Kitz Forum

Computers & Hardware => Other Technologies & Hardware => Topic started by: Weaver on January 05, 2018, 11:08:41 PM

Title: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: Weaver on January 05, 2018, 11:08:41 PM
Would I be able to boot my raspberry pi 3 off this?

    http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XFHQGB9/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=I2WR95S7WABM9W&colid=1NKM82F39L7B&psc=0

And are there problems to do with max size of file systems and so on?

I stupidly broke my pi 3 by deleting a module that apparently was essential and it won't boot now. I am going to have to beg a kindly neighbour yet again to dig me out of trouble somehow, since I don't have the know how, or kit or the physical abilities to sort it.
Title: Re: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: Westie on January 19, 2018, 11:47:28 AM
I seem to remember reading that micro SD cards above 32MB (or was it 64MB?) are formatted differently, and may not be readable by the Pi
Title: Re: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: Weaver on January 19, 2018, 02:31:45 PM
Rings a bell. Might need to be partitioned appropriately then, or perhaps that’s not enough ?
Title: Re: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: Westie on January 19, 2018, 02:48:52 PM
You could always try (if you have the required kit) downloading the latest ISO image of Raspbian and burning that onto the SD card you already have.

I have a Pi dedicated to router stats collection & reporting. It's on a 16GB card, which has capacity for a looong time. If write/rewrite constraints kill the card (or if I screw it up) it's relatively cheap to replace.

Time will tell.
Title: Re: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: vic0239 on January 19, 2018, 03:16:09 PM
I use 8GB cards for my Pi(s), mostly SanDisk Ultras class 10. I also use ApplePi Baker (https://www.tweaking4all.com/software/macosx-software/macosx-apple-pi-baker/ (https://www.tweaking4all.com/software/macosx-software/macosx-apple-pi-baker/)) to load the image which I pre-edit with my network settings and enabled SSH, so no monitor connection should be necessary. I also have backup cards of the final configuration in case of emergencies, but I haven't had to use these as of yet.  :fingers:
Title: Re: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: Weaver on January 19, 2018, 11:25:53 PM
in his blog, RevK talks about Pi bakery http://www.revk.uk/2018/01/tweaking-raspberry-pi-install-image.html
Title: Re: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: tiffy on January 20, 2018, 12:18:25 PM
in his blog, RevK talks about Pi bakery http://www.revk.uk/2018/01/tweaking-raspberry-pi-install-image.html

Interesting link.

My very simple approach with the 3 RPi's I look after is to make periodic disk images on my desktop Windows PC using "Win 32 Disk Imager" just remove the SD cards and directly insert into PC SD slot, images being stored on my NAS drive.
DSLStats program revisions usually dictate the backup frequency, also carry out Raspbian system updates at the same time.

Probably more elegant backup solutions available but this works for me and requires minimal effort on my part.

Realistically, hard drives and certainly SSD's can & do fail in service, all be it at a statistically much lower frequency than SD cards, having a backup is just a basic good housekeeping requirement with any system.

 
Title: Re: Raspberry pi choice of SD card for a boot drive, and max size
Post by: Weaver on January 20, 2018, 09:31:00 PM
guys, what about a cheap hosted internet-based backup storage system?