PreparingyourSDcardfortheRaspberryPi
InordertouseyourRaspberryPi,youwillneedtoinstallanOperatingSystem(OS)ontoanSD
card.AnOperatingSystemisthesetofbasicprogramsandutilitiesthatallowyourcomputerto
run;examplesincludeWindowsonaPCorOSXonaMac.
TheseinstructionswillguideyouthroughinstallingarecoveryprogramonyourSDcardthatwill
allowyoutoeasilyinstalldifferentOS’sandtorecoveryourcardifyoubreakit.
1. InsertanSDcardthatis4GBorgreaterinsizeintoyourcomputer
2. FormattheSDcardsothatthePicanreadit
a. Windows
i. DownloadtheSDAssociation'sFormattingTool
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from
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_windows/
ii. InstalltheFormattingToolonyourmachine
iii. RuntheFormattingTool
iv. Set"FORMATSIZEADJUSTMENT"optionto"ON"inthe"Options"menu
v. CheckthattheSDcardyouinsertedmatchestheoneselectedbytheTool
vi. Clickthe“Format”button
b. Mac
i. DownloadtheSDAssociation'sFormattingToolfrom
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/eula_mac/
ii. InstalltheFormattingToolonyourmachine
iii. RuntheFormattingTool
iv. Select“OverwriteFormat”
v. CheckthattheSDcardyouinsertedmatchestheoneselectedbytheTool
vi. Clickthe“Format”button
c. Linux
i. Werecommendusinggparted(orthecommandlineversionparted)
ii. FormattheentirediskasFAT
3. DownloadtheRaspberryPiRecoverysystem(alsoknownastheNewOutOfBoxSoftware)
from:
downloads.raspberrypi.org/recovery
4. Unzipthedownloadedfile
a. WindowsRightclickonthefileandchoose“Extractall”
b. MacDoubletaponthefile
c. LinuxRununzip[downloadedfilename]
5. CopytheextractedfilesontotheSDcardthatyoujustformatted
6. InserttheSDcardintoyourPiandconnectthepowersupply
YourPiwillnowbootintotheRaspberryPiRecoverySystemandshowalistofOperatingSystems
thatyoucannowinstall.WerecommendthatyoustartwithRaspbian.
Havefun!
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Note:ThebuiltinWindowsformattingtoolwillonlyformatthefirstpartitionthatWindowscanreadnot
theentiredisk.ForthisreasonweadviseusingtheofficialSDCardAssociationFormattingTool.