Ubuntu

20.04LTS 64bit, Raspberry Pi 4B SSD jump-boot?

Asked by Mubutu Bimbalao on 2020-05-14

Hello, friends!

I'd like to know whether or not it's currently possible to make a "jump-boot" from the MicroSD card to an SSD drive or a USB stick on Raspberry Pi 4B with the latest Ubuntu 20.04 Focal (64-bit), running on the latest raspi-kernel/firmware ( 5.4.0-1011-raspi )?

I have used that trick many times because it makes the system run faster and more reliable.

I have previously used to i.e. edit the boot-block's "config.txt" and/or the "config.txt" at /boot/firmware/ and to change the UUID for the external drive in there. This has worked with many Raspberry Pi 4B forks of previous Ubuntu's in the past, but now for some reason the boot sequence isn't working that well.

I think the error message I got was "assuming sda passthrough" or something like that when I tried to meddle with the boot configuration so that the main drive would've been my USB-attached drive.

I would really like to have the possibility to run the OS from an SSD drive for the sake of speed and reliability.

Thanks so much for all the help in advance. Keep up the good work, all the best and good health.

Regards,

Question information

Language:: English Edit question

Status:: Answered

For:: Ubuntu Edit question

Assignee:: No assignee Edit question

Last query:: 2020-05-14

Last reply:: 2020-06-06

Link existing bug

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said on 2020-05-14:

Sure, you can install from an SD card to an SSD. This is normal and happens in PCs all the time. What s the difference between this and your "jump boot" please?

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Mubutu Bimbalao (vitumbu) said on 2020-05-14:

Hello actionparsnip!

It's not currently possible to boot directly from an external USB drive from Raspberry Pi 4B. That feature has not been implemented yet in the RPi4B's firmware, just in case you did not know that technical detail. In Raspberry 3B+'s, that was not a problem, but in the 4B they had left it open as in as a "fix it in post" issue -- which is still not fixed. Hence you always need a SD card to boot off from (initially) and then point the system drive as i.e. your external drive's UUID in the "cmdline.txt".

This workaround has worked perfectly up until now as the official 20.04 LTS has been released.

There are many distros, and even forks of Ubuntu Server 18.04.4 LTS, that support this feature. However I first tried things out with first the BerryBoot image version of the 20.04 LTS -- the SSD "jump-boot" worked with that one, but I was then unable to install any kernel updates anymore.

With the official Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 64bit image, made with the official Raspberry Pi imager, the result is that I get a chaotic system that seems to treat the external SDD as a "assumed passthru" (?). It most likely has something to do with the way the official release's bootloader handles the boot process. To my knowledge, there are no tutorials or any information out there on how to make an SD card=>USB drive "jump-boot" from the official 20.04 LTS image.

I hope this clarified things out a bit.

Thank you and have a nice day!

Regards,

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Mubutu Bimbalao (vitumbu) said on 2020-05-14:

Please see i.e. this thread for more:

https://jamesachambers.com/raspberry-pi-4-usb-boot-config-guide-for-ssd-flash-drives/comment-page-14/#comment-4256