Booting TonidoPlug using USB Drive

DonnieP · **Joined:** Sun Jan 16, 2011 9:02 pm **Posts:** 15

agrajag wrote:

Hmm, okay looks like a regular good ol' MBR Partition-Table.
I think you've copied over the Systemfiles to the 1st partition?
You can see the Steps here: viewtopic.php?f=32&t=2217
(only the 1st part)

I followed the steps at this link - based on the flash image rather than the method in the manual . . . and it worked! Don't really understand why it worked, but the browser access also works, which addresses another post I have out there about when I boot from the plug itself. So now I just need to figure out how to connect to my already existing tonido account to my usb-booted tonido rather than creating a new account.

agrajag · **Joined:** Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:25 am **Posts:** 77

Good to hear that it's working now.
Copy your profile to the stick is also descriped in the tutorial.
But here again in short terms:

1. Boot your Plug from the internal memory.
2. attach the USB drive
3. SSH into the Plug
4. control, if the USB-Drive gets mounted (and where it's mounted)

Code:

mount

5. stop Tonido on the Plug and copy over your profile

Code:

initictl emit tstop

Code:

cp -dpr /root/app/ /media/disk1part1/root/

(Change "disk1part1" to your needs.)

6. reboot your Plug now from the stick.
7. Go to the PlugAdmin-Site and change your Plug-Admin/SSH password (default is: "nosoup4u" or "nosoup4you")
8. Get a Beer and relax!

kleinfelter · **Joined:** Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:40 pm **Posts:** 6

I've been going round-and-round for hours and hours, trying to get my TonidoPlug to boot from a USB flash drive. I tried 3 different drives (different brands, sizes, ext2 and ext3). I lovingly hand-crafted the partition table, ensuring that there was 1 partition, active, formatted, with un-tarred image.

It just kept booting from internal flash.

Then I simply entered "reboot" at the command prompt, with the USB connected, and it booted USB.

Rule: If it won't cold-boot USB, try warm-booting USB.

Rusty · **Joined:** Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:03 am **Posts:** 17

That's funny, because mine always fails to boot from USB if i warm-boot. I have to have the plug powered-off, with usb drive already attached, and then power the plug on to get it to see the usb drive as a bootable option.

I suspect it is something to do with the usb drive's spin-up responsiveness; it spins-up quicker if the device it's plugged into has just been powered-on. If the device has been kept on and rebooted, then the usb drive stays asleep and doesn't come on in time for the plug to boot from it.

If i issue a "shutdown -r" command in ssh i'm sure my plug will boot into the flash memory, which means remote restarts are not available to me...

michelk · **Joined:** Tue Dec 07, 2010 5:25 am **Posts:** 17

rusty,

You are right. I have 2 plugs and time to time they lose their connection to the USB drive with my perfectly working LAMP stack (and Medical app). Usually it's when I am not using the plug (i am the only one having access). To restart I can only power off/on. I have tried every other boot... I even tried to trigger the reboot myself (hey, I rather control when it fails) to no avail.

I have looked at all the LOG files but can't find anything failing. Is there a way the plug itself could detect the FS is "gone" and initiate from the inside a "mount" or whatever is need to get back the USB drive online?

BTW, I have 5 different drives (make and size) with which I have tried and I have a CRON job that writes a new file every minute... just to keep the drive spinning.

Thanks

bendy · **Joined:** Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:02 am **Posts:** 31

Help please: Boot from flash drive & have External HDD

I have the plug booting from a flash drive (great howto)

I also have a 500Gb external powered drive that I cant boot from (one of the non-boot ones i guess)

So i thought get a powered USB hub
Plug in the booting flash and the HDD
boot off the flash and have the 500Gb drive as storage.

But it does not want to boot.

It does boot from the flash if the HDD is not plugged in.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

emerzon · **Joined:** Fri Mar 04, 2011 8:47 pm **Posts:** 2

Tuxedo wrote:

Hi,
Unfortunately, Tonido plug doesn't come with the mini-usb jack or the SD card slot.

However you will have a normal usb slot and you can use a USB key or an external harddisk to boot your plug from that. If you are planning to use an external harddisk we would recommend a powered external harddisk. If you have multiple USB devices you can use an USB hub.

Hi. I can boot another OS if I connect a USB Drive directly to Tonido USB port, but connecting it to a USB Hub doesn't seem to do the trick.
The USB Hub works fine after Tonido booted, though.

Is there any trick to be able to boot from a thumbdrive on a USB hub?

dongadoy · **Posted:** Tue Jun 21, 2011 3:04 pm

Experiment with other ports of the USB hub. If that does not help, experiment with other USB hubs. That's the feeling I get from reading these forums.

bradley4681 · **Joined:** Fri Jan 07, 2011 2:49 pm **Posts:** 25

i have been booting off a 4gb flash drive from a usb 2.0 hub for some time. however if i have my 2tb usb drive plugged into the hub at the same time the plug boots from internel storage only. has anyone else run into this?

dongadoy · **Posted:** Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:09 am

Yes. Read this thread for many different stories.

Booting TonidoPlug using USB Drive

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