MicroSD required after moving root to USB

Couple basic NOOB questions related to the Move root to USB function in the openHabian Configuration Tool:

  1. After completing the “move to USB” is the MicroSD card still required to boot/run openHabian on the Raspberry PI?

  2. Assuming you’ve moved root to USB and the the answer to #1 is yes, the MicroSD card is still required, would it make a difference if you used an 8GB class 4 vs 32GB class 10 MicroSD?

I guess what I’m asking is if your plan is to use a USB stick or SSD, are the speed and/or capacity requirements the same as not moving root to USB.

Thanks, Glenn

1 yes
2 no

or

Booting the Raspberry Pi without SD card - CathyProductions

Booting Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi3) from USB mass storage without sd card …

‘Move to USB’ isn’t about speed, you don’t need fast cards for OH to work.
It’s meant to protect the user from SD corruption of the boot disk, but it’s just a half-hearted approach since #1 it still uses the internal SD card (although for a lot less writes) but (even more important) #2 most people use a USB stick, and that one corrupts as easy as does the internal card, so in the end it doesn’t really buy you anything unless you attach something more reliable than flash memory to USB.

If you’re looking for resiliency, check out this post.

So Markus, to use Move to USB doesn’t really add any resiliency above a MicroSD if the USB is just a USB stick (flash drive). I started reading about Amanda backup recently. I’ll add this post to my research.

In regards to resiliency, I have an old QNAP NAS I haven’t used in years. Provided I can get openHAB and the zwave/zigbee stick working there it could be a pretty resilient platform for openHAB.

Thanks, Glenn

Thanks Harry.

I’ll read through these posts.

I just tested installing openHabian directly to a USB flash drive and it boot right up. Although, from what Markus states, there’s no advantage to a USB stick over a MicroSD.

I use a USB-SSD-disk

This is true, its still flash memory. If your concerned with corruption I would look into using an SSD hard drive. I’m using a 128g PONY SSD bought for $25 with an enclosure. I can provide a link to the enclosure if interested.

FYI I read that some had issues with certain SATA to USB cables and enclosures when trying to use with a RPI.

Err yes, but I hope you don’t mean to run openHAB itself on the NAS. Instead keep openHAB on the Pi and mount the most write intensive directories off that NAS to your Pi. That’s how my own system looks like, too.

@H102 love to have that link if still available?

Here ya go

https://community.openhab.org/t/rpi-ssd-and-msata-hat/51381/3?u=h102