RG351

RG351P EmuELEC Firmware Guide

by Russ

Last updated 24JAN2021 (see Changelog for details)

The stock operating system found on the RG351P, which is a modified version of EmuELEC, is a little different from those found on other devices. For example, the RG350 devices have two SD cards — one that holds the operating system, and another for game files. The Retroid Pocket 2 has internal storage for the operating system, and one SD card for all of your game files.

The RG351P has just one single SD card, and it contains both the operating system AND your game files. This is advantageous if you don’t want to have multiple SD cards to deal with, but it also has one big disadvantage: if you mess up that SD card, you lose BOTH your operating system and your game files.

So this guide will show you how to back up the modified EmuELEC on your current stock SD card, and how to also install a fresh version of the software onto a new card. 

Table of contents
Before we get started
Save your BIOS folder
Back up your current SD card
Restore your backup on a new SD card
Flash clean stock software onto an SD card
3.7 firmware update
351ELEC
ArkOS
Notes on the EmuELEC "Storage" partition

Changelog

Before we get started

The file system on your RG351P SD card is a little weird. Your PC or Mac operating system will recognize two “drives” when you plug that card into your computer. That’s because the SD card actually has multiple partitions — one that contains the operating system (called “EMUELEC”), one that contains your system storage (“Storage”) and and another that contains your games folders (called “Games”). The “Storage” partition won’t be readable by your PC or Mac, so you may not see it at all (and if you do, it will probably be write-protected). But you can access this partition in other ways (like via WiFi FTP), which I’ll cover in a later guide. Instead of getting mired down in these details, it’s best just to recognize that when you plug your RG351P SD card into your PC or Mac, you will likely see multiple “drives” appear, and that’s perfectly normal.

Also, you’re going to be using an SD card reader to plug the firmware card into your PC or Mac. Many retro devices come with free USB 2.0 SD card readers, but they are prone to breaking (or even messing your card up). I recommend you invest in a legit SD card reader, like this one from Anker, which will give you USB 3.0 speeds and some peace of mind.

Finally, bear in mind that for PCs, you MUST be running Windows 10 1703 or later in order to see SD card partitions. So the only way to transfer ROMs directly onto the SD card is if you’re running that version of Windows (or later).

Save your BIOS folder

The RG351P comes with a folder that’s filled with various BIOS files necessary to properly run your system. No matter what you do with your card — back it up, overwrite it, etc. — be sure to save that BIOS folder onto your PC or Mac for safe keeping. That way you can paste these files back into a card at any time. The folder isn’t huge, about 175MB altogether, but it’s irreplaceable.

To save the BIOS folder, simply plug your SD card into your PC or Mac via an SD card reader. Inside the “Games” partition you will find a folder named “BIOS” — save that folder somewhere and you’re done.

Back up your current SD card

If you want to stick with the original software that came with your device, I strongly recommend you backup and remove your firmware card, and store it somewhere safe, and create a new firmware card to tinker with. That way, if something goes wrong, you can simply pop the old card back in and have a working system again. And in all honesty, the microSD cards that ship with the RG351P are notoriously cheap, and have a high fail rate based on my experience with RG350 cards. Replacing them with an SD card from a reputable brand like SanDisk or Samsung will also give you some peace of mind.

MicroSD cards are relatively cheap, and you’ll want a larger card, such as a 128GB card (but up to a massive 512GB), to store your games. A 128GB card will allow you to store a LOT of 8-bit, 16-bit, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 64 games, as well as quite a few PS1, Dreamcast, and PSP games. I think it’s the perfect sweet spot in terms of price and storage space. But if you are looking to store a LOT of PS1, Dreamcast, and PSP games on your device, you may want to consider a card that’s larger than 128GB.

Okay, here’s how to backup the stock card so that you can re-flash it onto another card.

