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I just bought a Kingspec 64GB MiniPCIe mSATA Half-size SSD for my NanoPi Duo. I used Win32DiskImager to flash the image to it. I placed it into the NanoPi Duo Starter Kit and powered it on. But it did not boot. Can the Nano Pi Duo boot from mSATA ?

I had the same problem, so I used both, a 8 GB SD card and a 32 GB mSATA SSD. I changed the /boot/boot.cmd on the SD (/ dev / mmcblk0p1) to (/ dev / sda2), that the SSD as / is integrated.

After editing /boot/boot.cmd I do this:

Thanks for the great help, that worked!
However I am looking for a way to just use mSATA drive alone without having a uSD installed. Is that possible ?
I am thinking this has to be done in U-boot.

Just to update this. I was told by support this.

The SSD is not for system storage in our design, it is only for data backup,
so we don't make any instruction for how run OS on it, sorry.

This is too bad because the mSATA is SO much faster and better than the usd card.
I wish they had designed it to boot from it, it would have made this device perfect.

SunWukong wrote:
I had the same problem, so I used both, a 8 GB SD card and a 32 GB mSATA SSD. I changed the /boot/boot.cmd on the SD (/ dev / mmcblk0p1) to (/ dev / sda2), that the SSD as / is integrated.

Code: Select all

setenv bootargs console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk root=/dev/sda2 rootfstype=ext4 rw rootwait fsck.repair=${fsck.repair} panic=10 ${extra} fbcon=${fbcon}

After editing /boot/boot.cmd I do this:

Code: Select all

sudo mkimage -C none -A arm -T script -d /boot/boot.cmd /boot/boot.scr
sudo shutdown -r now

how did you resize the mSATA ssd ?
The wiki says "When you boot OS for the first time with your image card your OS will automatically resize the file system"
But that is for the uSD card.

you dont need to resize the msata sdd if you format the ssd normally and then recursively copy the uSD to the ssd and then change the boot argument!?

Am i right in my thinking of what this does.
At power on, It will boot from the uSD card, then at some point switch over to the mSATA and from there on out only use that?

My whole goal is to keep the uSD access to a bare minimum.

Yes, you are right. And yes, it is only a 'work around', but a SSD is faster and saver than a SD.

here are also instructions how to use the complete mSATA as root / (not only partition2 if you clone from uSD to mSATA)
while the uSD is /boot

https://www.cnx-software.com/2017/10/30 ... ld-and-ssd

search on the page for:
'Time to move the rootfs to the SSD, and to do so I’ll adapt the instructions for CubieTruck, another Allwinner development board.'

Thank you both for the help!
@guidol, thanks so much for pointing that link out. It made everything so clear to do for a novice like me!

There is a simpler way.
go to the wiki page:
http://wiki.friendlyarm.com/wiki/index.php/NanoPi_Duo

And scroll down until you get to Boot System from SSD

Works like a charm.

mikemoy wrote:
And scroll down until you get to Boot System from SSD
.

Does the boot work without a TF/uSD-Card? and does it boot a TF/uSD-Card when inserted?
Sounds like a u-boot setting.....

guidol wrote:

mikemoy wrote:
And scroll down until you get to Boot System from SSD
.

Does the boot work without a TF/uSD-Card? and does it boot a TF/uSD-Card when inserted?
Sounds like a u-boot setting.....

Not possible. U-boot must be somewhere - on SD card. On Armbian, this is even more simple (type nand-sata-install) and more advanced - possible to have BTRFS root filesystem on target drive.