Early versions of the Raspberry Pi could only boot from SD cards, but newer ones can boot from any USB device, like an external drive or USB stick. Here's how.

USB boot has been possible since the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B (v1.2), but it has only become really worthwhile with the Pi 4. Here is some information, tips, tricks and opinions explaining why and how.

Raspberry Pi Foundation is almost ready to deliver a fix for Raspberry Pi 4's lack of support for USB mass storage boot.

First on the list is a Raspberry Pi 4 or the newer Pi 5 running the latest bootloader firmware; earlier boards cannot boot USB devices natively.

Historically, booting a Raspberry Pi required an SD card. However, if you follow [tynick’s] instructions, you can get a Pi 4 to boot from the USB port. Combine it with a small solid state disk ...

The Raspberry Pi folks have been working on solutions to these teething troubles, and they have now released a bunch of updates in the form of a new bootloader, that lets the Pi 4 live up to its ...