hi everyone,
Is it now possible to run DietPi on a single SSD drive attached to USB (ie: without a microSD card) of a Raspberry Pi 4? How?
Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD Topic is solved
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
Hi,
well the question is not if you can boot DietPi on a RPi4 from an extern SSD.
The question is, if you can boot Raspbian Lite on a RPi4 using an external SSD
Answer: Not yet. see > https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... teeprom.md
The feature will come and there is already an available beta firmware out. However not yet official released. As well a first guide how to use the beta version is out on the web. Maybe you like to have a look. But this is all without guaranty as it's still beta
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eepr ... e-notes.md
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boo ... y-pi-4-usb
And one more linkt to a similar topic on GitHub
https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/issu ... -629771482
well the question is not if you can boot DietPi on a RPi4 from an extern SSD.
The question is, if you can boot Raspbian Lite on a RPi4 using an external SSD

Answer: Not yet. see > https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... teeprom.md
The feature will come and there is already an available beta firmware out. However not yet official released. As well a first guide how to use the beta version is out on the web. Maybe you like to have a look. But this is all without guaranty as it's still beta
https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eepr ... e-notes.md
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boo ... y-pi-4-usb
And one more linkt to a similar topic on GitHub
https://github.com/MichaIng/DietPi/issu ... -629771482
Pls let us know if a solution is working. This could help others if they hit by similar situation. Your DietPi Team
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
Thank you for that quick reply and useful links.
So I guess the big question is: will DietPi be updated when the final EEPROM comes out? (new version of Raspbian I suppose)?
So I guess the big question is: will DietPi be updated when the final EEPROM comes out? (new version of Raspbian I suppose)?
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
Hi,
the OS below DietPi is a Raspbian Lite (base image) in case of RPi devices. Therefore the eeprom update service is already there and updates will be applied during boot, if available.
Probably you would need to set rpi-eeprom-update to stable. By default it's set to critical
detailed information can be found at the bottom of the page https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... teeprom.md
the OS below DietPi is a Raspbian Lite (base image) in case of RPi devices. Therefore the eeprom update service is already there and updates will be applied during boot, if available.
Code: Select all
root@DietPi4:~# journalctl -u rpi-eeprom-update
-- Logs begin at Sat 2020-05-23 10:25:50 CEST, end at Mon 2020-05-25 16:47:33 CEST. --
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 systemd[1]: Starting Check for Raspberry Pi EEPROM updates...
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: BCM2711 detected
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: BOOTLOADER: up-to-date
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: CURRENT: Thu 16 Apr 17:11:26 UTC 2020 (1587057086)
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: LATEST: Thu 16 Apr 17:11:26 UTC 2020 (1587057086)
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: FW DIR: /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/critical
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: VL805: up-to-date
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: CURRENT: 000137ad
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 rpi-eeprom-update[249]: LATEST: 000137ad
Mai 23 10:25:51 DietPi4 systemd[1]: Started Check for Raspberry Pi EEPROM updates.
root@DietPi4:~#
Code: Select all
root@DietPi4:~# cat /etc/default/rpi-eeprom-update
FIRMWARE_RELEASE_STATUS="critical"
root@DietPi4:~#
Pls let us know if a solution is working. This could help others if they hit by similar situation. Your DietPi Team
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
Just a word of caution to people trying this.
I have tried it this morning and managed to boot from a 1TB HD. The initial resize2fs took quite some time (5 minutes?), but afterwards DietPi booted up just fine (v6.3).
The problem came later when I configured DietPi with root access. I tried to install a couple of packages, and on the next reboot, I got an error and the Pi didn't start on USB HD anymore. I think the problem was that the packages/script erased some necessary files like recovery.elf and recovery4.elf (which were stated as not found on the screen), and also start4cd.elf which was stated as not compatible.
So I am unsure which script changed these files, but be aware of these issues.
I have tried it this morning and managed to boot from a 1TB HD. The initial resize2fs took quite some time (5 minutes?), but afterwards DietPi booted up just fine (v6.3).
The problem came later when I configured DietPi with root access. I tried to install a couple of packages, and on the next reboot, I got an error and the Pi didn't start on USB HD anymore. I think the problem was that the packages/script erased some necessary files like recovery.elf and recovery4.elf (which were stated as not found on the screen), and also start4cd.elf which was stated as not compatible.
So I am unsure which script changed these files, but be aware of these issues.
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
I really do not understand why folk want to do this. Other than freeing up an SD Card it has zero benefit AFAICS. I usually transfer the boot folder to an old, small (2GB) SDCard once the transfer of the rootfs has been done and boot from that.
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
@DietCH
Did you have done a reboot right after you updated to 6.30??
Did you have done a reboot right after you updated to 6.30??
Pls let us know if a solution is working. This could help others if they hit by similar situation. Your DietPi Team
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
It was a fresh install directly from USB (no SD card used).
After the initial config, yes, it asked for a reboot, and that's when some files were changed on the HD.
After the initial config, yes, it asked for a reboot, and that's when some files were changed on the HD.
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
well during initial setup, a couple of Raspbian/Debian package update procedures will be called. Maybe it will revert (beta) changes you have done to get USB booting up?
Pls let us know if a solution is working. This could help others if they hit by similar situation. Your DietPi Team
Re: Pi4: DietPi on sole external SSD
Now that this boot from USB firmware is official and stable, is it safe to use with DietPi 6.3 to avoid the problems discussed above?