Internal Storage

[tdanko128]

Is there any way to add some type of internal storage so you don't have to rely on an sd card to run the os?

[MarkHaysHarris777]

Is there any way to add some type of internal storage so you don't have to rely on an sd card to run the os?

( emphasis mine ?? )

No.

... you can add external storage for the rootfs so that the system will run from a real 'spinning' usb hdd , or even a usb stick , but the boot process still requires the SD card ;  reason being , the Pine board does not have a bios ( nor even a UEFI boot mode ) .

Essentially, without an SD card the Pine board is completely lifeless ( um mostly dead ).

[pfeerick]

Is there any way to add some type of internal storage so you don't have to rely on an sd card to run the os?

Really depends on what you mean by internal! If  you're meaning without needing some separate boot medium, then the answer is no (especially when you consider the microSD isn't really 'internal'). The pine64 doesn't have eMMC memory onboard, so the only way you can currently boot it without some external boot source is via a microSD card. It is possible to boot it via FEL mode (with no microSD card in the slot) like any other Allwinner ARM board although I have yet to see anyone demonstrate this using a pine64 other than to indicate that FEL mode does indeed work. It should also be possible to add eMMC storage via the Wifi/BT connector as that has the necessary connections (and a server focused board with eMMC and no wifi is apparently under consideration). 

It is indeed possible to allow it to boot off storage other than the SD card, and it may not be that hard to do if you are determined, and look at how it is done on other (Allwinner ARM) SBCs!

Edit: It was also pointed out to me that I should have mentioned SPI NOR Flash as another boot medium/method, (which dkryder has since mentioned as NAND memory), and has been successfully demoed on the pine64. And this is also what the SoPine uses.

[dkryder]

in the documentation there is a nice story/howto about booting from onboard nand. i have not tried it but i will accept at face value that it is possible. so it occurs to me that perhaps it is possible to exchange the chip on the board for one of larger capacity thus giving enough room for a o/s on chip of some extent. so i would say the possibility exisits to add internal hardware so you would not need to use a sd card. the docs state it is already possible to boot to nand so my speculation would be some changes might be able to allow a boot to o/s from nand.