Booting from a different device to root. Pi 5

Aug 13, 2026 2 Replies

Aim:



To use up some nice SATA SSDS on a pi5.



The problem:



A Pi 5 doesn't support SATA without additional hardware.



So I have selected this:

formatting link
... ...SATA hat.



Unfortunately the SATA drives won't be available until [some part] of the boot sequence is completed.



Now I don't mind having the /boot partition on an SD but I really don't want the root file system there.



So I would like to force the pi to use [part of] one of the SATA drives as rootfs.



Opinions vary on whether this is possible,



Some say just put the right device [ssd root partition] in cmdline.taxt Others imply that you also need to compile a kernel with static pci support because pci isn't available when the kernel is trying to load the rootfs Others declare it is in fact completely impossible...



I *could* fall back to a USB connected SSD to run the root system and boot from.



Anyone know the truth, or otherwise?


pci-e must be supported early in the boot sequence because I have a couple of PI5s which boot from nvme flash. John

Yes, I discovered that... I just don't know if that means it will boot from SATA over pcie

Most people say not

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