Boot OSMC from USB mass storage RPi3B+

Does anyone success boot OSMC from USB only? Without SD Card
I have USB Stick with burned OSMC but when i try boot from it i have error
Not found Bootfs

Then i try install standard SD Card and clone all Card to USB.
Then i have error
/dev/mmcblkp2 not found.

So how can i boot from usb only?

As of today OSMC for Pi only supports booting via SD Card. You can have OSMC on the USB Stick (if you choose so in the installer) but for the time being you would need to keep boot files on the SD Card.

Too bad :frowning:

I’ve seen this said, but AIUI once you have modded a Pi3 to boot from USB (an irreversible action, it seems) why would it care what operating system it was booting?

Is it just that some user intervention is currently required when installing and/or when upgrading?

The user would have to partition and set up fstab manually.

Currently the installer won’t do this for them

I’ve been meaning to try this, but I’m put off by the thought I will never again be able to boot from SD card. And I don’t see any real advantage, so …

I have to ask: why do you want to do that? You can keep nearly all the OSMC system files and your media on a USB drive using the USB install option. The SD card only needs a few MB of files on it.

Try it - you’ll find that an SD card with the basic boot files will still boot in preference to a USB device if it is present.
HTH
Derek

I have 10x 8GB usb SLC memory drives. I hate use sd cards. I have a lot of problems with SD cards even use in OSMC option to install to USB drive. Lost power and boom. Lost boot partition. So if RPI3b+ use boot form usb without change anything, standard option, so why don’t use it.

I’m not so sure. If you use the card just for booting, I think the Pi just reads the kernel into memory and that’s it. So the card doesn’t get used after that and is not written to except during upgrades. Lose power while a write is in progress and you are in trouble but with negligible writes, negligible risk. Besides, just keep a clone of the boot card handy and swap it in if the original dies.

I think you’re misunderstanding. The one-off change on the Pi 3B was just to allow USB booting, it didn’t stop uSD booting, and uSD boot still takes preference.

The Pi 3B+ comes with USB boot enabled as a default now I believe - rather than requiring a one-off command to enable it.

You’re right. I was reading too much into the instructions. Trying it now.

OK, it works, but booting from USB (actually from the SD card in a USB card reader) is a lot slower than from a SD card in the card slot.

Is the card reader a USB 2.0 card reader? I know it’s simple but worth asking.

yes. USB2.0

FWIW, on my vanilla Pi3+ it takes about 11 seconds to get to the splash screen and another 15 to get to the gui using just an SD card.

Using an SD card to boot with the OS on a USB (another SD in a card reader) was slighly quicker - 24 seconds overall.

Booting from the USB card reader with no SD card in the Pi’s card slot took 58 seconds to the splash screen but then only 8.6 seconds more to get to the gui.

Are you happy with the replies here? I can tell you how to boot from USB if you still want to. Apart from the slow boot-up (YMMV) you may get issues when upgrading OSMC.