Beta firmware enables booting via USB storage for Raspberry Pi 4

By admin On May 22, 2020

Spread the love

Raspberry Pi developers have launched a test for firmware that will allow using USB 3.0 storage instead of the micro SD card reader to boot version 4 Model B of the compact computing board.

The developers emphasize that the release of the new firmware for the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B is still in beta, but that the standard release is not long in coming. The development team briefly lists the steps for a quick test with the modified bootloader and a USB card reader instead of the direct SD boot procedure. The developers warn that booting via a USB card reader will be slower than via the integrated SD card reader and that this is only a quick test.

The intention is that users with the new firmware can boot from fast USB 3.0 storage and an SD card is no longer necessary for this. Unlike the Raspberry Pi 3, it was not possible to boot from network or USB storage with the Pi 4 from its introduction. The network boot functionality has since been added, but booting from USB is not yet. That will change in the short term, although it is not known when the wide release will take place.