boot from ssd in pi desktop

Question

I couldnt find the file pidesktop.deb. The webpage is really complicated.

rachaelp · Accepted Answer

It's been posted up on here earlier: https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-86805/l/pi-desktop-debian-file Update: Now with correct link!

balearicdynamics · Answer

Hello Vandia

Since when did the Raspi have a boot sector that could boot from USB?

The boot process follow this path:

When powered on the CPU check what should be done in a sort of 2Kb of bios inside of its EEPROM. By default in the PI it addresses the boot searched from the /boot partition on the SD card.
With a terminal command you can change this bit setting to address the CPU to search for the /boot partition somewhere else, e.g. the USB port.

This is a sort of innovation introduced by build in the internal firmware of the PI B3 as they have modified the firmware to give this option. IMHO I suppose that they have just applied to the traditional PI the changes in the EEPROM processor that is in the other version of the PI, the one with the DIMM Form factor.

As explained in the same github link you cited in a previous post, there it is explained both the command and the procedure.

What image are you using that you're booting "fast" from USB? What are you overall using this pi with the SSD for? I am saying this as one question, because I'd think that it would go pretty slow compared to a decent SD card

I have just used the last Raspbian pixel image loaded on the SSD connected to the Mac via the same USB adaptor) without changing none. For image burning I have used Etcher, that in advanced mode settings gives the option to burn the image (the PI img file) on any device, not only the SD card we are used to. Take a look to https://etcher.io/

Below the back image of my PI Desktop. It is not completely closed in a case as I should put the hans on it almost frequently so only the bottom side of the VESA support has been 3D printed.

Below the video with the SSD boot sequence, that is 35 seconds before showing the desktop screen.

Also consider the incredibly amount of available space for less then 50$ and the reliability of the SSD compared to the micro SD card

BTW if I am not wrong there is not the boot sector as we are used in other OS (e.g. Windows) as the boot sector is replaced by a partition that can be edited too in some parts.

Enrico

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Also consider the incredibly amount of available space for less then 50$ and the reliability of the SSD compared to the micro SD card BTW if I am not wrong there is not the boot sector as we are used in other OS (e.g. Windows) as the boot sector is replaced by a partition that can be edited too in some parts. Enrico

vandia · Answer

I found a useful link I think may help:

https://github.com/raspberrypi/documentation/blob/master/hardware/raspberrypi/bootmodes/msd.md

But please note:

- Not all Mass Storage Devices will work.
- You will still need an SD card to drive the boot sector, to run files from your SSD.
-Files LOADING from the SSD are going to be running through USB, which will throttle the speed down to lower than running something on the SD card in most cases.

Actually, it will be MUCH MUCH slower to load via USB, which may not make the trouble worth it to you, once you go through the trouble to see how slow it actually is. I can give you numbers, but you're not going to understand until you try to run files from the SD instead. Until then, you're probably going to think the Pi is a slow PoS, lol.

balearicdynamics · Answer

I have setup a 120 Gb SSD and set the flag as mentioned in the post above. Things worked fine and the PI Now boot (fast) from the SSD without the SD card.

For now I am using it for development experiments and attached beck to a 21 inches HD display it work as oscilloscope (with the Bitscope PI) and other stuff.

Enrico

rachaelp · Answer

vandia wrote:

So wait, two questions:
-Since when did the Raspi have a boot sector that could boot from USB?

I'm not a Pi expert (haven't used mine for absolutely ages, since it munched its SD card again and annoyed me!) but it looks like since the Pi3: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/pi-3-booting-part-i-usb-mass-storage-boot/

Best Regards,

Rachael

stone1343 · Answer

Note, this is not the solution to the original problem, Premier Farnell sells a new product called the "Pi Desktop", distributed by element14/newark, the installation instructions specifically mention go to element14.com/pidesktop and under Downloads, download pidesktop.deb. However, maybe it's too early and this hasn't been published yet. I understood this product wouldn't be available in North America until June 5, so perhaps something will be available then. Thanks!

tomgeorge · Answer

I followed instructions to boot pi from a usb ignoring the fact I had a ssd not a usb. Worked perfectly. When finished pi booted from the ssd and the cd card was moved /media/pi/. I can no longer find the link to these instructions but I copied them down as I executed them. I could post them if anyone is interested.

balearicdynamics · Answer

It is correct Thomas, as by the point of view of the Pi an SSD connected via SATA to USB is a bare USB Memory stick. No matter what is the speed of the SSD itself or the data transfer available to the SATA side as the speed of data transfer is determined by the USB 2 protocol that is the physical connection between the devie and the PI. As a matter of fact, - despite some issues related to some firmware problem - any storage device connected to the USB is saw by the PI as an external USB storage. To call it in the instructions USB memory stick is just a formal convention. Nothing to do with electronic as the interface (USB data storage) is the same for all. Enrico

cstanton · Answer

Enrico Miglino wrote: The point I ave cited you is that the "common" user, or newbie, not super experienced, does not know nothing more than follow the instructions. So as reported in the "official" (?) documentation using Etcher it can do it in the almost secure way. By the way, it is interesting to ask "what is exactly the "Etcher" application? It is just a GUI multiplatform wrapper that depending on the operating system it uses dd or similar calls to do just the low level job in a more structured way to make life easier to the users About the fact that Pi2 and 1 will work, I am not 100% sure that the processor is the same. But what I am almost sure is that also the other processors should include a sort of boot selector. The deduction came form the field where these are also applied: the mobile devices. If you have time you can try. I suppose that they have not provided this as the boot eeprom firmware on the processor. I am curious to see it. Enrico The Pi 1 uses the BCM2835 and the Pi 2 v1.1 uses BCM2836. The Pi 2 v1.2 uses BCM2837 which is the same as the Pi 3. I'll check out Etcher, looks like it was mentioned as part of MagPi https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/pi-sd-etcher/ , thanks! There's also DiskImager which I happened upon: https://github.com/DynamicDevices/DiskImager

tomgeorge · Answer

OK pi booted from cd. Downloaded raspbian image to pi from root terminal proceed as follows: lsblk to confirm ssd is /dev/sda dd bs=4M if=2017-04-10-raspbian-jessie.img of=/dev/sda (doesn't matter if ssd is unformated) lsblk now shows sda1 /media/pi/boot and sda2 /media/pi/disk# use gparted to enlarge the sda2 partition mkdir /mnt/slash mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/slash (slash is just any name you choose) rsync -avxS / /mnt/ (I think -a = archive necessary to copy entire content of /)l lsblk now shows sda1 /media/pi/boot and sda2 /mnt/slash ls /dev/disk/by-partuuid to list the partuuids for both the cd card and the ssd cd /boot vi cmdline.txt You will find root=partuuid=cd card #-2 change this to root=partuuid=ssd #-2 close the edit with the new root id. Hold your breath and reboot. It worked for me

cstanton · Answer

Well, you don't need to connect the mSATA card into something else directly, you can plug it in via USB to another computer. This is covered in the user manual, as the SSD connects to the Pi in the Pi Desktop via USB, so to can it connect to another computer.

tomgeorge · Answer

I did not use a usb connection. The ssd drive was connected to the hat. Started booting from the cd card. After following all the instructions turned the pi off then on to reboot. At a terminal entered the command df -h. Response was /dev/root size 230G mounted on /.