Running roms from SD and USB
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Since my 64GB SD card almost running full I was looking for a way to store more games to play. I simply can get a 500GB 2.5' USB drive but I want to keep it all compact, so I found an 128GB USB stick. So I found the following guide:
http://mardell.me/blog/how-to-load-roms-from-a-usb-drive-on-retropie/
The guide says:
3. Configure Samba
Now that you’ve changed the path to your roms, we want to make sure you can add still add roms using samba. First, copy your samba config file in case we get anything wrong:
cp /etc/samba/smb.conf /etc/samba/smb.conf.bak
Edit the filenano /etc/samba/smb.conf
Change the [roms] path to your new USB path:[roms]
comment = roms
path = "/media/usb0"My problem is what if I want to use SD and USB for the SMB share? How to I use multiple paths for the SMB share?
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@PetroRie said in Running roms from SD and USB:
http://mardell.me/blog/how-to-load-roms-from-a-usb-drive-on-retropie/
this guide isn't recommended - it involves hacking the emulationstation config file, which is dangerous and also will be reverted if you update. use our guide: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive
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@dankcushions And if I follow those steps will I still be able to run games from the SD card?
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@PetroRie no.
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@PetroRie There is no need imho for a mix between ROMs on SD card and USB at once.
My setup is a small 4GB SD for system and a 32GB USB for ROMs.If you want a mix you can use symbolic links ... Read more in this thread or here. But please understand the moderators and the users here. There are tons of methods to solve a problem and the more methods there can be used the harder is it to find possible errors. So use the guides recommended in the wiki.
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@cyperghost To be fair, there is a very good case for running roms from USB and SD card: young children. Don’t worry, I’m not about to run around, arms flailing, screaming “Won’t somebody think of the children!” and start banning video games…
What I would like to see is for multiple sources per emulator, so that the games list is built each time at startup from more than one location, say the boot SD card and also the USB flash drive if present. Why? So parents can store additional games on the removable drive that they wouldn’t want the little 'uns to discover, such as Mortal Kombat or those terrible porny Qix clones.
I understand this isn’t possible at the moment, but maybe in the future allow for a local configuration file with additional paths for roms, which wouldn’t be affected by further upgrades?
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@cheesymonkey perhaps you should check out the child friendly ES:
https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Child-friendly-EmulationStation
Or you can set a hot plugging rule for your USB where you keep your adult games on the USB so that when it is plugged in it runs those games then when you unplug it it reverts back to the USB. (Which I'm pretty sure is just the default behaviour for the guide listed further above) You can use both, just not at the same time.
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@dankcushions said in Running roms from SD and USB:
@PetroRie said in Running roms from SD and USB:
http://mardell.me/blog/how-to-load-roms-from-a-usb-drive-on-retropie/
this guide isn't recommended - it involves hacking the emulationstation config file, which is dangerous and also will be reverted if you update. use our guide: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Running-ROMs-from-a-USB-drive
When following that guide, is the raspberry running retropie of the usb instead of the sd card? Or is retropie still playable when not having the usb plugged in?
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@DanielMedStortD only the roms are on the usb drive. you could start retropie without, but it wouldn't have any roms available to play.
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@dankcushions okay, but as i yesterday tried to start it without the usb in, i got a error saying that their are no systems avalible and got jumped into the terminal at boot instead
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@DanielMedStortD you should just use the built in tool that was just added. Update your setup script, re-enable the USB ROM service from the setup script, create a folder on your USB called
retropie-mountplug in your USB, it will then copy over the RetroPie folder (make sure you have enough space on your USB) once it is fully copied it will mount the USB drive on the RetroPie folder.If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/
Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first
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@herb_fargus said in Running roms from SD and USB:
you should just use the built in tool that was just added.
Super keen!
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@herb_fargus Just to make it clear, im a total noob on raspberry and retropie.
So with a clean installation of retropie, i update the scripts, enable the Usb rom service, and create a folder on the usb, and plug it in to the raspberry. And i can then add roms to the usb and they will not be copied over to the sd card (as i only had a 8 gb sd card)? and they will show up in es and be playable?
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@DanielMedStortD I believe so. Just have to try it and see :p
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