Can I use the USB-SD creator to setup an USB HDD to boot a RPi3?

soyxan · October 11, 2017 at 11:38 AM

Hi,

I am planning to use the option on the RPi3 to boot directly from an external 2.5" USB HDD (no SD at all) and I am wondering if it is possible to prepare the HDD just using the LE USB-SD creator utility.

What I am planning to do is:

Activate the bit (program_usb_boot_mode=1) with a bootable SD
Prepare the HDD with the USB-SD creator utility
change config.txt to point to sda on boot

I am right? Do I need to do anyhing else?

Thanks!

**chewitt** · October 11, 2017 at 6:59 PM Official Post

I've never tried it myself, but that should be all that's required.

Der_Jonas · January 4, 2018 at 9:08 PM

Hi!

I´ve tried to do something similar. I have a nespicase with a pi3 in it. I want to use it sometimes with Recalbox on a SD-Card, but mostly with LibreElec on a USB-Device that is build in the case. I´ve

- activated the USB-mode with Rasbian

- buyed an supported USB-Device (SanDisk Cruzer Fit 16GB)

- formatted it with SD-Formatter

- used the USB-SD-Creator to write the image

- changed the cmdline.txt to "boot=/dev/mmcblk0p1 disk=/dev/sda1 ssh quiet" (I´ve tried it also without the "ssh")

My Pi tries to boot now without SD-Card, but it gives out the error in mount_flash: "could not mount" and "can´t access tty; job control turned off"

Do you have any idea to fix it?

Thank you!