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Raspberry Pi is designed to run from the SD/MicroSD card. For operating systems like PIXEL, this means that your “root” and “Home” partitions all lie in the SD card, which can be a little limiting considering its minuscule storage size. If you are intending to run a home storage server on your Raspberry Pi, it is best to move the OS to the external hard drive so you have tons of storage space to use.
In this tutorial we will show you how to get Raspberry Pi 3 to boot up and run from the external hard disk.
Note: The reason Raspberry Pi 3 is used here is because it doesn’t need an additional power source to power up the external hard disk. The power supply of Raspberry Pi 3 is sufficient to power up the external hard disk via the USB port. Do make sure that you are using the official Pi power adapter or that your power plug is capable of outputting 2.5A (minimum) of current.
Before we start, here are the requirements for this tutorial:
A Raspberry Pi 3
A microSD card (minimum 4 GB) with PIXEL installed. (This tutorial assumes that you already have a working PIXEL installation on your microSD card. For more details, you can check out the tutorials here to set up images for Raspberry Pi.)
An external hard disk formatted to Ext4. (You can use GParted or the fdisk command to format your external hard drive to Ext 4.)
Setting Up External Hard Disk1. Insert the microSD card into the Raspberry Pi 3. Plug in the external hard drive to the USB port of the Raspberry Pi 3. Power up the Pi.
2. Once you have reached the desktop, open a terminal. Log into the root account and mount the external hard drive.
sudo
su
mount
/
dev/
sda/
mnt3. Next, we need to install Rsync (if it is not already installed):
apt-get install
rsync4. Copy all the files from the microSD card to the external hard drive. We are using rsync, so all file permissions and ownership are intact.
5. With all the boot up files in the external hard drive, we need to modify the startup file so that it is pointing to the external hard disk for boot up instructions.
cp
/
boot/
cmdline.txt/
boot/
cmdline.txt.baknano
/
boot/
cmdline.txtWe need to edit two parts of this line. Change the root= to /dev/sda, and at the end, add rootdelay=5.
The result should look like this:
nano
/
mnt/
etc/
fstabAdd this line to the second line of the file:
/
dev/
sda1/
ext4 defaults,noatime0
1
Add a “#” at the start of the last line to disable booting up from the microSD card:
#
/
dev/
mmcblk0p7/
ext4 defaults,noatime0
1
Note: /devmncblk0p7 is referring to your microSD card slot and the value might differ in your case.
After the changes, it should look like this:
proc/
proc proc defaults0
0
/
dev/
sda1/
ext4 defaults,noatime0
1
/
dev/
mmcblk0p6/
boot vfat defaults0
2
That’s it. Reboot your Pi, and it should boot up and run from the external hard drive. One thing to note is that the microSD card needs to be in its slot, as the Pi needs to read the startup file from it before it boots up from the external hard drive.
Optional: Increase the swapfile sizeAssuming your external hard drive comes with tons of space, you might want to increase the swapfile size so your Pi can run slightly faster.
1. Open a terminal and log into the root account.
sudo
su
2. Edit the swapfile.
nano
/
etc/
dphys-swapfileChange the value of CONF_SWAPSIZE from 100 to 512. Save and exit the file.
3. Restart the service to update the changes.
sudo
dphys-swapfile setupsudo
/
etc/
init.d/
dphys-swapfile stopsudo
/
etc/
init.d/
dphys-swapfile start ConclusionThe Raspberry Pi 3 comes with several useful improvements such as higher RAM, a WiFi module and a power supply big enough to support an external hard drive. This makes it useful to run bigger and more intensive projects. As such, the microSD card with a small storage size can be a limiting factor, not to mention its slow read/write speed and it being susceptible to data corruption. With the instructions above, you can now power your Raspberry Pi from the external hard drive and improve its performance.
Damien
Damien Oh started writing tech articles since 2007 and has over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He is proficient in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS, and worked as a part time WordPress Developer. He is currently the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Make Tech Easier.