  1. Remove your SD card from the RG351P, and then plug it into your PC via an SD card reader. If using a Windows PC, you may get an error and a prompt to format the drive, just cancel that error — it’s the result of Windows not being able to read one of the Linux partitions.
  2. Download and install Win32 Disk Imager (PC) or ApplePi-Baker v2 (Mac), both are free to use. Follow these instructions to create a backup (.img) file of your microSD card.
    • For Win32 Disk Imager (PC), click the folder icon and select the location you want the .img file stored, and in the “File Name” box, write out the file name for your .img (like “RG351Pstockfirmwarebackup,img”). Be sure to write out the “.img” file extension as well, the app will not do it for you. Click the “Open” button to exit this menu. Under the “Device” section, select the “EMUELEC” or “GAMES” partition of your SD card (don’t worry, it’ll copy the entire disk, not just that partition). Finally, click the “Read” button to create the .img file (expect it to take about 15 minutes, but up to 45 minutes).
    • For ApplePi-Baker v2 (Mac), select the EmuElec partition on your microSD card using the “Select Disk(s)” window. Near the bottom right of the screen, there is a series of “Options” icons. Hover over the second one and you’ll see “Enable Linux partition resize”. This will shrink your backup to its actual size, not just the size of the SD card – very handy. Select this option, then click the “Disk to File” button, and create a name for your backup file and choose where you want it to save. Note that this app can sometimes error out, so you may have to try it a couple times.
Resizing the “Games” partition after flashing the firmware onto a new card

Restore your backup on a new SD card

Once you have your backup image, you can flash that image directly onto a new card.

  1. Create a new firmware microSD card. Insert a new microSD card into your computer.
    • For Win32 Disk Imager (PC), select your backup .img file by clicking the folder icon under “Image File”, and navigating to wherever your stored it during the previous section. Click the “Write” button, and wait for it to write the image to your new microSD card.
    • For ApplePi-Baker v2 (Mac), select your new microSD card in the “Select Disk(s)” window. Near the bottom-right of the window there are some buttons for “Options”, be sure to select the second option, which says “Expand Linux partition”. Click the “Restore” button and navigate to your backup .img file. The file will then write to your new microSD card, and then expand the partition, allowing you to skip the next step.
  2. Resize the “Games” partition. If you are flashing a backed up version of the original stock 3.7 EmuELEC onto a larger card, on a PC it won’t resize the partition to take up all that extra space. So we will expand that partition so you can take advantage of whatever free space is still left on that card. Luckily, if you’re on a Mac, the ApplePi-Baker v2 software already did that when you wrote the .img file onto your new card during Step #1 above, so you can skip to the next step. For Windows/PC users, you will want to download and install DiskGenius. Note that this step is not necessary if you are flashing updated clean stock (3.8 below) or custom firmware like ArkOS and 351ELEC; in those cases, just insert your card into the device, turn it on, and it will partition the card for you.
    • For DiskGenius (PC), open the app and find your SD card using the menu sidebar on the left (it will typically be named “GenericSTORAGE DEVICE” or something along those lines, depending on your SD card reader). You should see three partitions within that SD card: one called “EMUELEC”, another called “STORAGE” and another called “GAMES”. Right-click on the “GAMES” partition, and select “Resize Partition”. You’ll now see a slider that will allow you to drag the GAMES box to increase or decrease its partition size (and decrease the “Keep Unallocated” box). Drag it all the way to the right so that it is taking up all the unallocated space (see the picture above). Click the “Start” icon and you’re all set.
    • For Mac users, there have been times where I get errors with ApplePi-Baker and its partition resize feature. If this happens to you, uncheck the “Expand Linux Partition” option and flash as you normally would. You can then use Paragon Hard Disk Manager to resize the partition manually. This app costs $40 but has a free 10-day trial, so get all of your partition extensions done in those first ten days; otherwise, you’ll spend half the price of an RG351P just extending a partition!
    • Additionally, another option for Mac users would be to run an Ubuntu image via VirtualBox. Ubuntu’s built-in Disk Image Write and Disks tools will allow you to flash the image and resize the partition without any additional software required.
  3. Insert the new microSD card to your RG351P. At this point, you can add new games to the “Games” partition on your card, or just plug it right into your device and start playing the games that were already on there when you made your backup.

Flash clean stock firmware onto an SD card

While it’s handy to have a backup of your original firmware, I actually prefer to flash a brand new software image onto my new SD cards. This gives me the freedom to start over from scratch and tweak the system to my exact preferences.

Anbernic has not released their official firmware source, but some very nice and smart people have already figured out how to create a stock firmware image for you to flash onto a new card. Anbernic created their firmware by modifying a version of EmuELEC. The first batch of devices came with EmuELEC 3.7 installed, but since then Anbernic has released a v3.8 EmuELEC image, which you can download below. More recent shipments have included EmuELEC 3.8 firmware. There is also an experimental version of EmuELEC v3.9 linked below, but I have not tried it myself. I also recommend checking our 351ELEC and ArkOS, which are highlighted below. They are both excellent and, in my opinion, much better than the stock firmware.

