Boot from SD Card on my 8GB Nook Tablet

[Niteryder]

I gave my Nook Color to my son yesterday and went and purchased the 8GB Nook Tablet. I really like it, very fast, sites load almost immediately, very snappy from one task to another. I had not heard and was wondering if there was a way to boot from an SD card to CM7, so I tried Google. To my surpise there was and in about 15 minutes I had an SD card made, put it in the NT, and am happily running CM7 on my 8GB tablet right now. So far so good, seems very stable and no problems. CM7 on the NC was good, on the NT it is awesome and lightning fast! I've got all my Market apps installed and running perfectly. The only problem was that the Google Play app wss not included with the CM7 I wrote to the card, so i had to download it and install it seperately. But it was just as easy as downloading and installing any other app. If your looking at the 8GB tablet you now have the option of access to the Android Market.

[trisha48]

That is great!! Enjoy your new NT.

can you let us know the link or web page where you found the instructions?

Thanks

[Niteryder]

Sure will, I have it bookmarked on my PC at home. I'll be home in a couple of hours and will provide the information then. It was very easy, and written in a way that is easy to understand and follow. So if I can do it anyone can. I can tell you right now you need at least a 4GB SD card to write to. I used a 16GB card and it worked fine.

[Niteryder]

Here is the link I followed for instructions for rooting the 8GB Nook Tablet:

http://liliputing.com/2012/03/how-to-dual-boot-cyanogenmod-7-nook-tablet-os-with-a-microsd-card.html

Hope it is helpful.

[trisha48]

Thank you so much for providing the URL.

I did the CM7 bootable for my NC but did not realize you can now do it yourself too for the NT. I thought there were issues with the locked bootloader.

Glad to hear this works!!!

[Niteryder]

Just one other tip, on the link above step 5 has how to add the Android or now called Google Play Market. I found that just Googling "Google Play apk" brought up several sites to download the apk. There was direct download link at the xda site on my Google search, and used that. I think that is simpler than the number 5 step in the link provided.

[kenborg]

Has anybody got this to work on the 16 GB with version 1.4.2 installed. I've tried it several times without success. The SD builds ok but when I insert into NT, the regular NT opens and it writes the standard Nook folders to the SD.

[AAKpfth]

Yes, I've created the SD chip and rooted my NT running 1.4.2. Make sure you are following the latest "How to" video (the latest instructions are for v4.5, the latest software version is v4.6). When you have the card ready, you should make sure you follow the following procedure:

1. Shut down your Nook (don't just put it to sleep).
2. Pop in the bootable SD chip.
3. Power the Nook up while simultaneously holding down BOTH the power AND the Nook button. Hold them down until the screen shows you that the program is loading. 

If all is well, you will see the CM7 cube on the screen and you're on your way to rooting. Again, make sure you follow the video instructions carefully.

Good luck!

[Niteryder]

I have put this tablet to the test, video, music, app downloads, and lots of web time. I have found no hiccups, quirks, or instability so far. Very smooth and responsive operation at every task, seems to be a good functional build, worth a look if you have the 8 or 16 GB Tablet. It will work with either according to the link I posted.

[kenborg]

One of those strange things I guess. Followed your procedure including the "hold down two button" start. The two button gave me a BN screen allowing me to reset to factory default. I tried the suggestion on the xda-developer's site - insert SD card and plug in power cord until the NT starts. Same thing - standard BN startup. Maybe it's the SD card (a 16 GB Sandisk). Can't imagine what the problem is.

[Niteryder]

I used a 16GB SanDisk card as well, one thing I did notice is that I have to hold the power button down until the screen flashes or it wont boot to SD card. What happens exactly is, I hold the power button, a black screen with the Nook "N" appears, then the screen flashes and the tablet boots to SD. I was told to hold the power button until the screen flashes, then let it go. You might try that before you reformat and try to wtite another card.

