Booting from SSD on Pi 4
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I've been trying to get my Pi 4 with the new RetroFlag NESPI case to boot to SSD, without an SD card. I sort of got it by copying the latest files from here on top of the boot partition but doing that breaks a bunch of drivers apparently, including wifi which makes it difficult to get logs off the thing. RetroPie really needs a new version that supports booting from SSD!
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@BenMcLean said in Booting from SSD on Pi 4:
RetroPie really needs a new version that supports booting from SSD!
USB boot is enabled by updating your Pi on-board EEPROM, it's enough to update the OS and included packages to be able to boot via USB.
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@mitu said in Booting from SSD on Pi 4:
USB boot is enabled by updating your Pi on-board EEPROM, it's enough to update the OS and included packages to be able to boot via USB.
Did that. But RetroPie fails to read from my SSD properly because the bootloader it uses from back in April is out of date now.
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I'm pretty sure you can just drop the files from https://github.com/RPi-Distro/firmware/tree/debian/boot onto your boot drive after you update the eeprom and it will boot. (make a backup just in case)
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@gomisensei said in Booting from SSD on Pi 4:
I'm pretty sure you can just drop the files from https://github.com/RPi-Distro/firmware/tree/debian/boot onto your boot drive after you update the eeprom and it will boot. (make a backup just in case)
I tried something quite similar to that. See the original post for the results I got.
I can try the specific repo you are recommending there instead though and see how it goes.
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Yeah I got the same results with that link. "Failed to load kernel modules" is one of the errors.
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make sure that the cmdline.txt on your ssd's boot partition points to the right partition, and that the root drive is updated with apt upgrade. Best way to do this is to upgrade your sdcard, then copy it to your ssd, but it's not as easy as it should be.
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If your RetroPie installation on the microsd is fully updated, just back-it up to an
.imgfile with Win32DiskImager and then write it on the USB drive. Boot the USB drive and it should work. -
@mitu said in Booting from SSD on Pi 4:
@BenMcLean said in Booting from SSD on Pi 4:
RetroPie really needs a new version that supports booting from SSD!
USB boot is enabled by updating your Pi on-board EEPROM, it's enough to update the OS and included packages to be able to boot via USB.
Hi, what commands exactly? Thanks.
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@mitu said in Booting from SSD on Pi 4:
If your RetroPie installation on the microsd is fully updated, just back-it up to an
.imgfile with Win32DiskImager and then write it on the USB drive. Boot the USB drive and it should work.That's a great idea. I'll try that, thanks
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OK, I got this working. To boot from SSD using the RetroFlag NESPI 4 case, I needed two things. First, I needed to install RetroPie to an 8 GB micro SD card. Then, I needed to run that linux from the SD card to apply the tweaks described in this file here: http://download.retroflag.com/Products/NESPi_4_CASE/How_to_boot_from_SSD.zip Then, I needed to make an image of the SD card on my hard drive, and then write that image to the SSD. Then I could finally put in the SSD and have it boot.
Unfortunately, this means disabling UAS, which greatly reduces the speed of the SSD. It doesn't completely defeat the purpose because it's still faster than the SD card, but not by as much as it should be.This is the first time I got a bad product from RetroFlag. Their GPI case was overpriced but works great. RetroFlag's NESPI 3B+ case was amazing, the best gaming case you could get for the Raspberry PI 3 B+, but I would strongly recommend against purchasing the RetroFlag NESPI 4 case if you plan to use the SSD option at all, because it doesn't work with UAS so you don't get the full speed of the SSD.
I should have just stuck with the Raspberry PI 3B+ and skipped the 4 generation, waiting for the Raspberry PI 5 or 6 or whatever, which should hopefully have proper SSD support and be able to emulate the Gamecube and PS2, cure cancer and solve world hunger someday
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