Step 1: Hardware

All of the ROCK boards support NVMe SSD storage using M.2 connectors, with the exception of the ROCK 4C+ which doesn’t have one fitted. Depending on the board you are using there are various options for fitting an NVMe SSD drive and the form factors which are supported.

ROCK 3C and ROCK 5B

Both boards have M.2 M-key connectors and mounting bosses on the PCB. The ROCK 3C supports 2230 format drives on the top side and the ROCK 5B 2280 format drives on the bottom side.

2230 format SSDs are 22mm in width and 30mm in length. 2280 format drives are 22mm wide and 80mm long.

ROCK 3A and ROCK 4SE

Both boards have M.2 M-key connectors on the bottom side so they require the M.2 Extension Board which mounts the SSD above the ROCK.

The Extension Board supports the following SSD formats 2230 / 2242 / 2260 / 2280 and all the parts required to install the kit are included.

The image below shows the ROCK 3A we are testing, along with the extension kit, SD card, 2280 SSD and USB-to-serial adaptor.

To assemble the kit, first of all connect the IPEX cable to the SSD adapter board and the IPEX to M.2 adapter.

For long format SSDs as a precaution put a strip of insulation tape over the unused screw holes on the adapter board to prevent any possible short circuits.

Insert the SSD into the M.2 M key slot on the adapter board. This fits in at an angle and is held down in place by the screw provided.

Warning: If you are attaching an SSD directly to the ROCK 3C / ROCK 5B DO NOT overtighten the retaining screw or you will shear off the boss.

Step 2: Flash SD Card

Before configuring the SSD an up-to-date operating system that boots from SD /eMMC storage is required. You can use the Getting Started guides for your ROCK board. Here’s the link for the ROCK 3A that we are using in this demo: Get Started with the ROCK 3A Single Board Computer & Debian ┃OKdo

Step 3: Serial Console (Optional)

Although this is optional, we recommend attaching a USB-to-serial cable to the GPIO header so that you will be able to view the serial console output as the system boots. It is also possible to login via the console if anything is not working as expected.

Connect the cable to the ROCK board as follows:

• Black -> Pin 6, Yellow -> Pin 8, Orange -> Pin 10
• Connect the USB-A connector to your PC.
• Open a serial terminal application on the host PC. We use minicom on Linux or Putty on Windows.

$ minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 1500000

Note: the default baud rate for ROCK boards is 1500000 baud

Step 4: Partition Table

Warning: All the following commands are executed as root so be careful to refer to the correct device when running them.

It is important to correctly identify the storage devices attached to the system. lsblk is the Linux utility that lists all the block devices (disks) and partitions (part) recognised by the system. Each disk can contain none or several partitions.

Login to your ROCK via the desktop or SSH in and in a Terminal session list the devices attached:

$ lsblk

The screenshot below shows all the devices on the ROCK 3A with NVMe SSD attached:

• SPI Flash chip mtdblock0 (16MB)
• SD card – disk mmcblk1 (29.7GB) with 3 partitions:
• mmcblk1p1 (16MB) is mounted on /config containing configuration used as part of the boot stage.
• mmcblk1p2 (300MB) is unmounted
• mmcblk1p3 (29.4MB) mounted on / containing the root filesystem
• zram0 (991.8MB) is a swap disk
• nvme0n1 (119.2GB) is unmounted – this is the SSD that we will be configuring

Note: Not all ROCK boards will have the same block devices

Now change to root to gain sufficient privileges to be able to setup the disk. This is indicated by the prompt changing to the #.

The current state of the disk can be shown with fdisk, the Linux disk formatting utility.

$ sudo -s
# fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

This shows that the drive needs a partition table creating before we can proceed:

Note: Use m to see all the commands available in fdisk

Create a GPT partition table:

Enter option g to create a GPT partition then w to write the partition table to the device.

Step 5: Partitioning

Now that there is a partition table, a new Linux partition can be created on the disk.

Use fdisk again but this time with the n option for a new partition and press Enter to accept the defaults, then w to write them to the disk:

# fdisk /dev/nvme0n1

Now if you run lsblk again you can see the new partition nvme0np1:

# lsblk

Step 6: Copying

To copy the rootf filesystem from the SD / eMMC media to the SSD we need to discover the partition UUID for the rootfs on the SD / eMMC storage. This is mounted on the SD card device mmcblk1p3 in this example.

blkid is the Linux utility that displays partition UUID information for block devices:

# blkid /dev/mmcblk1p3

The rootfs PARTUUID for this example is “22d9259d-1fae-427d-a08f-cde77ae4bf3b”. Your ID may be different!

dd is the Linux utility for copying raw bytes.

Use dd to copy the rootfs – this will take a few minutes (10 mins for this SSD) with just a blinking cursor, so be patient and wait until the command prompt returns:

# dd if=/dev/disk/by-partuuid/22d9259d-1fae-427d-a08f-cde77ae4bf3b   
 conv=sync,noerror bs=4M of=/dev/nvme0n1p1

Warning: dd will override the data on your drive so be careful to write to the correct disk / partition – you can read about all the options with: $ man dd

Step 7: Resize

After copying the partition the SSD partition must be resized to use the full storage.

Resize the partition, fixing any issues with the following command:

# resize2fs /dev/nvme0n1p1

Step 8: Mount NVMe

The penultimate step is to configure the boot process to mount the rootfs from the NVMe disk rather than the SD / eMMC storage.

Make a copy of extlinux.conf in case you want to revert:

# cp /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf.orig

Edit /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf using vi or nano:

# vi /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf

Change the first entry for the rootfs which will be something like this:

root=UUID=22d9259d-1fae-427d-a08f-cde77ae4bf3b

to the NVMe partition

root=/dev/nvme0n1p1

Now reboot and the rootfs (/) should now be mounted on nvme0n1p1:

# reboot

The board still uses the first partition on the SD card to start the boot process but now the rootfs is mounted on the NVMe drive.

Step 9: Speed Test

Now you can run a speed test on your SD card and the NVMe SSD and see the difference:

$ lsblk

$ sudo hdparm -t --direct /dev/mmcblk1

$ sudo hdparm -t --direct /dev/nvme0n1

You should now have a really fast NVMe SSD setup (10x faster than SD)!

Troubleshooting

If things don’t go to plan and you need to revert the changes to the SD / eMMC so the system boots again,  you can remove the SD / eMMC storage and attach it to a USB reader on a Linux host.

If you saved the extlinux.conf file, mount the drive and then copy the original back:

$ mkdir -p /mnt/sd

$ sudo mount /dev/sda /mnt/sd

$ sudo cp /mnt/sd/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf.orig /mnt/sd/boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf

$ sudo umount /mnt/sd

Then put the media back in the ROCK and it should boot and run from the SD / eMMC storage again.

You can check that the filesystem is expanded using df:

$ df -h /dev/nvme0n1p1

If the full capacity of the drive is not reported, run the resize command again.

Summary

In this project we have shown you how you can take advantage of NVMe SSDs through M.2 adapters on most ROCK boards, providing dedicated, high-capacity storage (up to 2TB) with PCIe interface for speeds over 10 times faster than SD or eMMC storage, and a durable lifespan of several years based on usage.

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