Booting RZ/V2H RDK from SSD

The advantages of booting from an SSD include faster read/write speeds, improved performance, and increased storage capacity compared to booting from an SD card.

Hardware Required

  • RZ/V2H RDK set.

  • SD card (for initial bootloader storage). Please flash the SD card with the RDK image.

  • PCIe TO M.2 Board.

  • M.2 NVMe SSD.

Hardware Connection

The following image shows how to connect the SSD to the RZ/V2H RDK using the PCIe TO M.2 Board:

SSD Connection Diagram

SSD Connection Diagram

Detail Steps

Important

  • Make sure to back up any important data on the SSD before proceeding, as the following steps will erase all existing data on the SSD.

  • Connect the SSD to the PCIe TO M.2 Board before powering on the RZ/V2H board.

  • Make sure that you connect the PCIe TO M.2 Board to the correct PCIe 3.0 16-pin connector on the RZ/V2H RDK.

  • Handle the M.2 NVMe SSD with care to avoid damage from static electricity.

Note

The following steps assume that the SSD is detected as /dev/nvme0n1. If your system detects the SSD with a different device name, replace /dev/nvme0n1 accordingly in the commands and examples.

  1. Prepare the SSD:

    • Insert the M.2 NVMe SSD into the PCIe TO M.2 Board.

    • Connect the PCIe TO M.2 Board to the RZ/V2H RDK.

  2. Boot from the SD card:

    • Insert the SD card with the Ubuntu image into the RZ/V2H RDK and power it on.

    • Ensure that the system boots successfully from the SD card.

  3. Install the required tools:

    sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install bmap-tools

  4. Partition and format the SSD:

    • Once booted from the SD card, open a terminal.

    • Make sure the SSD is recognized by running:

      lsblk

    • Identify the SSD device, for example /dev/nvme0n1.

    • Copy the ubuntu-24.04-server-arm64-rzv2h-rdk.img.xz file and the ubuntu-24.04-server-arm64-rzv2h-rdk.img.bmap file to the target board.

      # Copy the image file to the target board
scp ubuntu-24.04-server-arm64-rzv2h-rdk.img.xz ubuntu@<rzv2h_rdk_ip>:/home/ubuntu/

# Copy the bmap file to the target board
scp ubuntu-24.04-server-arm64-rzv2h-rdk.img.bmap ubuntu@<rzv2h_rdk_ip>:/home/ubuntu/

    • Flash the root filesystem image to the SSD by running:

      # Please change the device name if your SSD is recognized with a different name.
sudo bmaptool copy ubuntu-24.04-server-arm64-rzv2h-rdk.img.xz /dev/nvme0n1

  5. Configure the bootloader to boot from the SSD:

    • Open and edit the /boot/uEnv.txt file.

    • Change the mmc_args line to the following:

      mmc_args=setenv bootargs 'rw rootwait earlycon root=/dev/nvme0n1p2'

    • Note that /dev/nvme0n1p2 is the partition on the SSD where the root filesystem is located. If your SSD has a different partition layout, adjust the partition number accordingly.

    • Reboot the system to apply the changes.

  6. Verify booting from the SSD:

    • Once the system boots up, log in.

    • Verify that the root filesystem is mounted from the SSD by checking the location of the root filesystem /:

      lsblk

  7. Resize the filesystem if necessary:

    • If the SSD has a larger capacity than the original root filesystem image, you may want to resize the filesystem to use the full capacity of the SSD.

    • Use the following commands to resize the filesystem:

      sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y parted
sudo parted /dev/nvme0n1 resizepart 2 100%
sudo resize2fs /dev/nvme0n1p2