Issues running from usb/backing up retropie

MosaicDragon

Rpi 3b, retro pie - latest edition. All fully up to date.
Powered hdd and 128gb sd. Official image with a few customisations on my part - nothing that should affect this issue.

I've got a big image - quite a few roms as well as some other custom stuff. Decided 128gb sd is too small so I try to transfer to my USB hdd(fully functional with external psu) . As per all the guides I've read I used rsync - tried multiple times with small tweaks. Still same error(broken pipe or something) . It runs for say 45 mins to an hour then stops with an error(I'll quote later-I'm not at my desk). It might be worth noting if I run it from SSH on my pc it crashes and refuses connection but the pi is still responsive - albeit very, very slow. It also goes slow when not using ssh.

Thanks in advance, I'll quote the error in a few minutes.

Are there any ways to do this without rsync if I can't fix it?

mitu

Try using incremental synchronisation steps by copying just 1 ROM folder at a time (still with rsync) - seems your HDD connection is failing at some point during the copying.

MosaicDragon

@mitu So what would the rsync syntax for that be like? I really don't want to screw anything up.
Also is there a possibility my sd card is corrupt and that's causing it?

mitu

@MosaicDragon said in Issues running from usb/backing up retropie:

@mitu So what would the rsync syntax for that be like? I really don't want to screw anything up.

You already said you're using rsync, instead of specifying the source your whole rom folder, just pick the sub-folders instead. After the copying is done, you can move all sub-folders from roms intro the same retropie-mount folder.

Also is there a possibility my sd card is corrupt and that's causing it?

Without an actual error message it's hard to say.

MosaicDragon

@mitu I think I wasn't clear in my intentions. I was talkimg about utilising usb boot to make there no need for an sd card at all. And the issue happens after its gone through all the roms(I'm backing up the entire device) but I can't pinpoint where in the file system the issue happens at.

MosaicDragon

@mitu if you give me an hour or two to run the script again I'll make a copy of the error if it occurs again. - I'm restoring to a slightly earlier backup to see if that makes any difference.

mitu

@MosaicDragon Oh, I see, so you're not just copying the ROMs, you're rsync-ing the whole image.
Hm, I wonder if you could write your SD image backup directly to the HDD. The Raspbian images are supposed to work from both SD and USB. You can give it a try by writing the default RP image to the USB drive and seeing if it boots.

MosaicDragon

@mitu first thing I did- didn't boot. Probably some files in boot pointing to the wrong place? Don't know which files tho. Are there any software for Windows that can read the image and allow me to make changes?

mitu

@MosaicDragon You did enable the USB boot for the Pi, right ? Because the RetroPie image is basically a Raspbian Lite image - which is supposed to work for USB boot.

If you don't have a Linux system available, I guess you can install VirtualBox and boot a live Linux system (or even install a minimal one) and then you can connect both the SD card and the USB to transfer the data on your PC.

MosaicDragon

@mitu ye, USB BIT is toggled. I'll try get my laptop to run vbox but I'm not hopeful - My pc is waiting for new gpu so that's out of the question. Is there anything that'd let me view and edit from within Windows explorer?

mitu

@MosaicDragon said in Issues running from usb/backing up retropie:

Is there anything that'd let me view and edit from within Windows explorer?

I think there are solutions [1], but I wouldn't trust a full system transfer to be done this way.

[1] https://www.paragon-software.com/business/extfs-for-windows/

MosaicDragon

@mitu Thanks for that. Also to note-anyone looking for a solution to this 7-zip works a charm, opens ISO files.
I'll let y'all know if I get it running if not I'll keep you posted

MosaicDragon

@mitu This is out of my depth , cant for the life of me get it to boot from usb- managed to get the files accross, edits made to point to the correct places- but to no avail. Anyone got any ideas please let me know.

mitu

@MosaicDragon As I said, without and actual error to dig into, it's hard to say which part doesn't work right.

MosaicDragon

@mitu Given my usb hdd has raspbian on it and it still wont boot, where do you suggest i go to try and troubleshoot? is there anyway to see what the pi is doing and where it goes wrong in the boot process?
IF not could someone point me towards a decent guide that'd let me utilise an sd card to make the pi run retropie from usb.

mitu

@MosaicDragon Well, the RetroPie PI images is just Raspbian underneath, so everything that applies to Rasbpian it what should be considered. I don't have any experience with USB boot - if forum user has any other advice I'd ask also on the RPI forums over at raspberrypi.org.

MosaicDragon

@mitu Okay ,thanks for your help :)