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How To Install Windows 10 On Raspberry Pi
Though the Raspberry Pi has been around for a few years, you’ve only really been able to install Linux, BSD and other ARM-based operating systems, never Microsoft Windows. This has changed with the release of Windows 10. Microsoft has stepped up and created a bare-bones edition just for the Pi.
Mac and Linux users: Though it is possible to flash an SD card image with these operating systems, Windows 10 IoT core requires a specific file that can only be found on Windows.
Note: though the Raspberry Pi 3 is now out and support for Windows 10 is coming, there is no option as of yet to install it via the IoT dashboard. This guide will be updated to include instructions for the Pi 3 when the time comes.
Install Windows 10 on Your Main PCMake sure you’re running the latest version of Windows 10 on the computer you’re using to make the SD card. This method will not work if you’re running Windows 7, 8, or even Windows 8.1. You can quickly download an ISO from Microsoft’s official Windows 10 download page.
Install Windows 10 IoT DashboardMicrosoft has a lot of information regarding the Windows 10 IoT dashboard and what it can do for your Raspberry Pi. If you’re looking to use your Pi for development in Windows 10, head to this page to learn everything Microsoft has to say about IoT core and Raspberry Pi development.
Installing Windows 10 IoT on the Raspberry Pi 2Now that all the programs required are installed on your system, the SD card can finally be made. Get out the SD card you’re planning on installing Windows 10 to and insert it into the SD card reader on your Windows 10 desktop. Keep in mind the SD card must be at least 8 gigabyte in size and rated class 10 or better.
Launch the IoT core dashboard. Once launched, you’ll see a few things on screen in the form of three drop-down menus. Select Raspberry Pi 2 in the first drop-down menu, Windows 10 IoT core for Raspberry Pi 2 in the second, and the SD card you plan on using in the third.
What follows is the flashing process. You’ll see a progress bar pop up on screen and tell you that your SD card is being flashed. This may take a bit of time. Be patient.
Once the flashing has completed, another window will open. This window will partition the SD card in the correct way.
When the partitioning process has completed, the IoT dashboard will notify you that the SD card is ready.
Finally, just insert your SD card into the raspberry Pi, connect your peripherals, network cable, display and power it on. That’s it! You’re now running Windows 10 IoT on your Pi!
ConclusionWindows 10 IoT Core for the Raspberry Pi is a is a good start to a market that is almost exclusively dominated by Linux. Since this is Windows 10, it doesn’t have the same amount of community surrounding it and thus has less enthusiasm for its deployment on these types of hobby boards.
We can only hope that as Windows 10 IoT gets more adoption, the Pi community will come together and realize what a useful tool it is and has the potential to become.
Would you use Windows 10 on your Pi 2? Tell us why or why not below!
Derrik Diener
Derrik Diener is a freelance technology blogger.
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How To Install Android 11 On Raspberry Pi 4
Raspberry Pi has been the go-to unit for tech tinkerers and enthusiasts. It offers a variety of upgradability options and comes with its own chipset and RAM in many cases which allows for multiple use cases. You can use it to manage your security cameras, create a remote workstation, create a media center unit, and much more.
Many people have been trying to run Android on the Pi 4 for quite some time now and we saw a few major releases back in 2023. All of them were based on Android 10 but thankfully, a new build has just been released which will allow you to enjoy Android 11 on your Raspberry Pi 4. Let’s take a quick look at it.
What is OmniROM?
OmniROM is the new build for Raspberry Pi based on Android 11. It comes in a flashable .zip and can be obtained from XDA developers. OmniROM has been a prominent name in the XDA community for quite some time now. They released a few builds based on Android 11 for a few phones in the past few months. This experience has likely made them bold enough to create a build for the Pi 4.
The OmniROM for Pi 4 comes in two variants, one is bundled with microG apps while the other one allows for stock Gapps installations. The microG build is more privacy-focused as it does not rely on Google’s Play Services or the Play Store.
