Can i download raspberrian to a thumb drive/external hard drive?

[mynameisntavailable]

Hello, i am very interested in making a magic mirror but i am super new to it and will not actually be getting the raspberry pi for another month, however i am curious and very excited. I was wondering i can by chance just download raspberian to a thumbdrive or even an external hard drive and start the project so that i will just need to make the frame when i get the raspberry pi? And then just install it to the device when i get done?

[sdetweil]

@mynameisntavailable you can run without any mirror

i have a 55 in tv as my monitor

[sdetweil]

@mynameisntavailable. pis dont boot a usb stick.

[evroom]

@sdetweil said in Can i download raspberrian to a thumb drive/external hard drive?:

pis dont boot a usb stick.

Actual they can, at least Pi 3 Model B and Pi 3 Model B Plus can.
I replaced my SD-cards with USB sticks recently.

@mynameisntavailable
Send this info to determine it;

$ cat /sys/firmware/devicetree/base/model;echo
$ vcgencmd otp_dump | egrep '^17|^30|^66'

You will need to change the config.txt once and reboot (using the Pi that runs on the SD-Card):

/boot/config.txt
program_usb_boot_mode=1
program_usb_boot_timeout=1

With these settings you can replace the SD-Card by a USB-Stick.

17:3020000a
30:00a02082
66:01009daa

There are people out there that actually have an external SSD drive running.
The only thing that can be tricky I the power-supply as the USB Stick may draw too much current.
I am using those little USB sticks (USB flash drive).

[evroom]

Here is what I know on this topic.

OTP means One Time Programmable Memory.
Meaning, you can set it only once, no return possible.

vcgencmd otp_dump

vcgencmd otp_dump | egrep '^17|^30|^66'

vcgencmd otp_dump | grep ^17
Use program_usb_boot_mode=1 to change.

vcgencmd otp_dump | grep ^30
Use max_usb_current=1 to change.

vcgencmd otp_dump | grep ^66 
Use program_usb_boot_timeout=1 to change.

/boot/config.txt
program_usb_boot_mode=1
program_usb_boot_timeout=1
max_usb_current=1

Address 17 – bootmode register
Bit 21 - Enable booting from SD card
Bit 28 - Enable USB device booting
Bit 29 - Enable USB host booting (ethernet and mass storage)

Address 30 – revision code1 
Bit 32 - Disable overvoltage

Address 66 - advanced boot register
Bit 24 - Extend USB HUB timeout parameter

Green LED flashing due to absent SD card:

dtoverlay=sdtweak,poll_once

I would try this first:

program_usb_boot_mode=1

and if booting does not work:

program_usb_boot_timeout=1

So, first boot from SD card.
Change config.txt to set program_usb_boot_mode=1.
Boot again from SD card (sudo shutdown -r now).
Halt system (sudo shutdown -h now)
Remove SD card and place USB stick.
Boot from USB stick.

If boot fails, remove USB stick, place SD card.
Boot from SD card.
Change config.txt to set program_usb_boot_timeout =1.
Boot again from SD card (sudo shutdown -r now).
Hold system (sudo shutdown -h now)
Remove SD card and place USB stick.
Boot from USB stick.

When it succeeds, remove the entries from config.txt again.

program_usb_boot_mode=1
program_usb_boot_timeout=1

Be patient when rebooting from USB card.
It takes a bit longer than with SD card.

[retroflex]

I run an SSD with my Pi 3B. Regarding the one time thing, it means it will always try to boot from USB first but if it doesn’t find a bootable USB device, it will boot from SD card instead. Disclaimer: this is what I’ve read, I have not tested myself.

I also remember that there were some issues with USB booting and Pi 4. Don’t know whether that has been resolved.

[sdetweil]

i boot from SD, but run from SSD (on pi4 and odroid)
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/boot-raspberry-pi-4-usb

[evroom]

@retroflex
I also did not leave both SD and USB in.
I thought it will boot from SD first, especially since it is ready faster than the USB.
But someone that does, will find out.

Concerning Pi 4, I read that a beta fix is ready, but still under test. It appears to have some dependencies that could cause problems.
But I do not yet use a Pi 4.
What Sam does is the way to go at this moment.

[evroom]

@sdetweil said in Can i download raspberrian to a thumb drive/external hard drive?:

on pi4 and odroid

Sam, which Odroid do you use?
And will a Pi 4 with 8Gb RAM be fast enough for MM these days?

I use a Pi 3 and am planning to install Grafana and Influxdb on the same host.
Perhaps asking for problems or warrants an HW upgrade.

[sdetweil]

@evroom my 4gb PI 4 is good enough for MM… so 8 gb would seem too much only using just under 2 gb

              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           3905         534        1593         261        1777        2960
Swap:            99           0          99

I use an odroid XU4 with fan. had 2, one died… I think power failure…
also have a jetson nano