Note that the modified EmuELEC v3.9 test version doesn’t create a “Games” partition on your disk, so you will have to SSH/FTP the game files onto your disk via WiFi (see my File Transfer Guide). If you want to stick with the modified EmuELEC firmware, I recommend you use 3.8 for its ease of use. If you’d like to see what changes are available in version 3.9, see this page.

If you have the original v3.7 firmware on your device, be sure to check out this v3.7 update which improves PSP performance. If your device came with v3.8, there is no need to update anything.

UPDATE: Anbernic has removed their files from the server, so there is no longer a clean image available at this time

Official Firmware (EmuELEC 3.8) (11/22/2020)

Okay, let’s install some firmware. To get started, download one of the files above and unzip it; place the .img file somewhere easy to access, like your Desktop.

  1. Download and install Win32 Disk Imager (PC) or ApplePi-Baker v2 (Mac), if you haven’t already. Both are free to use. This software is necessary to write the new firmware to your card.
  2. Create a new firmware microSD card. Insert your new microSD card into your computer.
    • For Win32 Disk Imager (PC), select your .img file by clicking the folder icon under “Image File”, and navigating to wherever your stored it earlier. Click the “Write” button, and wait for it to write the image to your new microSD card.
    • For ApplePi-Baker v2 (Mac), select your new microSD card in the “Select Disk(s)” window. Click the “Restore” button and navigate to your .img file. The file will then write to your new microSD card, and then expand the partition, allowing you to skip the next step.
  3. Check your BIOS folder and add game files. At this point, go into the “Games” partition on your card and check the “bios” folder. If it is empty, paste over the BIOS folder you saved earlier in this guide. Now, you can add new games to the “Games” partition on your card, and then plug it into your RG351P to start playing the games.

When you install a new firmware on your device, you may notice that the Nintendo DS emulator (DraStic) is missing. It needs to be re-installed in order to play NDS games, and you must be connected online in order to do this step. Press START in EmuELEC to get to the main menu, then go to UI Settings > Systems Displayed and make sure “Setup” is checked.  Now you should have a “Setup” option in the EmuELEC systems menu.  Open it up and you should see an “Install DraStic” option, just click on that and let it run.  After Drastic has been re-installed, you can go back into the settings and hide the “Setup” menu.

Note on the “GAMES” partition: if you are a Windows 10 user and you don’t see a drive letter named “Games” when you plug the SD card into a card reader, it’s most likely that Windows did not automatically assign a drive letter to that partition on your SD card. This can be resolved by going into the Disk Management control panel app, then selecting the SD card with the Games partition label, then assign a drive letter to the partition by right-clicking on the Games partition and selecting “Assign Drive Letter” or “Change Driver Letter and Path”, then follow the directions from there. Once completed, the drive should show up under My Computer.

3.7 firmware update

On 06NOV2020, a new firmware patch was released for firmwares running 3.7. The above video (and this guide) will walk you through how to update. This update will provide improved PSP performance.

351ELEC

351ELEC is a firmware that was first released on 10NOV2020. It combines the EmuELEC 3.9 update, recent updates to the PSP emulator, doesn’t require you to extend your own disk partitions (step 3 above), and also creates a FAT32 disk partition so you can drag/drop your game files directly onto the SD card. You can read more about this firmware, its benefits, and how to install it in my guide here. This firmware is constantly being updated, which is a really nice sign for future development.

ArkOS

ArkOS is another new firmware that has a ton of great features. This is my preferred operating system for the RG351P, and the video above will show you why. In a nutshell, this system has the widest compatibility (including 32 and 64-bit apps) and some really excellent quality of life features as well. This operating system is also frequently updated, and it gets better every week.

Notes on the EmuELEC “Storage” partition

Now that you have a freshly-minted SD card, let’s talk about the “Storage” partition on your SD card. This is an EXT4 (Linux-based) partition that cannot be properly read by Windows Explorer or Mac Finder — it often won’t even show up unless you’re using specialized software. Inside of this partition are several important folders and files, like:

  • RetroArch cores
  • EmulationStation themes
  • Cheats
  • Save States
  • Save Files
  • Shaders

By default, this partition is sized at 1.36GB, and 400MB of this partition will be taken up by your system files. That leaves you with about 1GB for all of your cores, themes, save states, save files, shaders, and more. It’ll be hard to fill that space up, but it’s something to be aware of if you decided to throw dozens of themes into your device. As an example, I loaded seven themes onto my device, and they took up 200MB.