[kenborg]

Still no luck. Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think I'll just wait for BN to make Android apps available. I think I needed the root route just because it was there. Not sure what I was going to do with it that I can't do now.

[TnTexas]

kenborg: Still no luck. Thanks for all of the suggestions. I think I'll just wait for BN to make Android apps available. I think I needed the root route just because it was there. Not sure what I was going to do with it that I can't do now.

Don't hold your breath while you're waiting or we'll be picking you up off the floor.

[Niteryder]

I don't know kenborg, perhaps you have a card issue. Since it takes very little time to write to the card, I'd suggest that maybe you try re-formatting the card at least two times, then re-writting, or try another card. I have had issues with my DSLR's not reacting properly to SD cards, I found if I re-formatted the SD card in the camera, always twice, why, I really have no answer, but it seemed to work.

Did you originally format your card in the NT or your PC? Whichever one you used the first time, try the other, couldn't hurt, and it may work. Good luck whatever you decide to do, its a shame that you cannot get it to do what you want, very frustrating I'm sure.

[Tom51]

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kenborg wrote:

Has anybody got this to work on the 16 GB with version 1.4.2 installed. I've tried it several times without success. The SD builds ok but when I insert into NT, the regular NT opens and it writes the standard Nook folders to the SD.

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I have the same problem except my NT16 was updated to 1.4.2 when I took it to B&N store for repartitioning.  I've tried different format, reformat at several computers, but this stubborn NT16 just refused to boot from SD.  Hopefully someone know how to make this work.

[perry0718]

I seem to be having the same problems that Kenborg is having.  I posted this in the comments section of the instructions page:

 I was able to boot from the SD card, but ONLY when my Nook Tablet was plugged in to the power cord. Once I removed it and went to battery, it would boot into the usual NT environment.  Also, the 'Reboot Into Recovery' for gApps installation didn't work, either.  The Nook would halt the startup and ask me to try rebooting.  

Any suggestions?  I'm running a Nook Tablet 16GB, OS 1.4.2, with a 32GB Class 10 SD Card.

Thanks!

I've also tried the suggestions on this board, and have gotten the 'factory reset' message, but no booting into CM7.

[Tom51]

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perry0718 wrote:

I seem to be having the same problems that Kenborg is having.  I posted this in the comments section of the instructions page:

 I was able to boot from the SD card, but ONLY when my Nook Tablet was plugged in to the power cord. Once I removed it and went to battery, it would boot into the usual NT environment.  Also, the 'Reboot Into Recovery' for gApps installation didn't work, either.  The Nook would halt the startup and ask me to try rebooting.  

Any suggestions?  I'm running a Nook Tablet 16GB, OS 1.4.2, with a 32GB Class 10 SD Card.

Thanks!

I've also tried the suggestions on this board, and have gotten the 'factory reset' message, but no booting into CM7.

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Yes, mine too boots into Android when plugged in to power cord.  Without it, it boots into NT. 

[perry0718]

Just wanted to give an update:

I just went out and picked up an SanDisk 8GB Class 4 Micro SD card and performed the steps outlined above.  Everything worked just fine and I was able to boot into CM7 without a problem.  This tells me that the problem lies either with the brand SanDisk vs Lexar (the 32 GB card), or the Class (4 vs 10). 

The only other issue I've seen is that rebooting the Nook causes it to go into the Nook environment, while a cold boot will launch CM7.  Not an issue, except that I can't perform Step 5 as listed above because I cannot 'Reboot Into Recovery'. 

Please pass this along, and if there's any suggestions for installing gApps, let me know.

[ts_hunter]

Is the card you are creating a boot card that you run CM7 on and then you can take it out, restart and be running regular NT again?    I have a card like that for Nook Color, and I want to make one for NT.    I don't want to modify anything on the NT, I just want to run on the SD card and go back to stock if I want. 

[perry0718]

when I cold boot the NT, it goes into CM7.  a reboot brings up the regular Nook environment.   To get back to CM7 I have to shut down and start the Nook from scratch.  No big deal.