How to use SD card as main drive for chrome os?

[Patrick Izumi]

Does anybody know how to get the SD card (slot) to have chrome os installed on it and boot as the main drive instead of emmc or ssd in developer or secure mode? Just looking to try it as it has more storage capacity then emmc of chromebook. I was able to install ubuntu on the sd card and have it boot as main drive, but when it comes to chrome os it just keeps going back to emmc. Thanks for any good replies.

[Mike Frysinger]

you can't short of installing custom firmware

-mike

On Sun, Nov 27, 2022 at 8:26 AM Patrick Izumi <usu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anybody know how to get the SD card (slot) to have chrome os installed on it and boot as the main drive instead of emmc or ssd in developer or secure mode? Just looking to try it as it has more storage capacity then emmc of chromebook. I was able to install ubuntu on the sd card and have it boot as main drive, but when it comes to chrome os it just keeps going back to emmc. Thanks for any good replies.

--
--
Chromium OS Discussion mailing list: chromium-...@chromium.org
View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe:
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-os-discuss

[Patrick Izumi]

Is this by design? One can't even do it in developer mode?

[Mike Frysinger]

yes, it's by design as we can't secure removable devices

you can do this in developer mode.  i thought you only wanted normal (secure) mode.

-mike

[Patrick Izumi]

OK. How does one do that in developer mode?

[Patrick Izumi]

Does anybody know

[Patrick Izumi]

I assume then it's not possible? I will try to do some research i guess

[Patrick Izumi]

Ok it is possible to use SD card as the main drive for chrome os. However, one (as of now) cannot check or install updates to chrome os if chrome os is installed on SD card as far as I know. You also need to have developer mode enabled.

Next,  you have to use the link below and install either RW_Legacy or UEFi Full rom firmware

https://mrchromebox.tech/#fwscript

Then you need a usb drive that has clonezilla on it to clone the internal drive to the SD card.

Then you need to install something like ubuntu onto the internal drive.

Next, because of some resizing problem, you need to use growpart and resize2s to fix the user partition to allocate all the available space to be available for use.

Enable usb booting for chrome os

Then you should be able to access chrome os on which is on SD card!

If anybody wants the EXACT steps, just reply.

After testing, it's preferable to use external ssd drive to usb 3 port because it's faster and will update to new chrome os versions.

[Nom De Plume]

I am sure you have your reasons, but would you mind explaining what
problem you are trying to solve? I am intrigued.

[Patrick Izumi]

Hi,

   The reason I asked about this is because of the internal emmc disk drive of my chromebook and many chromebooks which is only 32 gb. Definitely not enough space to install many android apps and also linux applications in crostini. The performance isn't too bad, and probably could be better with a faster sd card.

My chromebook has no internal ports for a ssd or even wifi port (built into motherboard). If there was a wifi port, there's a possibility to buy an adapter to add a nvme ssd if there is enough room to put in the drive an adapter inside and if it even will be seen as a drive.

I did this with my HP chromebox although i had to use the wifi port but that's ok with me.

[dragon788]

TL;DR, the Dell Latitude 5300/5400 are the best "budget" systems that are almost completely upgradable, the Framework Chromebook will be just as upgradable and in the middle of the pack pricing wise, there are several lots more expensive but with all soldered parts.

Most older Chromebooks were built to a similar model to smartphones with planned obsolescence in a couple of years. Google started expanding the supported lifetime of Chromebooks a few years ago up to the current 7 or 8 years of OS updates before AUE (automatic update expiration). This corresponded with an expansion of Play Store support to more Chromebooks, including the rule of thumb that all Chromebooks after 2019 support it, plus the expansion of the Linux apps capabilities, as well as Parallels for Windows on ChromeOS. With these changes non-budget (and even some lower end models of) Chromebooks are coming with 128GB at minimum but there are still VERY few that support upgrading the internal storage after purchase.

The ones I've had hands on experience with upgrading the storage are:

* the Acer C710/C720

* pretty much any Chromebox

* most Chromebase models (x86/x64 are, Tegra/ARM aren't)

* the Dell Chromebook 13 (7310) from 2015 (soldered RAM but swappable storage and wireless card)
* my current favorite the Dell Latitude 5300/5400 from 2019-2021 (upgradable RAM to 64GB and upgradable storage to _at least_ a 2TB NVMe if not larger)  (at least until the Framework Chromebook arrives)
* the not as awesome Dell Latitude 7410 (soldered RAM but upgradable storage)

Upgrading the storage via the WiFi (or WWAN) port might not be feasible on newer models because M.2 network ports can be wired to support PCIe, USB, or both, while storage ports are usually NVME or SATA (or both, but that is becoming less common).

