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I am trying to upgrade from Raspberry Pi 2 ("old setup") to Raspberry Pi 4 ("new setup"). I would like to just physically move SD card from Rpi 2 to Rpi 4. What is important for me is preserving whole setup from Rpi 2 (installed programs, setting, users, ssh keys etc).

Saying that, if not possible, I could migrate my operating system and settings to new SD card (but different size and vendor, though). I am using Raspbian (Raspbery Pi OS) upgraded to Buster installed on top of Berryboot. My suspicion is that source of this problem lays in Berryboot.

The situation is as follows:

  1. Rpi 4 is working correctly on hardware level (AFAIK) - I can boot from SD card that was in my Rpi Zero. In this card I have native install of Raspbian Buster.

  2. SD card is working correctly too (As the same card in Rpi 2 is working correctly).

  3. Rpi 2 system has quite history in it. It has Berryboot on it (BTW: How to check which version - my google foo failed me) with Raspbian. Initial installation was "Stretch' (or even "Jessie") and then upgraded to "Buster" using process from: "https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/buster-the-new-version-of-raspbian/"

  4. Browsing Berryboot site I noticed two version of downloads - for Rpi 4 and for others Rpis (clue no 1)

  5. When booting on Rpi 4 - I do not even get to Berryboot screen (clue no 2)

How can I solve issue with berry boot or migrate old system to new card?

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  • Looking at GITHUB github.com/maxnet/berryboot they only added Pi 4 support a year ago so if the version you have is not this one then it may well be your problem. Not idea if you can upgrade on an older Pi or move the partitions to a newer version - sorry.
    – user115418
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 19:12
  • There is no officially supported upgrade from Stretch to Buster. It is more work than configuring a fresh install. Berryboot just adds an additional layer of complexity.
    – Milliways
    Commented Sep 15, 2020 at 22:48
  • @Milliways - True, but my impression was that this is due potential package/configuration incompatibility not "not booting". At least it is how I read linked article from official blog. Upgrade was done on Rpi 2 and worked well for several months already - and, at least in my case, was quite painless (one config file path changed or so). Anyway I do not even get into Berryboot screen - so I tend to believe this is not Raspbian upgrade issue.
    – mazurnification
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 6:01
  • @Andyroo - thanks, I will poke around github, maybe there is some info there.
    – mazurnification
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 6:02
  • @mazurnification The Pi4 boot process is significantly different; there are numerous differences including the fact that the boot partition needs to be larger. If you only had to change one config file path you must have had minimal installed software, in which case a fresh install should be minimal.
    – Milliways
    Commented Sep 16, 2020 at 6:20

1 Answer 1

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You can most likely use your old SD card with just a few changes.

Specifically the firmware files and kernel+initramfs. Download the new image and then copy the files from the first partition to the first partition of your SD card. Check that 64bit mode is not turned on in the config.txt because your SD card will have 32bit userland on it.

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