The weekly builds are meant for installation with Google Apps when you are flashing the ROM to your SD card. While the build is pretty stable out of the box, it is only the first one yet. There can be a few bugs and hence it is not recommended to use this as your daily driver.
Additionally, while the new OmniROM supports installation on USB media and hard drives, you will be needed to create your own partitions and then format them based on file systems supported by the Pi 4. Hence we will only be taking a look at the procedure for SD cards that are automatically recognized as the boot drive when plugged into your Pi 4.
Related: How to install official Android 11 update
Things you should keep in mind
This is the first build of OmniROM based on Android 11 for Pi 4 and it is not recommended as a daily driver for most users. Additionally, the current build lacks support for hardware encoding and decoding which will refrain you from streaming HD content in most popular apps. However, in case you still wish to stream content, you can try Firefox for Android which seems to work pretty well as a workaround for now.
Additionally, you should also go through the readme page published by the developer at this link. This will help you identify additional drawbacks of the build which will help you determine whether you should shift to it or not.
► Developer Read Me notes
How to install Android 11 on the Raspberry Pi 4
To get Android 11 running on your Pi 4, you will need to ensure that you are running the latest firmware for your device. If you have updated the firmware recently then you can skip this guide and jump straight to the flashing procedure. But in case you haven’t updated your Pi 4 in a while, then let’s take a quick look at the procedure.
Before installing OmniROM, we will need to update the firmware first.
Required
Your Pi 4 running Raspberry Pi OS
Your Pi 4 connected to the internet
Guide
Power on your Raspberry Pi 4 and launch the Terminal Window from your taskbar.
Once the Terminal window is open, type in the following command.
sudo rpi-eeprom-updateNote: You only need the text within the quotes.
Hit Enter to run the command.
Your Pi 4 will now check the installed firmware in conjunction with the latest firmware available on the Raspberry servers. It will then display all the information about your device. The last two lines will show your current firmware and the latest available firmware. If these two numbers match, then you are running the latest firmware.
But in case they do not match then you will need to update to the latest firmware. Type in the following command to update to the latest firmware.
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgradeYour Pi 4 will now communicate with the servers and get all the necessary files required for the installation. Once this process is complete, use the command below to install the latest firmware.
sudo apt install rpi-eepromYour Pi 4 will now start updating itself to the latest available firmware. Ensure that you do not power off your device during this procedure as this could corrupt the installation forcing you to perform recovery on your Pi 4.
Once the process is complete, your Pi 4 should be running the latest version of Pi OS. We can now move forward and install OmniROM based on Android 11 on your device.
How to install OmniROM for Android 11
Before starting the OmniROM installation, you will need to source a few files. Mainly the OmniROM build for your Pi 4, Gapps if you need them, and a flashing tool. You can download all of them from the links below.
Note: If you do not wish to use Google apps in OmniROM then ensure that you download the microG version as shown below.
If you wish to use Gapps with OmniROM then ensure that you download the latest weekly build of OmniROM. Additionally, when downloading Gapps you will get tons of choices. We recommend the nano apps package for your Pi 4 but you can get more information about each build at this link. For this procedure, we will be using the microG build of OmniROM. The microG build comes preinstalled with Aurora services and the Aurora store.
► Gapps Package variants and their descriptions
Required
A Windows, macOS, or Linux desktop/laptop
Guide
Check the box for your Pi 4 SD card.
The OmniROM build will now be flashed to your SD card. This process could take some time depending on the data transfer speeds available for your SD card. Once the process is complete, you will be able to use OmniROM on your Pi 4.
Your PC might display a few error messages but these are common as the card is now formatted to be recognized by your Pi 4 hence Windows will face errors reading its contents.
Note: If you downloaded the weekly build, now would be the time to flash the .zip file to your SD card. Use Etcher in the same way as stated above but instead of selecting the OmniROM build at the start, simply select the Gapps package you downloaded from OpenGapps and flash it to your SD card.
Once flashed, plug in your SD card to your Pi 4 and power it on.
