Run runeaudio from an SSD

[njp]

Hello people,

Just found this kicking around inside some redundant workstation computer:

20141017_152141_Android 1.jpg (148.47 KiB) Viewed 3235 times

It's a freebie, it's 20GB, and it'll hopefully outperform any manner of SD or USB pendrive I'm sure in terms of performance. I believe it's role was as a caching drive in a machine that used a conventional hard drive for the OS.

Question is how can I get runeaudio running from this? From what I've read online, the SD is still required for the bootloader. Can anyone point me to some info online on how to go about doing this? i.e. configuring and partitioning the SSD, breaking the runeaudio image apart, copying the data correctly, and directing the bootloader to it somehow. Whether it's a pointless exercise or not, just fancy doing it for fun! And if things run better from it, may integrate it into the build.

Thanks

[cmh714]

there are a couple of threads around on moving Rune to USB so try those

[AndreR]

In order to connect this to a Raspberry Pi B/B+ you will have to source a suitable SATA --> USB converter cable, which can be found online for approx. 15 bucks (USD). i.e. on Amazon , (maybe somehow cheaper on other sites, haven't checked).
Not sure if it's worth the effort, though: in terms of speed, you will be limited by Raspberry's USB 2.0 ports so I doubt you would see any performance increase over a 'cheap & dirty' 32Gb or 16Gb USB key which are cheaper then the converter cable alone...

[njp]

Found some rough instructions on a post:

usb-install-t403.html

I've figured out what I can from the instructions, except I've used GParted on a separate laptop with the SD and SSD connected rather than Paragon. Can see the partition breakdowns better on the SD through that software. Copied the EXT4 partition to the SSD and changed the command in the .txt file but I get a kernel panic screen that I don't understand, something along the lines of not finding the main data partition.

Found some simpler instructions online (http://jonathanmh.com/raspberry-pi-inst ... usb-drive/) on how to run Arch off a USB, and they simply state to image the distro to both the SD and the USB, and then change the parameter in the .txt file on the SD to point to the USB. However since the SSD doesn't appear as mass storage I can't use the Win32DiskImager to image the SSD to it. Does anyone have a method for this or a link to some slightly more detailed instructions on the whole process? I've searched this forum and can't find any info other than the above.

I then thought okay maybe it's easier to use a USB, as I also have a Sandisk Extreme 16GB USB3.0 Pendrive which gives good benchmarking results, however in Windows this also appears as a hard drive and not removable storage (something Sandisk have apparently done to recent pendrives for better Windows 8 support) therefore can't image the runeaudio img to it, or at least not with the conventional method.

Help!

@AndreR I already have lots of SATA to USB options, caddies and connectors. For now I've removed the board from a very good USB caddy that I use.

[njp]

So in tandem with my other post regarding a good SDHC, I've been playing about trying to get runeaudio to run off a USB/SSD.

Eventually I found some instructions I could understand and will just repeat them here to clarify I'm doing it right (my linux knowledge is non existent).

The USB I tried to use was a Sandisk Extreme 16GB USB 3.0, that is set up as a Local Disk and not a Removable Disk (thanks Sandisk!!! ).

-Boot up an Ubuntu Live CD on a laptop.
-Download runeaudio 0.3 alpha image
-Double click image, and write it to the SD, and to the Sandisk USB Pendrive
-GParted and on both the SD and Pendrive, move swap to the end, extend the Extended partition all the way, and in turn the main data partition all the way. (for some reason, this leaves a couple of 1MB unallocated chunks)
-Insert SD and USB into Pi, boot, nano /boot/cmdline_wosa.txt and change mmcblkop5 to sda5 (determined by running fdisk -l)
-Reboot. Reboot is successful.

How can I check that the data partition is accurately being accessed off the USB? I do see the USB blinking away however when I mount a folder off my NAS (Synology DS213+ via GbE) and rsync --progress the file to /root/ I'm seeing speeds not exceeding 3MB/s. Relating to my other post on SD choice, this is a similar speed to copying the file to the data partition when it was located on the SD. Pi bottleneck?

Also is there any benefit in changing the main swap from the SD to the Pendrive one? From what I'm reading there's no point but if there's benefit in doing so, how would this be done from the shell?

Then I remove the data partition off the SD as described in guides online using cfdisk I think, and the PI doesn't boot anymore - an error comes up and the Pi halts. This is what leads me to thinking the system isn't being accessed properly from the USB unless I'm doing something wrong above! I've even done it all again, and tried to delete the data partition from the SD using Gparted following online instructions and reinserting brings the same halt error. I don't think I'm correctly transferring the system to the USB pendrive and what I need are some detailed command line instructions from a fellow member here, nothing too vague. To ensure the system is offloaded onto the USB and a way to deactivate and delete the SD partitions that don't result in a halt error on boot.

[johnbanks]

You could take a look at the topic ... USB Install

[njp]

[johnbanks]

@nip
Yes - there are Windows and linux tools for this kind of project.
I recommend making the Rune image just on the SD card and powering up and then powering down properly via Rune.
Remove the SD card from the RPi.
Then clone a copy of the second partition from the SD card to the USB stick.
Then amend the cmdline.txt file (first partition of the SD card) to run from the USB stick partition. Select the wosa alternative if you have a Wolfson DAC - or I guess you could amend both cmdline.txt files.
Insert the SD card & USB stick into the RPi and power on.
If all is OK then power down, remove the SD card and delete the second partition (tho' this is probably an optional step)
Hope this helps
PS: My GUESS is that the second partition on the SD card gets changed during the first power up/down cycle

[njp]

Aaah I've been modifying the wrong cmdline file!! I've been modifying the wosa one according to the USB Install instructions. So it's the other one then - I remember seeing that and think that the mmcblkp05 appears three times, so assuming this needs to change to sda5 (or the address of the partition on the USB).

Brill, looks like this is why - will give it a shot shortly! Thanks!