On 08/11/2019 09:07, Mark J wrote:
> In message 
>            Chris Elvidge  wrote:
>
>> On 07/11/2019 12:52, RobH wrote:
>>> I'm having a hard time finding the information I want , so I ask here:
>>>
>>> Has anyone had success using an external disk with the pi 4, and
>>> preferably booting from it.
>>>
>>> The other option I thought about was to put some other version of Linux
>>> on it, ubuntu?, but using etcher in linux doesn't do it, as it's an iso.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>
>> Not a Pi4 but I have Pi3+s booting from SD card (holding only the /boot
>> partition) and 128/256Gb SSD (mSATA in mSATA to USB3 adapter) as root.
>> Quite easy if you follow the instructions.
>> I never had much luck booting directly from the USB SSD, hence the above
>> arrangement.
>
> - but I, with an SSD and RPi3B+, via a mSATA to USB adapter, simply
> 'burnt' the SSD with UbuntuMATE as if it were an SD card, and it all works
> without the card installed. /With/ the card installed, the beast boots
> from the card with the SSD still plugged in.
>
>

An unrelated question:
How did you get Ubuntu mate installed, as In tried and it didn't work.
I downloaded the tar.gz file, then extracted the img file and the tried
to burn it to an sd card with etcher. Etcher complained that it was not
a bootable image. I tried again by clicking on the tar.gz file and Discs
came up and said something about doing a restore. I selected the sdcard
and clicked restore, but after inserting the sdcard into the pi, it
didn't boot up.

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