How do I enable the read-only filesystem?

Overview

Read-only mode is an OS setting on the TinyPilot that can increase the lifetime of your microSD card and reduce the risk of filesystem corruption from unplanned shutdowns.

As the name implies, the read-only filesystem loads the TinyPilot's file system in read-only mode so that writes to the disk stay in memory and don't affect the physical microSD card.

Enabling the read-only filesystem

To set up the read-only filesystem, connect to your device over SSH and run the following commands:

sudo raspi-config nonint enable_overlayfs && \
  sudo reboot

The command may take a few moments to complete. Read-only mode slows down the boot process, so don't worry if your reboot takes 2-3x as long as normal.

Disabling the read-only filesystem

To apply updates or make permanent changes to your TinyPilot, you'll need to temporarily disable the read-only filesystem.

To disable read-only mode, connect to your device over SSH and run the following commands:

sudo raspi-config nonint disable_overlayfs && \
  sudo reboot