To access these folders in your partition, your best bet is to connect to your device via wireless FTP. Note that in 351ELEC and ArkOS, many of these folders have been moved over to the GAMES partition, making them much easier to access. I have a complete File Transfer Guide on this site, but here is a quick snapshot of the process:

If you don’t have an early RG351P model with an internal WiFi antenna, you will need to use an OTG adapter and a WiFi USB module (I have personally tested this Wifi module, and I have been told that this one works, too). In EmuElec, press START, then select “Network Settings”. Turn on the “Enable WiFi” toggle, then add your WiFi details. Back out of this menu with the B button and your device will connect to the network. Go back into the Network Settings and make note of your IP address; it will be something like 192.168.86.##, with the last two ##s the number your router assigned to your device (this number will change periodically).

Open up your FTP client, like WinSCP for Windows/PC, or ForkLift for Mac. Create a new connection, and for the FTP address, add your IP address. The username is “root” and the password is “emuelec” (no caps). Once you connect, you should immediately see the storage folder. Note that you can also wirelessly transfer games onto your device with this method (you’ll find all your game folders in the “roms” folder).

Changelog

24JAN2021
– updated wording to better articulate when resizing partitions is necessary

12JAN2021
– updated wording to better differentiate stock firmware, 351ELEC, and ArkOS

02DEC2020
– updated official firmware links to v3.8

15NOV2020
– added ArkOS

12NOV2020
– added 351ELEC
– added note on “Games” partition not appearing on PC

07NOV2020
– added 3.7 firmware update links

25OCT2020
– added DraStic installation instructions
– added file transfer guide link

14OCT2020
– fixed incorrect link
– added Ubuntu suggestion for Mac users

09OCT2020
– published guide

64 thoughts on “RG351P EmuELEC Firmware Guide”

  1. Will emuelec 3.7 run on the rg350m? Could I download the file above on a new sd card and put into rg350m and run it?

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    1. Hi Brandon, unfortunately EmuELEC is not compatible with the RG350. They are both Linux-based devices, but this version of EmuELEC is built specifically for Odroid-Go Advance (OGA) devices, which is what RG351P is.

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  2. hi, can I ask how can I partition to have a games partition for easy transfer of roms to the sd. Installed 3.8 but somehow I only see 2 partitions thanks appreciate all the help

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    1. Hi Henry, unfortunately the “games” partition is only available on the 3.7 version of EmuELEC, it’s something that Anbernic put into the firmware themselves. So your only option to transfer files will be via WiFi FTP or through a Linux file system software solution.

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    1. Hi, so Anbernic took EmuELEC from that repository and did their own modifications to it, and haven’t released their source code (although they have promised they will once they “clean it up”). So any updates coming out will likely be from people reverse engineering the tweaks Anbernic made for the rumble, key mapping, etc.

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  4. Hi, I successfully expanded my sd card to 256gb thanks to your instructions. But I have issues with ppsspp. It shows 30/30 fps, but it suffers from having a micro stutter. I tried tweaking the settings, auto frameskip, and followed youtube tutorials but no help. Switching to Libretro PPSSPP emulator works fine, but I prefer the PPSSPPDL emulator because it has cheats.db feature. And other issues I encountered, the MAME/Arcade, is giving me a game error coreElec log. Roms I tested works with my Rk2020 emuelec 3.8. Any ideas on how to solve these problems? Thank you.

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      1. Hi, update on my Emuelec issues. It was the original firmware that came with Anbernic causing the stutter with PSP. Using the firmware image you provided works fine—no stutter on PSP emulation. Regarding MAME, I tried putting the ROMS on the “Arcade” folder instead of the “MAME” folder, and it works. I also want to mention that I used Libretro 2003 plus ROMS because Libretro 2003 ROMS doesn’t run. Thanks.

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  5. I got mine and put the sd in a computer, now the games partition disappeared..
    does anyone know a way to get it back the way it was?

