How to run from USB (the best method)

[karloss]

Personally, I use a 128gb key, but the theory should be the same for HDD..

Download the image, and burn it to your HDD/USB, it will “mess up” size, but we sort that out later…

Once you have burnt the image to hdd, plug into your pc, and copy the contents of the fat32 partition onto a fat32 formatted sdcard, then open the cmdline.txt and change;

root=/dev/mmcblk0p2
To this:
root=/dev/sda2

(also make any overclock setting changes you want to make to config.txt)

now plug both your hdd/usb and your sdcard into your pi and boot, it should boot, and it should be running from usb.

Once booted, logon as pi (pi/raspberry) and type

sudo fdisk /dev/sda

Then press p and enter to see the partitions. There should only be 2. What we’re going to do now is delete the Linux partition, but before we do this, we make a note of the start position for the linux partition sda2. Press d and then when prompted type 2 and then hit enter. This will delete the partition.

Now we’re going to create a new partition, and make it large enough for the OS to occupy the full space available on the USB Flash Drive. To do this type n to create a new partition, when prompted to give the partition type, press p for primary. Then it will as for a partition number, press 2 and hit enter.

You will be asked for a first sector, set this as the start of partition 2 as noted earlier. In my case this as 122880 but this is likely to be different for you.

After this it will ask for an end position, hit enter to use the default which is end of disk. Now type w to commit the changes. You will see a message about the Kernel using some table yaddah yaddah, just ignore this, and reboot

Once your Raspberry Pi has rebooted, we need to resize the partition. To do this type the following command:

sudo resize2fs /dev/sda2

Be patient, this will take some time. Once it’s done reboot again. Then type:

df -h

This will show the partitions and the space, you’ll see the full USB Flash Disk has all the space available now. That’s it, all done!

I have done this method many times, and it seems the cleanest quickest way to do it..

[trimmtrabb]

Thanks for the guide! I moved to USB after having constant corruption issues with my SD, USB is so much more reliable and considerably cheaper :-)

[karloss]

No problem..I never have any corruption issues, my pi and sdcard arnt readily accessible and I never have to touch the SDcard I just flash images to the media and then do this, works everytime no issues..

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[itsmedoofer]

Hi,

I have had issues in the past when using /dev/sdxy to specify the boot location, usually when I’m using more than one USB device…

I found this post:-

http://blog.krastanov.org/2014/01/30/booting-pi-reliably-from-usb/

Set 3, using a GPT partition table and GUID is the trick part, works well for me….

[phipix01]

I assume the usb Drive has to be fat32 formatted aswell, doesn’t it?
Can i access the filesystem on a windows computer afterwards aswell?

[cornflaku]

fdisk is throwing an error/warning when I go to save changes that the partition is in use, then when the pi boots back up the installation is corrupt, the splash screen shows corruption then the pi drops to command line and I receive segmentation faults on most commands. Any idea what’s going on?

[phipix01]

i need help guys. i use the Disk Management Snap-In from Windows Computer Management. I have a 3TB WD Ext Drive. If i Convert it to a GPT Disk, i can use the full 3TB, unless i can make max. 2TB partitions. My Problem is though it only lets me choose between exFat or NTFS. will the Raspbian OS run on a exFat drive?
how did you guys format your 3TB drive to FAT32?

[esco0909]

How do I “burn the retropie image” to the HDD? what software can I use?
I know when I used an SD card I had to use Win32 diskimager to “burn” the image to an SD card but doesnt work on the HDD
I would like to run the OS and everything else from my HDD because my sd card got corrupted wheb I overclocked…I knew it was bound to happen as I already heard from many but many games were lagging…please clarify on the instructions how to accomplish this successfully! Total noob here…thank you so much!!!

[karloss]

esco0909, I think you are the guy that emailed me directly and I sorted you out?