And that’s it! You should now be running Android 11 on your Pi 4. The first boot-up might take some time, so ensure that you are patient and do not turn off the device midway. Once booted, you will automatically be taken to the desktop on your device. You can now use the new Pi 4 running Android 11 however you want.
Note: The current OmniROM build does not support Hardware encoding or decoding for video which means that you will not be able to stream high-quality content on your Pi 4. However, Firefox as a browser seems to be working quite well when streaming 720p content that requires hardware encoding. So you can try Firefox as an alternative for now until an update is released to OmniROM with support for Hardware encoding and decoding.
How To Ssh Or Sftp Into Your Raspberry Pi
You’ve taken the plunge and bought a Raspberry Pi. Congratulations! If you don’t have a keyboard and monitor connected to your Pi, you’ll need to remotely connect to it from another computer on your network. Moreover, depending on how you plan to use your Pi, it might be placed in a difficult-to-reach place, so even if you have a keyboard and monitor attached now, that might not always be the case. You need some way to remotely connect to your Pi.
In this article, we’ll show you how to use SSH and SFTP into your Pi, execute commands, and transfer files. We’ll assume that your Raspberry Pi is on the same network as the computer you’re using to connect to it.
Table of Contents
What Is SSH?SSH stands for Secure Shell. It’s a standard network protocol that gives you a secure way to send text back and forth between your Pi and the computer you’re using to remotely connect to your Pi. You’ll use the SSH protocol for all kinds of things like entering your password to log into your Pi and executing commands.
SSH was designed as a replacement for Telnet, which sends commands in plain text over the network. In contrast, SSH encrypts those commands. Any network service can use SSH, which operates over TCP port 22.
What Is SFTP?SFTP is short for Secure File Transfer Protocol. SFTP is a fast and convenient way to transfer files between your Pi and another computer on your network. SFTP is more secure than FTP because, just like with SSH, all your data is encrypted while it’s traveling from one computer to another.
How to SSH Into a Raspberry PiWe’ll start with how to use SSH to connect to your Raspberry Pi from a Windows PC on your network using PuTTY. PuTTY is one of several SSH clients that are freely available. We like PuTTY because it’s open source software that’s completely developed and supported by a team of volunteers. You can use whatever SSH client you want. Just be sure to download and install it before you begin.
Make sure SSH is enabled on your Pi. If you’re starting from scratch with a Raspberry Pi 4, this getting started guide includes instructions on how to enable SSH by creating a text file on the SD card within your Raspberry Pi.
Assuming you’re certain that SSH is enabled on your Pi, next you’ll need to find your Pi’s IP address in order to connect to it with an SSH client like PuTTY. If you don’t already know it, you can follow this guide which details several methods of determining your Pi’s IP address.
Launch PuTTY (or another SSH client) on your Windows PC and enter your Pi’s IP address. The SSH port is 22. Most SSH clients will have the port number filled in already.
You are now connected to your Pi via SSH and can use the terminal to execute commands. If you haven’t changed your Pi’s default password yet, this is a great time to do that. Since SSH is enabled, if your Raspberry Pi is using the default password, it would be very easy for someone to break in!
How to SFTP Into a Raspberry PiAbove, we walked you through how to use an SSH client to securely connect to a Pi on your network and execute commands. For transferring files, we’ll use an SFTP client. Technically, it is possible to transfer files with PuTTY, but it’s cumbersome. It’s much nicer to have a file browser you can use to move files in bulk when you need to.
FileZilla is a popular FTP client that supports SFTP. If you can connect with SSH, then you can connect with SFTP as well. Convenient, isn’t it?
Prepare by downloading and installing FileZilla or your SFTP client of choice on the computer you’re using to remotely connect to your Pi. WinSCP is another popular SFTP client. Remember, you don’t need an SFTP server, just an SFTP client.
Pro Tip: If you install FileZilla, watch out for when it asks you to install McAfee and WinZip. Select Decline if you don’t want to install those programs on your computer.