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    1. I have upgraded firmware..bought the WiFi for it ….was loving it. Now when I boot it up I am stuck on the no gamepad detected screen. I foolishly trashed the original firmware and can’t find it anywhere on the internet. Could really use some help. I’m ready to throw this thing away.

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  7. I followed the instructions to backup the EMUELEC drive using win32 disk imager. When I click Read a window pops up titled Lock Error – 1.0 and reads An error occurred when attempting to lock this volume. Error 5: Access is denied. Any advice?

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  8. Hey, thanks for this great guide and all the effort on the device, it is extremely useful for those who are new to these machines!

    I am trying to set a fresh microSD following the instructions above but the Official OS Update (EmuELEC 3.7) (09/26/2020) .rar file gives me errors when extracting it. I’ve tried downloading it again also from different machines and OSes but it’s the same. Could you please reupload the file?

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    1. Hi, unfortunately it’s not my file, it came from Anbernic. I just tested the file again and was able to download and extract with no issues. Not sure why it’s not happening on your end, sorry to hear that.

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  9. Would it be possible to get quick instructions on how to use Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac to resize the partition manually? I tried following this https://kb.paragon-software.com/article/165 but they are Windows only instructions. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to resize the “Games” partition and it’s literally the last step. Please help!

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  10. So further reading on the Paragon website states that you can only resize a partition up to 32GB, which is the Windows safe size FAT32 limitation. Now what is the point of upgrading to a 128GB micro SD card if I cannot resize the “Games” partition beyond 32GB? Is there a way to resize the “Games” partition (FAT32) by utilizing the +120GB available free space on the micro SD card using Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac?

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      1. I did try using ApplePiBaker with the “Expand Linux Partition” option selected at first and I used the clean 3.7 img file you provided on your site. However, when it finished, it only mounted the “EmuELEC” volume and not the “Games” volume to copy my ROMs to. So as you suggested, I de-selected the “Expand Linux Partition” option and low and behold all 3 partitions were created! But when I tried using Paragon to do the last step, that program is not letting me resize the “Games” partition (which is FAT32). Installing a virtual machine seems like a lot of tedious work just to flash this card once. And I don’t have access to a Windows machine. Sigh… feeling so frustrated. PS. Your site is awesome BTW. Really straightforward and pleasantly surprised with how quickly you respond. Thanks for all the great work.

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  11. Thanks for the guide – everything is working great 🙂

    Have You tried playing around with OpenBor?
    For me the controlls ar messed up – a is start, start is move up… Tried to change them in game options, but no luck so far.

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  12. Hello. I just got my RG351P yesterday and am getting some issues I have yet to see anywhere else:

    #1 In many of the emulators which use Retroarch I am getting sound glitching and general slowdown. I’m getting this a LOT in all CPS systems, and Playstation which I’ve always seen PS1 running great on this. Tried changing the used emulator and frameskip with no luck really.

    #2 I am also having problems saving shader settings in retroarch. I click to save and it says Error Saving. Not sure why.

    Any ideas?

    Anyone made the updates into an image file i can basically “burn” to a new SD card by the way?

    Thanks a lot.

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    1. Hi James, which RetroArch core are you using? And are you using the ROMs that came with the device? I would recommend loading your own MAME and FBNeo romsets and using MAME 2003-Plus for your MAME RetroArch core. For PS1 I’m puzzled because it should run flawlessly. If you’re still using the card that came with the device, I wonder if it’s having some read errors that are causing slowdown? For shaders, what type of saving are you trying to do? For me, I go to Quick Menu > Shaders > Load Shader Preset, then once I have it the way I want it, I go to Save > Save Game Preset (or Save Core Preset). One thing you’ll want to do is make sure that the EmuELEC shader settings for that system aren’t conflicting with RetroArch, because the EE settings will override RA.

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    1. Anyone know how to change the controls in Openbor? I am using the RG351P and they’re all over the place. Like L3 is walk forward.

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  14. Hi. So, I am using the games that came with it. It was completely stock. I just went through your tutorial and flashed 3.7 onto a brand new 128GB SanDisk. I popped it in after flashing and resizing and it booted up. But no emulators show up. Is this because I have no games in the emulators folders? I’m copying the old games folder now off the original card but that seems to look like it’s going to be a while.

    In regards to your question of version of RetroArch, I’m not sure. I don’t know where to look for it. Though it may be moot if this 3.7 flash works out.

