OSMC (and RaspBMC) is known for its really easy installer. The micro-SD card will still be a firm favourite for most Installing OSMC on a USB stick You may already have a large capacity stick spare, you may want to try for some potential performance gains…or you may just find that USB 2.0 storage is a bit cheaper than a decent SD card.
Whatever you believe, there are still some scenarios where a USB install can be beneficial.
Some even believe that lower class SD cards can perform better than anything else. Some still believe that the USB option gives you improved stability. Some forum posters believe that using a fast USB 3.0 stick can give some minor performance gains (yes, even despite the fact that the Pi only has USB 2.0 ports). The quick answer appears to be “No” due to the fact that the SD card no longer corrupts when overclocking, but also due to the general opinion that a decent SD card is just as fast as a USB stick. OSMC owner Sam Nazarko has since fixed these issues which was very welcome news for the community, but left the question – is there any point installing on a USB stick any more? One way around this at the time was to install RaspBMC on a USB stick. OSMC is the decendant of RaspBMC…kind of Why install on a USB stick?īack in the RaspBMC days, overclocking the Pi came with the added risk of a corrupted SD card due to some bugs in the software. So it depends what you want your media centre to do, and of course, your own personal preference and opinion. The general impression I get from the internet is that OpenELEC gives you a simple, easy and basic media centre, whilst OSMC comes with lots of ‘extras’ such as remote support, overclocking menus, different services and all sorts of other magic. Considering it’s just a case of changing over the SD card/USB stick – why not? Whilst I was happy with OpenELEC, I was aware that OSMC had come a long way so I wanted to give it a whirl. The whole ‘OpenELEC vs OSMC’ argument is a highly debated topic on many forums across the internet, and don’t forget, they’re not the only options for your Pi media needs.
It’s a little bit unclear and results in many people scratching their heads, so I thought I’d share how to do this. However, one thing hasn’t changed since the RaspBMC days – the confusing process of installing to a USB stick. I decided to give it a try and install it on a USB stick. OSMC is a different beast all together, supporting a wide range of devices rather than just the Raspberry Pi.
RaspBMC has since come to the end of its busy life, with OSMC (Open Source Media Centre) taking over. I was originally a happy user of RaspBMC, but as the Pi 2 wasn’t initially supported by RaspBMC, I moved over to OpenELEC and have been reasonably happy ever since.
Ever since the Pi 2 came out, I’ve been a little bit unsettled with my choice of Raspberry Pi Media centre.