[esco0909]

Yea I thought I was successful installingthe OS in my external HDD but turns out it didnt work. I tried to do the same with a 4gb flash drive I had laying around and still couldnt get it towork. I wish someone was kind enough to do a youtube video tutorial as theyre are alot on installing and setting up retro pie but not running it from an SD card. On a different side note. If i was to get heat sinkers and a fan to keep thepie cool would i be able to overclock it to the highest settings or the sd card can still get corrupt? Thats the reason i wanted to run it from an HDD to be able to overcloxk. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Hello, Karloss!
Could you please give more info about specific differences of keeping OS on USB? –
1) Should I change relative paths in config files of retroarch and emulators?
2) Does it possible to make full USB image backup of tuned up system using Win32Diskimager? It has now 2 partitions. Acronis maybe can help?
3) Do we need any special attention to inserted SD card (it is used as “boot forwarder to USB”, am I right?
4) any other points related with keeping OS on USB?

Thanks for your notes and replies!

[subzeroevil]

So it works as far as i can tell but have one issue when i try to go into retropie_setup.sh and do the Source Based Installation but when it does it stops about 5 h in or so and i left it going for 3 days still stuck lol. does anyone else have this issue if so how did you fix it.

[richardpi]

Thanks, this way works like a charm!

From what I experience, related to the questions a couple of replies above…

1. I’ve changed nothing and everything seems to work fine.
2. Sorry can’t help. I Use dd on Mac here.
3. Works perfectly when the steps are followed. Nice small class 10 card, don’t need much space this way ->cheap:-)
4. Sounds stupid, but when tweaking your system, I was looking for sudden files multiple times, since partially they’re on the sd, partially on the USB, ofcourse…

Again, above is just my personal experience after using this setup for about 3 weeks now.

[cudencuden]

is it not possible to store and play the ROMs from a network share?

[pimpmyrig]

thanks. it works perfectly for me.

FYI, I am using external hard disk and I need to plug it via powered USB hub otherwise it will not work.

[caseyjames]

Hey buddy this work like worked like a charm after I translated some of your misconstrued writing.Thanks for that it was great.Got any Idea how to add a another usb for the actual roms or if I usb another device will it kill it?

[jackall4bdn]

Anyone had any experience with berryboot, autobooting into retropie and using THAT method, or rather any problems? I was thinking of doing that to keep my fairly tweaked retropie-distro running while also putting things like arch and openelec on my stick, since i don’t wanna fiddle with multiple sticks or SDs.

[methanoid]

Do the RetroPie images use the same method of avoiding Overclock SD corruption that Raspbmc used (F2FS I think it was) or is this why we should use USB still for installs?

[thatguyinfl]

Thanks for for this. Works great! Much appreciated for sharing.

[patrickm]

Would it not be easier to just change the path option for each emulator in the es_systems.cfg so that each emulator points to the desired folder on a usb drive? This is what I’ve done, and my games load and save fine this way.

Is there some additional stability or performance advantage to also running the emulators themselves from USB?

[polluxpt]

Since my opinion is like patrickm’s post I ask if anyone had issues running Retropie by SDCard and Roms by USB drive?
I have a 4GB SDcard (got it free) where I have Retropie image and all my roms are in a 64GB USB Drive.
So far I got no problems at all but somehow I figured out some time ago that if I have my USB Drive as ext4 and I don’t have saving problems (I got them when it was Fat32) nor loading problems.
Everything runs fast enough for me and the only thing I think it will improve running OS by USB is the Retropie startup because it takes some time to load all my roms for the first time.
In my opinion to run a “real” OS (like raspian or ubuntu mate) this guide will be the best choice but to run Retropie I don’t see any advantage since it takes less time using another sdcard and if something go wrong it can be a huge frustration to lose a lot of roms.
For the other hand I have another RPi for multiple purposes and I got a “generic” USB drive (64GB as well) with a folder in it with some roms and I can run them like a charm just by plugging it to my RPi. This is why I like USB Drive option most.
Correct me if I’m wrong.
Cheers!

[dougie1970]

can anyone post the right way to run games from the usb ? and how is it set up ?

[polluxpt]

The easy way is to edit your es_systems.cfg file and changing the path line.

Here’s an example:

<path>/media/usb/Retropen/retropie/amstradcpc</path>

/Retropen/retropie/ are my USB pen drive folders

[dougie1970]

Thanks for your reply and how do i go about to finding the es_systems.cfg file ?

