[How to do instruction] Boot USB. Move sd-card to USB Drive

[DRONE7]

Prompted by @cofot28  post here...(for Pi4)
http://moodeaudio.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=2983

With some advances in the RPI firmware and Balena Etcher this is now trivial.

You will need a spare micro-sd-card....
1) On your PC (linux preferred but there is a Win version for these steps) Download the latest Balena Etcher..
https://www.balena.io/etcher/

2)Download the latest Raspberry Pi Lite image and burn to the micro-sdcard using Etcher.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspberry-pi-os/

3)Add an ssh file to the micro-sdcard as per #3 Headless instruction from RPi foundation.....
https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentatio...ccess/ssh/

4) Remove your Moode micro-sdcard from your Pi4 and insert the Raspberry Pi Lite card and boot.
5) ssh to the Pi  (ssh 'pi@ip-address'..password 'raspberry')
(in linux...to find the Pi ip-address)

Code:

sudo arp-scan  --localnet

6)Check current Firmware..

Code:

vcgencmd bootloader_version

The latest firmware update will be displayed. It should be the June 15, 2020, or later release for the USB boot feature to work successfully.

Mine was an earlier Firmware so run..

Code:

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade

Then reboot your Pi and again check...

Code:

vcgencmd bootloader_version

Currently mine now shows...

Code:

pi@argon:~ $ vcgencmd bootloader_version
Sep  3 2020 13:11:43
version c305221a6d7e532693cc7ff57fddfc8649def167 (release)
timestamp 1599135103

 
While your MoOde micro-sdcard is removed from your Pi put it in a card reader and connect it to your PC.(preferably this is an un-expanded install...and you will need a bigger USB drive than the micro-sdcard.)

Connect a USB 3 flash Drive (or SSD) to your PC.

Start Balena Etcher and choose 'clone drive' from it's source menu. (   Excellent addition you Balena folks !!!)

Choose the MoOde micro-sdcard as the source.

Choose your USB drive as the target and Flash.

Once finished, Safely remove both the micro-sdcard and the USB (or SSD) from the PC and then remove the micro-sdcard (Raspberry Pi Os) from your Pi4.
Attach the USB3 (or SSD) to the Pi and power on.
The Pi4 should boot from the attached drive...  

Mine does from a USB 3 Flash drive and much quicker than from the micro-sdcard.

Will try from SSD once I find a spare to use.
Note that while everything works as expected Moode System Info still reports USB boot for the RPi4 as 'not available' Not sure why. (Tim ?)

Other Pi...ymmv