--

--
Chromium OS Discussion mailing list: chromium-...@chromium.org
View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe:
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-os-discuss

---
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to chromium-os-dis...@chromium.org.

[Patrick Izumi]

Are the Delll Latitude 5300/5400 chromebooks?

[dragon788]

Yes, they are 8th gen Core i series WhiskeyLake chipset based models that ended up only used as a chipset by Dell. There are Windows laptops with similar model numbers  with similar specs and features and some of the parts are cross compatible (batteries/RAM/storage/wireless/WWAN), but the Chromebooks especially the 5300 2in1 are awesome for Android apps and Linux apps while ChromeOS Flex on a Windows model wouldn't have Android, and with the MrChromebox firmware lets you dual boot easily from USB or using Chrx from internal or a USB.

The nice part of the Windows laptops is some of them have fingerprint readers and a select few have Thunderbolt 3 which can be useful in Linux, and the fingerprint reader is usable in Linux but not ChromeOS Flex as far as I know.

With Chrome Enterprise (which some of them come with associated to the hardware, or you can buy the upgrade separately) you can also run Windows in Parallels on ChromeOS (with a Parallels license and a Windows license).

[Tim Hawkins]

Acer spin 713 is upgradable, I just swapped out the 256Gb M.2 drive for a 1TB Samsung EVO 970, it feels faster too. The 713 is easy to open up and swap out the SSD. 

[Nom De Plume]

Most Chromebooks have had soldered in eMMC solid state drives. Higher end devices like the Spin 713 do have replaceable drives but the vast majority have used eMMC. 

 

[MUHAMMAD AMEEN]

How Can I do it

Lenovo 500e

[Andrew Melanson]

I have a Google Pixel 6aanditsaidyou can and shows

On Thu, Jan 19, 2023, 9:04 AM Andrew Melanson <andrewm...@gmail.com> wrote:

Just put it in  a adapter then install it in your computer there a video I can send if you wantor need.

On Sat, Nov 26, 2022, 7:26 PM Patrick Izumi <usu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anybody know how to get the SD card (slot) to have chrome os installed on it and boot as the main drive instead of emmc or ssd in developer or secure mode? Just looking to try it as it has more storage capacity then emmc of chromebook. I was able to install ubuntu on the sd card and have it boot as main drive, but when it comes to chrome os it just keeps going back to emmc. Thanks for any good replies.

--

--
Chromium OS Discussion mailing list: chromium-...@chromium.org
View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe:
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-os-discuss

[Andrew Melanson]

Just put it in  a adapter then install it in your computer there a video I can send if you wantor need.

On Sat, Nov 26, 2022, 7:26 PM Patrick Izumi <usu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anybody know how to get the SD card (slot) to have chrome os installed on it and boot as the main drive instead of emmc or ssd in developer or secure mode? Just looking to try it as it has more storage capacity then emmc of chromebook. I was able to install ubuntu on the sd card and have it boot as main drive, but when it comes to chrome os it just keeps going back to emmc. Thanks for any good replies.

--

[Andrew Melanson]

  Works With Chromebook Catalog (goo.gle/wwcb-certified)

On Sat, Nov 26, 2022, 7:26 PM Patrick Izumi <usu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Does anybody know how to get the SD card (slot) to have chrome os installed on it and boot as the main drive instead of emmc or ssd in developer or secure mode? Just looking to try it as it has more storage capacity then emmc of chromebook. I was able to install ubuntu on the sd card and have it boot as main drive, but when it comes to chrome os it just keeps going back to emmc. Thanks for any good replies.

--

[Reggie Wong]

Hi, to let you know, the last time I tested it, it doesn't update to newer chrome os versions unless that's been fixed.

If you don't mind that, I'll write up the steps I did, may take some time, I have to verify it still works.

On Sat, Jun 29, 2024 at 2:29 PM bananavilla <marcdo...@gmail.com> wrote:

can i have the exact steps plez