[polluxpt]

You can find it in /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

If you have another doubt you can always check this link:

Major Update for RetroPie

[dougie1970]

[quote=100055]You can find it in /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

If you have another doubt you can always check this link:

https://www.petrockblock.com/2014/07/01/major-update-for-retropie/

[/quote]

thanks

[dougie1970]

i am still a bit stuck on this because how do i go about adding this new line ? i cant see the file on the sd card or do i have to do it another way .

what is the right steps to do this .

thanks

[polluxpt]

You must replace every path before your emulator name.
In the example above that line already exists in the file, I just edited the path.

[dougie1970]

[quote=100081]You must replace every path before your emulator name.
In the example above that line already exists in the file, I just edited the path.

[/quote]

ok but how do i get to /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg ? as cant see it on the sd card .

what do i use to edit the file and how to go about it ?

thanks

[methanoid]

Have you heard of Google? https://www.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/how-to-run-from-usb-the-best-method/#post-100012 indicates you wanted someone else to tell you everything (it was the first Google result if you had bothered).

re your latest “please tell me every single thing i should do” post..

/etc is a directory. Are you at a command line? have you tried “cd /etc” ?

Editors? There are many you can use.. you could try nano or vi…. but please find out how to use them yourself. There are many sites that can tell you the commands to load/save files and add/delete text.

I am not normally so unhelpful but you really do seem to be seeking a 100% spoon feeding without doing much yourself!!

[polluxpt]

Ok are a few things here that makes the difference.
If you are on Windows I suggest you edit your file in your raspberry pi as you cannot see your file properly.
To edit your file under Rpi (linux) environment you can use this command:

sudo nano /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

Please note you must exit Retropie first in order to get your command prompt.

If you use linux in your desktop (Ubuntu ou other operating system) you can edit your file with other application like gedit but I’m affraid it’s not your case.

Because NANO has a very simple interface this link will help you in your find and replace journey:

http://artinpetrossian.com/?p=53

You will find lines as it follows

<path>~/Retropie/roms/EMULATORNAME</path> (something like this, I don’t have it in my mind right now as I’m outside my house)

And what you need to do is to replace this address to Your USB PEN Roms Directory.

Cheers!

[dougie1970]

[quote=100121]Ok are a few things here that makes the difference.
If you are on Windows I suggest you edit your file in your raspberry pi as you cannot see your file properly.
To edit your file under Rpi (linux) environment you can use this command:

sudo nano /etc/emulationstation/es_systems.cfg

Please note you must exit Retropie first in order to get your command prompt.

If you use linux in your desktop (Ubuntu ou other operating system) you can edit your file with other application like gedit but I’m affraid it’s not your case.

Because NANO has a very simple interface this link will help you in your find and replace journey:

http://artinpetrossian.com/?p=53

You will find lines as it follows

<path>~/Retropie/roms/EMULATORNAME</path> (something like this, I don’t have it in my mind right now as I’m outside my house)

And what you need to do is to replace this address to Your USB PEN Roms Directory.

Cheers!

[/quote]

ok thanks thats it sorted . and the info was spot on .

[quote=100120]Have you heard of Google? https://www.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/how-to-run-from-usb-the-best-method/#post-100012 indicates you wanted someone else to tell you everything (it was the first Google result if you had bothered).

re your latest “please tell me every single thing i should do” post..

/etc is a directory. Are you at a command line? have you tried “cd /etc” ?

Editors? There are many you can use.. you could try nano or vi…. but please find out how to use them yourself. There are many sites that can tell you the commands to load/save files and add/delete text.

I am not normally so unhelpful but you really do seem to be seeking a 100% spoon feeding without doing much yourself!!

[/quote]

Muppet

[methanoid]

But a muppet who can use Google and isn’t spoonfed like a baby ;) Just deal with it and move on!

[patrickm]

One thing I haven’t been able to figure out:

In order to start emulationstation, I first have to start the x server and then logout. Otherwise emulationstation crashes immediately upon startup, like the usb drive is not loaded until I start the x server.

Anyone know how to get the usb drive to load upon startup rather than needing to login to the x server?

[ezeitgeist]

If I run through the full setup of Raspian and then RetroPie on my SD card, can I still transfer it to the USB? If so, is it the same instructions or different?

Also, any specific recommendations for doing on Mac OS? Thanks!

[Author]

Posts