

I disagree. It depends on what the user's needs are and they need to understand the ramifications of modifying configs with symlinks as opposed to the simpler built in method of mounting the USB directly on the Roms folder.

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

cyperghost

@used2berx said in Symbolic Links and External Storage Potential:

All I know is that with the symbolic link, the remote media is treated as if it were exactly where that folder is on your SD card.

You don't know all about it - be carefull with such statements!
What do you think happens if you use this on a device with FAT32? As FAT32 does not support user permissions and all file flags by default. Therefore the wiki tells to use fstab or the automount - these are the general methods for a proper mounting.

You can read more about here

In most cases the symlink works ... yes :) But it's not the 100% working method for all usecases. But it's rather better than editing es_systems.cfg(imho)

EDIT: @herb_fargus was quicker ... Good morning/evening ;)

meleu

@edmaul69 said in Symbolic Links and External Storage Potential:

@used2berx you could save the trouble and edit your es_systems.cfg to just look for your sega cd roms in /media/usb0/segacd/ instead of /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/segacd/

I think this editing will be lost after an ES update.

edmaul69

@meleu not if you put your es_systems.cfg in /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/ which is where i keep it anyways because i put my systems in order by manufacturer and age. And the retropie menu is always last for me so i can find it easily.

edmaul69

@cyperghost i edit the es_systems.cfg for everything. You can place the systems in any order you want, you can find roms from any location, and link to any theme systems you want. If you put your es_systems.cfg in /opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/ then you can have all your edits done in one file and not be overwritten. And i have never had a single issue doing it this way. Everything works exactly as it should and as i want. If anyone uses advmess or lr-mess, you have to edit the es_systems.cfg anyways as retropie doesnt make any system configs for them other than a few for systems for advmess that run better on other emulators already.

BuZz

@edmaul69 that method is not recommended. It may work for you, but means users need to manage their own systems XML.

The recommended method is the one herb linked and ensures the usb is mounted with the correct options.

I wouldn't recommend users replace their ROM folders with symlinks either.

cyperghost

@edmaul69 There is a difference between what you do on your mashine at home and what you recommend to other users.
It is a question of maintaining RetroPie and help other users. If you tell them to use the procedure as descriped in the wiki there is no failure. But if you do symlink, editing XMLs then other issues will occour - think about filesystems, permissions flags, typos, editing with root instead of user pi....

As you are a veteran in this forum you know what issues may occur if a new member get in touch with RetroPie ;)

Used2BeRX

@herb_fargus

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

Would I be able to edit things in folders that are currently denied because of permissions using this method?

I'm still not very happy that I can't edit the NstDatabase.xml file for Nestopia or all of the hoops you have to jump through to change control configurations. Would be nice if this method was a workaround for that.