Launch FileZilla or another SFTP client.
In the field marked Host, enter your Pi’s IP address.
Enter your Username and Password.
Select Quickconnect. Your SFTP client might display an option to save your password, but we don’t recommend it because some clients save that password in an unsecure text file.
Once connected, you can navigate through the folder structure on your Pi and copy files back and forth between the Pi and other computers on your network. The left side of the FileZilla window displays local files, and the right side displays files on the computer you connected to—in this case, your Pi.
If, for example, you wanted to copy a file from your local computer to your Pi, you’d navigate to the source folder on the left and the destination folder on the right. FileZilla’s file manager allows you to drag and drop files between local and remote sites.
Finding Pi ProjectsUsing A Raspberry Pi To Build A Mini Diy Laptop
A couple of weeks ago, we discussed the subject of being able to build a laptop and the challenges that mainstream hardware manufacturers would face when creating adequate interchangeable parts in such a small form factor. However, there’s one particular option I left out and it might work for some people. Although you can’t build a super-high-end laptop much like you would a home-built desktop system with all the bells and whistles, you could build a portable computer with barebone essentials using a Raspberry Pi board.
The Easy WayIf you just want to skip all of the frustrations that come with DIY projects, you can simply opt for a purpose-built platform that houses a Raspberry Pi and turns it into a slim, sleek laptop. The fine folks at pi-top offer exactly this, giving you everything you need out of the box to make a system out of the single-board computer.
A word to the wise: This isn’t a future proof system, and it uses the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ board. There’s no guarantee that the new Model 4 B would be compatible with this chassis.
The pi-top is there for enthusiasts who want a modular form factor with a convenient sliding rail to either fit their experiments into a laptop environment or simply build an affordable laptop that fits simple needs.
Alternatively, if you don’t mind separated parts, you can simply get a portable external monitor (what to do if your Raspberry Pi monitor isn’t working), a power bank and a Bluetooth keyboard, connect them to your Pi and you have a perfectly portable computer.
Difficulty: HardIf you like to up your tinkering game, you probably don’t find slapping a Raspberry Pi onto a pre-manufactured case appealing. You may not end up building a great looking system, but what you want is to build something that’s yours.
For this, you could take apart a power bank, use a rigid plastic flipping surface, attach an IPS display to it, and center everything around a Raspberry Pi. You can use a Bluetooth keyboard to have the flexibility to detach it from your improvised laptop for convenience.
YouTube channel Creativity Buzz demonstrates how one could build this simple device using as little space as possible in the following video. It goes without saying that you’ll probably void the warranty of half the stuff you put into your device.
Creativity Buzz suggests using an 11 x 17 cm surface for the project, as it provides just the minimal space required for the components that would go into the laptop. Since you’ll be using a power bank as your battery, you’ll need to make some small modifications to fit it to a power switch and at the same time ensures that it delivers power to the main board. You may not need a significant amount of technical skill to build this laptop, but it still requires some experience in tinkering with electronics.
Be sure to use a power bank that can be placed in such a way to show you the battery level on the outside of the box. Creativity Buzz uses a semi-transparent box, which allows components with LED indicators to shine their light through it. If you don’t do this, you run the risk of not knowing how much battery power you have left, as using this method, the power bank isn’t sending signals to the board.
Difficulty: ExtremeIf you feel like taking things to a level that would make most people just give up before even trying, you could build a far more functional laptop using both a Raspberry Pi board and an Arduino controller. The two of these can come together to create a miniature platform that may be used for programming other electronic components that center around Arduino in a highly portable environment.
Rather than buying a full-scale laptop for this purpose, if you’re looking to work on projects that don’t require the full scale product that a commercially available portable computer brings, this may actually be a great DIY project for you.
Demonstrated in the following video by well-known DIY channel Build It, you can build a laptop essentially out of cardboard and plastic. If you have a 3D printer, making the case might actually be easier. However, Build It underwent the entire project without one, making the creation of this laptop more tedious.
