Booting from a USB device

This page is meant for the people who would like to boot a Raspberry Pi directly from the USB device and would like to avoid using a microSD card due to various reasons e.g. USB 3.X devices are faster, by some considered more reliable or simply some of them are available unused at your disposal. This page deals with and brings the how-to for the Raspberry Pi 4B only. In general Raspberry Pi 4B is able to boot from any USB device out of the box. Please see the caveats section for the possible issues you may encounter and how to solve them. As such Raspberry Pi 4B can be booted from a USB flash, USB-attached Solid State Disk (SSD) or USB-attached Hard Disk Drive (HDD) either 2.5” or 3.5”. The list of proven devices that are in use by other members will be provided in each section. The easiest setup with almost no caveats comes with a USB flash drive which is as easy as booting from a microSD card. By using a USB-attached SDD or HDD there are some things you need to consider.

USB flash disk

Proven HW

HW	Note
Kingston DataTraveler Kyson 256 GB	Operated in 4 stations since Nov 2021, no issues

USB-atached SSD

Proven HW

HW	Note
Crucial BX500 240GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch SSD	Operated in 1 station since Aug 2021, without powered USB hub, no issues
Crucial MX500 250GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5-inch SSD	Operated in 1 station since Aug 2021, without powered USB hub, no issues
ORICO 2.5 inch USB3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure	Operated in 2 stations since Aug 2021, no issues

Useful resources

More in-depth information about a Raspberry Pi 4B boot process and boot options can be found in the official documentation