Change Root File System to SD Card Directly

In this guide, we will explain how to move your root file system on EMMC flash to SD card storage directly.

How to format the SD card as ext4

First, connect your SD card to SD card slot and connect the basic interfaces (Ethernet, HDMI, keyboard, mouse) then power on.

Open a terminal and type these commands below:

sudo jetson_clocks
gnome-disks

The first command allows the Jetson module’s whole sources to use. The next command opens GNOME Disks application below.

Format the whole disk before creating the storage.

Then, create a new partition from SD card storage.

Format the disk as ext4 format (partition size is up to you but must be min current file system’s size).

After creating the partition, check it’s name (/dev/mmcblk1p1).

Download the script file from here and extract it. Then, run it with this command below:

sudo ./change_rootfs_storage_direct-emmc_to_sdmmc.sh {EXTERNAL_STORAGE}

In our setup, we typed this command below:

sudo ./change_rootfs_storage_direct-emmc_to_sdmmc.sh /dev/mmcblk1p1

A few times later, the whole file system copied and the root path changed.

It’s time to reboot the Jetson module. Reboot it and check the Root File System copied successfully.

Open a terminal and type this command to check the root mounted from SD card below:

df -h

After rebooting you can see that the new storage is assigned as root file system.