As with the previous project, you require a portable power source and a 7-inch screen (the video demonstration uses a screen specifically compatible with Raspberry Pi boards). This is where the similarities end, as Build It decided to use a much more sophisticated setup.
Instead of disassembling a power bank, this DIY project uses Li-Ion 18650 batteries (the same kind found in larger electronic cigarettes and flash lights). If you want to do the same, make sure that you use INR type batteries and not the finicky ICR types. The former has more stable chemistry and has a high discharge tolerance, which is useful when powering computer equipment. The latter requires expensive protective circuitry that could act as another point of failure for the batteries.
Alternatively, you could use IMR batteries, but they’re not quite as stable as INR.
At the same time, that same controller’s I/O pins are exposed to the side of the laptop, allowing the user to easily attach headers from other projects to the controller. But most importantly of all, the project also features a track-pad that acts similarly to that found on a conventional laptop, which provides easy mouse cursor manipulation.
All of this is made possible by having an extra controller (Arduino) attached to the Raspberry Pi system. Given this laptop’s complexity, it might be quite frustrating to build even for people who are accustomed to making their own high-difficulty DIY projects. If you’re new to working with electronics, this might make you want to pull your hairs out of their roots.
Be Realistic!As you can probably see by now, the possibilities that microcontroller and microprocessor-based single board computers like Raspberry Pi and Arduino provide are pretty much endless. If you really want to build a system centered around a Raspberry, the only limitations to what you can do depend on the materials available to you and your confidence in your own abilities to produce the system. Before you enter a project like this, you’re going to have to be realistic about both your expectations and what you can accomplish.
This will help avoid frustration along the way and provide an experience that is more rewarding and ultimately more fruitful. Remember that conventional laptops are still far more capable and convenient in many ways than any system you can build with a Raspberry Pi. However, if the pride of building something from scratch is what you’re after — and you aren’t looking to do any movie production with your device — then this kind of project might be right up your alley!
Miguel Leiva-Gomez
Miguel has been a business growth and technology expert for more than a decade and has written software for even longer. From his little castle in Romania, he presents cold and analytical perspectives to things that affect the tech world.
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Enabling Remote Desktop Access With Xdrp On A Raspberry Pi
There are several different implementations of the RDP protocol for Linux including xrdp. The xrdp project the remote desktop protocol to provide access to a Linux desktop not a Windows desktop. The xrdp server is able to work with other open source RDP clients as well as with Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Connection program.
To install xrdp on a Raspberry Pi running Raspbian use:
Tweaking the xrdp settingsAs we have seen, the xrdp server doesn’t require configuration and works out-of-the-box, however there are a few things that can be tweaked. The xrdp.ini configuration file resides in /etc/xrdp and contains a few variables that can be set. To edit the file type:
sudo
nano
/
etc/
xrdp/
xrdp.iniThe file is divided into different sections, each marked by a name in square brackets. In the [globals] section you can disable compression by setting the bitmap_compression variable to no. This may improve performance as it removes the need for the Pi to perform certain compression tasks which can be CPU intensive. You will likely only see a performance improvement on a very busy Pi.
The Remote Desktop Protocol has three encryption levels: low, medium and high. Low is 40 bit encryption and data is only encrypted from the client to the server. Medium is 40 bit encryption but data is encrypted in both directions. High is 128 bit encryption and like the Medium level is in both directions. To change the security level, modify the crypt_level variable.
In the [xrdp1] section, it is possible to set a default username and password which means that they don’t need to be entered into the xrdp login dialog. If you want to limit access to your Pi then don’t change these variables, though for convenience sake, you may want to change the username to your default user, however note that you can’t enter a different username if you want to login as someone else.
ConclusionGary has been a technical writer, author and blogger since 2003. He is an expert in open source systems (including Linux), system administration, system security and networking protocols. He also knows several programming languages, as he was previously a software engineer for 10 years. He has a Bachelor of Science in business information systems from a UK University.
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