backup image

[kyburg]

when I attempt to create an image with Win32DiskImager (win 7 64 bit) I only get the Recovery partition. How can I image the user partition (or all partitions) for backup and cloning?

[lurch]

I've just done a test using Win32DiskImager 0.8 on my Windows7 64-bit laptop with a USB SD card reader to backup a NOOBS image with Raspbian installed, and it does back up the whole disk (you can tell this because the backed-up image is the same size as your entire SD card). Then I used Win32DiskImager to write the backed-up image back to the SD card, and NOOBS and Raspbian still booted perfectly.

Even though Win32DiskImager backs up the entire SD card, you can only view the recovery partition because of the 'quirky' partitioning scheme used by NOOBS (it also causes problems with parted & gparted under Linux).

[kyburg]

Thanks for your quick testing and response Andrew. I was using Win32DiskImager 0.7 which might be the issue. I was suspicious when I saw the image size (1,161,086 bytes) I created was approximately the size of the original noobs distribution and not the 4 to 8 gb I had expected, and the fact that the image booted to the noobs 'pick an os' screen. I will download v 0.8 and try again. I'll let you know if I have anything conclusive to share.

Thanks again,

--Chris

On Jun 10, 2013, at 1:05 PM, Andrew Scheller notifications@github.com wrote:

I've just done a test using Win32DiskImager 0.8 on my Windows7 64-bit laptop with a USB SD card reader to backup a NOOBS image with Raspbian installed, and it does back up the whole disk (you can tell this because the backed-up image is the same size as your entire SD card). Then I used Win32DiskImager to write the backed-up image back to the SD card, and NOOBS and Raspbian still booted perfectly.

Even though Win32DiskImager backs up the entire SD card, you can only view the recovery partition because of the 'quirky' partitioning scheme used by NOOBS (it also causes problems with parted & gparted under Linux).

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[lurch]

Weird - I've just repeated my tests with both versions 0.7 and 0.6 of Win32DiskImager, and in all cases it always read the full 8GB from my SD card.

[kyburg]

Thanks for the follow-up. I tried Win32DiskImager 0.8 with same result. I think i may have a Sony issue. Ill go buy a uSB SD Card reader and see if that changes the situation. Very odd.

On Jun 10, 2013, at 4:25 PM, Andrew Scheller notifications@github.com wrote:

Weird - I've just repeated my tests with both versions 0.7 and 0.6 of Win32DiskImager, and in all cases it always read the full 8GB from my SD card.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[kyburg]

My SD card reader on my Sony laptop seems to have been the problem. Using a USB connected SD drive the image file created is a believable ~ 8GB, problem solved. It would be nice to have a way to see and select individual partitions though.

On Jun 10, 2013, at 4:25 PM, Andrew Scheller notifications@github.com wrote:

Weird - I've just repeated my tests with both versions 0.7 and 0.6 of Win32DiskImager, and in all cases it always read the full 8GB from my SD card.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[lurch]

@Rob-Bishop Maybe this backup issue should be mentioned on https://github.com/raspberrypi/noobs/wiki/FAQ-&-Troubleshooting ?

@kyburg See #43 for why this will be difficult. Also, I believe that Win32DiskImager will always only be able to backup entire disks, rather than selected partitions (even in spite of NOOBS's quirky partitioning). To backup individual partitions will require booting Linux, possibly from a LiveCD. OTOH writing individual partitions (rather than entire disks) will also require booting Linux...

[kyburg]

Fair enough, but it really makes me wonder what my Sony laptop SD Reader is doing.

On Jun 11, 2013, at 4:45 PM, Andrew Scheller notifications@github.com wrote:

@Rob-Bishop Maybe this backup issue should be mentioned on https://github.com/raspberrypi/noobs/wiki/FAQ-&-Troubleshooting ?

@kyburg See #43 for why this will be difficult. Also, I believe that Win32DiskImager will always only be able to backup entire disks, rather than selected partitions (even in spite of NOOBS's quirky partitioning). To backup individual partitions will require booting Linux, possibly from a LiveCD. OTOH writing individual partitions (rather than entire disks) will also require booting Linux...

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[lurch]

If you have the time, it might be interesting to try booting Linux from a LiveCD (or LiveUSB) on your laptop, and seeing if Linux is able to dd the entire 8GB off the card using your laptop's SD reader. That'd allow you to determine whether it's a hardware issue, or simply a problem with the Windows driver for your laptop's SD reader (I'd suspect the latter). Have you ever used your laptop's SD reader and Win32DiskImager to backup a pre-NOOBS (i.e. 'raw image') Pi-distro written to your SD card successfully?

[ghollingworth]

Just to note, I've actually got a fix for this, which I'm hoping will be available for the next release (or at least for Raspbian images)

[kyburg]

I'll give it a try and let you know (pre-noobs distro image on my Sony). I'm new to linux, is there an ISO image for a LiveCD I can download to try dd on the SD Card? I would be interested in the result also.

[lurch]

dd is such a 'fundamental' tool I'd be surprised if there's any Linux LiveCD that doesn't include it ;-) But I guess http://sourceforge.net/projects/partedmagic/ is as good as any (and may contain other interesting/useful disk tools).

[kyburg]

Update: I booted the sony laptop with Parted Magic and looked at the SD Card. It sees two partitions, one with the .elf files and one with rasparian. I don't remember if I ever made a successful image with the sony SD reader. I had an old external one but it lives in rural Mexico with a couple of Pi's now :) I could test the Sony with an older image it if it would help