    Thanks so much for your continued help. I’m new to RetroArch, but not emulation or general pc usage. So, I can find my way through what you’ve presented in your tutorials.

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    1. So, after installing 3.7 on a fresh, new, 128GB Sandisk MicroSD, 90% of my problems disappeared. Most games run fine with no issues. I still have some trouble emulating certian CPS games, Playstation no-longer has any issues which is great. Even Dreamcast is running pretty well. Though if anyone knows how to get Skies of Arcadia to have better text (the text is blurry, some letters nearly unreadable and they fade from white to grey) would be a big help.

      Other than that I’m finally starting to enjoy using my RG351P. Thanks for providing this thread as well as 3.7 and the very helpful info on setting up my new card. 🙂

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  16. Hi there! I’m a noob, so I’m trying to get my bearings. I just downloaded the firmware, but my file is an RAR. It doesn’t appear as an image on my end. What are you using in the video to open it and unzip it? Thanks!

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    1. Ok, we downloaded winrar, but now we’re getting the error “Lock Error – 1.0” “An error occurred when attempting to lock the volume. Error 5: Access is denied”

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  18. Hi there, I can’t download the RG351P v3.8 as it says that the download quota has been exceeded. Could you supply a new link or let me know another site to download from. Thanks!

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  19. purchased a RG351p after years of looking for a similar product. Ive bought 4 products and none work like the rg351p. I have zero computer skills, zero, but want my rg351p to work and look like yours in the video. Any chance you make and/or sell those cards? I would be willing to pay, Just looking for a more complete Nintendo and Sega library and to have the look you do. anyway, thanks for the video, I am trying to do this myself, but after 3 days and 4 SD cards im not having much luck

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  20. I am attempting to take my NEW 128SD card and transfer the partitions so it is able to be used in the 351P. I want to be able to remove and add games as I see fit. NOTHING MORE, lol

    I have a Macbook Pro – OS Big Sur.
    Is there a visual guide or can anyone assist?

    Pleas and thank you.

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  21. “The RG351P comes with a folder that’s filled with various BIOS files necessary to properly run your system. No matter what you do with your card — back it up, overwrite it, etc. — be sure to save that BIOS folder onto your PC or Mac for safe keeping. That way you can paste these files back into a card at any time. The folder isn’t huge, about 175MB altogether, but it’s irreplaceable.”

    Hi Russ!
    I got my RG351 two days ago and it shipped with an empty Micro-SD-Card (didn’t even boot). I managed to set it up with 351ELEC, but now I’m a bit worried I might run into problems in the future. Is there another source for these files? Could I maybe download them from Anbernic?
    Thank you
    Jo

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      2. Hi Russ,

        maybe i’m too stupid but am i too stupid to see the files in the bios folder?

        On my originally supplied SD card with V.1.8 on it, the Bios folder is empty.

        If I unzip your image from this guide here and go to the Bios folder for the Roms, it is also empty ???

        I don’t know any more 😀

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  22. Hi Russ. Thank you for taking the time to write all these guides. Unfortunately I’m having some issues getting my mac to create a proper image of the stock SD card (version 3.8) and copy it onto a new card. I followed your ApplePiBaker guide to the letter but I’m getting some odd results. The EMUELEC partition is showing up on the new card without issue and the RG351P boots up normally when it is inserted but it isn’t detecting any games, nor is the GAMES partition showing up on the computer. Instead I’m seeing a partition called “disk3s3” that seems to contain all of the GAMES data but for some reason isn’t functioning properly. This partition refuses to mount and, obviously, isn’t functioning as intended within the RG351P. Any idea why this might be occurring or suggestions on how to proceed?

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  23. Hello! I used ApplePiBaker and, when it finished and I introduced the SDCard in the RG351P appeared the correct messages (PARTITION RESIZING IN PROGRES) but, after the automated restart, appears the message:

    mount: mounting /dev/mmcblk0p3 on /storage/roms failed: No such file or directory

    A few seconds later, the system starts and I don’t detect any wrong but when I plug the SD in my Mac, I only see the 351ELEC partition.

    How can I resolve it? Maybe disabling the “Enable Linux partition resize”?

