Can't access HA! Possibly corrupted SD

Installation
1

Hi there.
I’m using Rpi 4 with USB attached SSD disk, and HA is running in a docker container. We were on a holiday trip last week, and I noticed via Nabu Casa Cloud that my zigbee2mqtt sensors were all ‘unavailable’. I did a remote reboot for HA and have not been able to access it ever since. Not even when coming back home, connecting from local LAN. Although I can SSH into the IP address.

So, the install I did few years back is done by booting from SD card and then switching to USB SSD. I see it’s no longer required and I could just boot directly from USB SSD. I would like to ditch the SD completely now and only use USB SSD. The docker container was some kind of workaround which purpose I don’t remember anymore. I could try without a docker first and see if it’s good enough.

My question is: Can I do a clean install by booting from USB SSD, restore backup from Google Drive and be back online again (without the need to rebuild zigbee2mqtt network from scratch)?

2

What install method did you use?

How did you install zigbee2mqtt?

3

It’s been running like 3 years. I cannot remember anymore.
What difference does it make? Was zigbee2mqtt just an add-on in HA?

4

Because the addon isn’t possible on a container install.

5

Yes. But don’t try and do this (whatever it means):

Docker isn’t a workaround for anything, HA is basically entirely in docker. There’s only one install method of the 4 that doesn’t use docker (the core/venv method) and there are no addons. Addons are basically just docker containers, no docker = no addons.

Just follow this guide to install HAOS and then restore your backup. Or the supervised one if you really want to and are a Linux expert.

6

Thanks so far for your replies.
Regarding my original installation, it has the add-on store, so it must be the “Home Assistant Operating System”, right?
Now I remember something about the “workaround” I mentioned: It was running in a container because I needed to run something else on the same RPi4 that needed to access either the Bluetooth or Audio Output.
But I guess I don’t need that functionality anymore since I have separate Raspberries for presence detection and audio playing devices.

Is this still valid information or can Home Assistant be booted from USB SSD without the need for SD-card?

7

Mine has been booting from USB for a LONG time. it does work given the right usb drives.

8

Good news!
I was following the process how to update RPi EEPROM to allow USB booting. Did the FW flashing and had to give “sudo reboot”. To my surprise the HA woke up after this boot.

9

No, it could be supervised.