HASS.IO -> transfer from SD card to SSD or USB

Installation Home Assistant OS
182

I’m just wondering can the same procedure applicable on USB thumb drive? I’m planning to try it out first with USB thumb drive since it’s cheaper than SSD.

183

Just the kind of tutorial I was looking for ! I will try this tonight with my new hardware.

184

Its should be the same. However, I don’t see an advantage using a thumbdrive over a MicroSD card. You could use it as a test before buying SSD thou. :grin:

185

Don´t use a thumbdrive. It´s slow and not reliable.

186

I want to do this and my current setup is a pi 3B+ with a zwave stick mounted on USB1.
Will I have problems with using another USB port for the SSD?
I ask because I remember it was recomended to have the Zwave stick on the first usb port.

PS: Many thanks for the effort in putting up the video.
Cheers

187

I doesn’t matter, where you put in your SSD. :slight_smile: As long as you do the part with /etc/fstab you can even change the usb ports for every new start. :wink:

The reason why tutorials often mention to put things into the first usb port is simple: it is the easiest way to find it for the first time. After that, it doesn’t really matter (besides from specification like USB2.0 or USB3.0).

188

You are welcome. And yes, like Patrick mentioned, port doesn’t matter. :smile:

189

Hi
Keep in mind the power supply.
My first attempts running rpi3b, razberry, cooling fan and ssd failed with 2.5A power supply, getting a 3A “quick charger” fixed that.
My rpi4b with official power and ssd works fine.

190

Well, I guess I missed that part on the video. ( /etc/fstab)
My current setup is just a downloaded hass.io on a SDcard, and I never made any linux inputs on it. (with exeption of a txt file for the WIFI password).
Never connected a monitor or a keyboard. Just SSH to copy some files and that’s it.

After the last update (not sure if related or not) everything is working but I lost access to the pi. cannot SSH, or access by the hassio…:8123, nor by IP address:8123, or even by Nabu. So I assume something is broken and will start from zero with the SSD.

But honestly I just want the simplicity of the current setup.

191

Hello,
I would like to have feedback of SSD users with a Raspberry Pi 3B+:
I changed from a SD card (Sandisk Extreme, 64GB, A2 Class) to a SSD ( PNY SSD7CS900-120-PB 120GB), but I don’t find the interface particularly faster. I even changed for an official Rpi power supply.
My logbook and history takes up to 12-15s to display the last 24h (database is ~360MB), whereas I have read some post where people claim 1s for the same things. Reboot is as slow as before.
Any recommendation ? Was it expected with a SSD connected to the USB 2.0 ports of the Pi ?
Thanks

1 Like
192

just asking

we’re talking about hassos?!
You’re happy still? Reliable still?

Also 3b+ here and a bit confused if i should by a bigger pi for better performance aaaaand ssd or trying my old one with the ssd method.
I also want to stay at the hassOS solution because i want to be fast replacable if i have a problem in any future.

For a noob like me:
Downloading the actual hassos
Burn it on a ssd and plug it with an adapter into the usb 2.0 port
Plug it in into my 3b+ and with a good portion of luck and the right cable everything is good than?

193

thanks for this great video

I’m just wondering why this sd card boot trick is necessary?!?
–> https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/bootmodes/msd.md
On some place there is written:
grafik

Is this wrong than?

194

@ upwind_anderl
Based on my experience - the trick, besides the USB boot activation, is in the combination of the right cable and SSD (RPi-3b, Kingston SSD A400, 120GB + Sabrent adapter) and empty SD card (the smallest available) in the slot.
At he moment my HASSIO runs on Raspberry Pi 3B + X820 V3.0 2.5 inch SATA Storage Board + Kingston SSD A400 + safe and headless shutdown mod + APC UPS

RPi with SSD is more vulnerable against unexpected power cuts resulting in wrtiting failure and need of complete reinstal than uSD card => UPS is advised

In my case

  • host (HassOS) reboot from SSD is slower than from uSD card,
  • HA restart, config check and “history response” and generally all operations within HASSIO are notably faster than from uSD card
  • w/o empty uSD the whole system seems to be more laggy
1 Like
195

Hi, yes, as per what kajmaj mentioned. And if you watch my video, the instructions will ask RPI3 B+ owners to skip the part where we activate the USB booting for 3B and below owners.

2 Likes
196

@Don_Lim
so good! i thought you talked about B without extra mentioning the +
^^
my fault

@kajmaj
WOW
gooood points! Never thought about that powerproblem and in fact i makes sense! Maybe for a fast shutdown it’s also possible to make it with some smaller usv solution but i guess i’ve to do it aswell
What do you mean with:
‘trick…besides the usb boot activiation…’ ??!
I guess there is no trick? NO SD card -> usb boot expected?
But this crashes with your “empty sd card”
What do you mean with empty? Formated and clear?
Sorry i’m a bit confused now ^

197

@ upwind_anderl

  • RPi USB Boot activation => described in the link you’ve posted in 192 (one time used add program_usb_boot_mode=1 to the end of /boot/config.txt .
  • regarding uSD - technically there are 5 options => no card, empty card(formated and clear), with bootcode.bin, with timeout or with bootcode and timeout (there are plenty of explanations on the net available). In all cases there is no active writing from RPi side, it is used for boot only if I understood well. It looks like different SSDs and USB adapters requires different approach.
198

Well the raspberry pi foundation haven’t crack booting from the usb ports on a pi 4 yet.
The eft load is different from a pi 3’s
When they have that sorted you will be able to update the firmware and we can then look at what (if anything) is required to boot hassos from USB.

1 Like
199

I didn’t needed any sd card when booting from my USB stick on RPI3B+ but as I encountered problems after almost each new update (restart button stop the server…) I decided to go back with my old SD config, waiting for more stability.

1 Like
200

This worked for me perfect. Tried this couple of times to be sure this is working. Now running for 3 months Hassio on SSD on RPi. Only first boot part from SD

Flash on SD Card Debain Buster Lite Image put in RPi4 and bootup

Format SSD with FAT and connect to RPi4

Now do some things on command prompt of Buster on your Pi:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1 -L root
sudo mkdir /media/newdrive
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /media/newdrive
sudo rsync -avx --progress / /media/newdrive
sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt

Copy the full line in the cmdline.txt so you have 2 same lines. command 1 out with #
Replace the second line the “root=“ see below.

root=/dev/sda1 rootfs_type=ext4 root_wait rootdelay=5

Save the file

reboot now

If you have something with resize, remove that part also.

Correct location and timezone

raspi-config

Install Docker

sudo -i
apt-get install software-properties-common -y
apt-get update
apt-get install apparmor-utils apt-transport-https avahi-daemon ca-certificates curl dbus jq socat
curl -fsSL get.docker.com | sh

Install Hass.io

curl -sL "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/home-assistant/hassio-installer/master/hassio_install.sh" | bash -s -- -m raspberrypi3

After about 20 Min login via WebUI. Create account

1 Like
201

Thanks, what I said is that I was booting directly from USB, as this is supposed to work, out of the box (formated my USB with Balena Eatcher), without inserting an SD card. It worked perfectly, except in update situations.