    (Big Sur 11.1 // 351ELEC-RG351P.aarch64-1.0.11 // SD 128GB)

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  24. I have a question regarding the PSx emulator I cant seem to save on the memory card . IT shows as save but when I get back to the game the save file is no longer there. is there a way to access the virtual psx memory card?

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    1. Save games are funky in RetroArch, in general. When you use a save game (like for a memory card save), you cannot use the “quit RetroArch” shortcut (SELECT + POWER), because the save won’t persist. Instead, you have to go into the RetroArch Quick Menu (SELECT + X) then select “Close Content” first. The RA team calls this “closing gracefully”, and it’s a known issue with the platform writ-large. Hope that does the trick for you!

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  25. Thanks again for pulling this together. I am in the process of using this guide and a new SD card (512 I got for 20 bucks on Amazon). Is this “too big”? I used a fresh install vs. cloning the drive I got and booting up is very slow. I also see lag in menus and just operating. Is there a setting I missed or is there some practical limit I should set on the number of ROMs I have on here/the size of the SD card?

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  27. Hello, i downloaded the 3.8 version of Emulec but when i go to open the zip to get the img file it says that it is in a unknown format or damaged, i have tried this multiples times with the same results. Is the file damaged or am i doing something wrong on my end?

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  28. Ignore the previous post, i fixed the issue. Though now i wonder if you know what optimal settings to use for N64 games so as that it doesn’t struggle with some of the games such as Castlevania.

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  29. Ok so I got a new SD card (yeah I didn’t notice I got a cheap brand). I did the cloning using WinDisk and it went fine. When trying to expand the partition into the free space I keep getting an error that I don’t know how to fix.

    I am using DiskGenius and the error is saying “Some free clusters are marked as used in the file allocation table: Cluster number 1594903”

    So its always that cluster. I went to the original SD card and tried to expand into the 1GB of free space on there and i got the same error.

    How would you tell the partition table to ignore this?

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  30. I have used this 351ELEC and it works beautifully.

    My question is, why does it use save states as default? It does not use the game’s saved data (to mimic the way is played in the original console). It looks dangerous to use save states instead of the internal save data. Plus, it won’t work with different emulators. Is there any way so the game uses only the save data the game would use? So every time you start a game, it starts from the beginning and then you load data. Just the way it’s done with the original game. In this case, GBA games.

    To me is very unreliable.

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  31. Hi – I was very impressed with the RG351P and your guides on it. So much so I’ve graduated to the RG351M today 🙂 Do you know if the images / sd cards I have made for the 351P will work for the 351M with no changes? Or will I need download a new image and set that one up? Keep up the great work.

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  32. Hi,

    I feel like I followed this step by step but for some reason it’s not transferring over the games to the new micro SD card, only the OS. I’m using a Mac, what am I doing wrong?

    Thanks

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  33. Hi Russ and friends of the RG351p.

    I’ve been using this device since before November 2020 with a Samsung 256GB tf card. Works great.. My question is about bigger tf cards. I see you mention the 512GB size in your post, and it seems a commenter has used one with slow boot times. Can you or anyone on here please say with any certainty if the 512GB size micro SD cards really and truly work with the Rg351p? I don’t want to spend the money until I know for sure.

    Thanks, in advance!

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  34. I like to play Pokemon – FireRed / LeafGreen on 5x-6x and can’t seem to figure out how to get retro arch (on the RG351M) to play at anything above 1.5x, has anyone figured this out?

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  35. This guide was very helpful. I was able to copy everything over from my RG351 SD card to a 256gb SD card. I needed to setup the nds, pop, and snes when loading the card. I got the nds and pop to work with your guide. But I can’t get the snes to read. Do you know how to get it to read it? I checked and the files copied over fine. I have no idea what to do at this time. Hope you can help. Thank you

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  37. Hi, I don’t know if you will see this, but I just installed ArkOS on my SD card and it was fine, it run Emulationstation. Then I plugged the card into my computer, transferred some games on it and once it was back in the console nothing was happening, there is a small dash blinking in the top left corner and that’s it. No idea what I am doing wrong. 😦

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  38. Hey there! Love your Youtube channel. Decided to get the RG351P because I got a good deal on it. I am going to download and install ArkOS because of your recommendation. One question that I wasn’t too sure about from your videos….. Everything is loaded to the SD card, so technically I can carry around multiple SD cards and switch them if I like one OS than the other, correct? I plan to keep the stock SD and I purchased another for ArkOS.

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