Flash disk cloning: Difference between revisions

From Rsewiki
No edit summary
Line 26: Line 26:
Use '''clone-xubuntu''' and '''clone-databar''' on smr24 as root in /root, where available images are in the ''images'' subdirectory.
Use '''clone-xubuntu''' and '''clone-databar''' on smr24 as root in /root, where available images are in the ''images'' subdirectory.


=== Old 2011 version ===
===Old description===


In order to support both VIA Nehemiah and Intel Atom based platforms two kernels must be included in the smr flash image.
[[old disk cloning procedure]]
* 2.6.32.20-rtai supports multicore systems and hyperthreading
* 2.6.32.20-rtai-up supports single core systems and is optimized to the Via processors
 
A new clone script called <tt>multiclone</tt> must be used when this image is flashed. The script is in the root folder of rt15.
 
==== Flash cloning procedure on rt15 ====
 
Via processors using CF-card flash-disks:
* Log in as root (If you don't know the password abort immediately)
* Insert the CF-card in the reader in the front of rt15.
* Check the device name the card is given: <tt>tail /var/log/messages</tt>. Usually it is <tt>/dev/sdb</tt>.
* Go to the image folder: <tt>cd image</tt>
* Locate the image you would like to burn (usually the newest one), for instance: <tt>flash-2011-01-01.tgz</tt>
* Start the procedure:
root@rt15:~# ../multiclone flash-2011-01-01.tgz /dev/sdb via
 
''NB: Note the two dots in front of multiclone''
 
The procedure for cloning Intel Atom images is the same, except <tt>atom</tt> must be stated last in stead of <tt>via</tt> as in:
root@rt15:~# ../multiclone flash-2011-01-01.tgz /dev/sdb atom
 
=== Old description ===
 
Some of the SMR's now have solid-state flash memory disks, instead of the laptop, 2.5" disks used on older models.
 
This wiki page contains some notes describing how to write a bootable flash disk image (Slackware Linux) to a memory card. It assumes a Linux PC with USB flash card reader/writer, available as /dev/sda.
 
The commands below is implemented in this script Clone script. Usage:
 
clone <from_file.tar.gz> <to device>
<to device> can be both the USB bus (/dev/sdx) or a IDE device (/dev/hdx)
 
The script will place a file .cloned-at on the Flash Disk with time information for the cloning.
 
If you put the Flash Disk on the IDE bus and the computer will not boot (LILO - Timestamp mismatch) then the MBR on the Flash Disk must be erased as follows:
 
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdx bs=1 count=512
Writing an image
 
Format the disk, with one large Linux partition:
 
sfdisk -L /dev/sda <<EOF
,,L,*
EOF
Create a filesystem:
 
mke2fs /dev/sda1 -L /
Mount the new, empty partition:
 
mkdir -p /tmp/u
mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/u
Write a previously created image from flash.tar.gz
 
zcat flash.tar.gz |
tar --extract --file - --directory /tmp/u --preserve-permissions
Create a patched lilo.conf, so that we can run LILO with the flash card mounted via USB. (This won't be necessary if the image written above already contains such a file.)
 
patch -o /tmp/u/etc/lilo_usb.conf /tmp/u/etc/lilo.conf <<EOF
*** /tmp/u/etc/lilo.conf        Tue Nov  4 21:34:44 2003
--- lilo_usb.conf      Thu Dec 11 11:50:55 2003
***************
*** 4,6 ****
  # Start LILO global section
! boot = /dev/hda
  message = /boot/boot_message.txt
--- 4,7 ----
  # Start LILO global section
! boot = /dev/sda
! disk = /dev/sda bios=0x80
  message = /boot/boot_message.txt
EOF
Run LILO:
 
chroot /tmp/u lilo -v -C /etc/lilo_usb.conf
All done:
 
umount /dev/sda1
eject /dev/sda
Reading an image
 
Mount as above:
 
mkdir -p /tmp/u
mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/u
Read the partition:
 
tar --create --file - --directory /tmp/u --one-file-system --exclude lost+found . |
gzip > flash.tar.gz
or
 
tar -zcf - -C /tmp/u --one-file-system --exclude lost+found . > flash.tar.gz
All done:
 
umount /dev/sda1
eject /dev/sda

Revision as of 10:30, 29 August 2012

SMR Flash Disk Cloning

2012 version with Xubuntu 12.04

NB! not finished yet, but there is clone scrips (from image to new bootable disk) on smr24 in room 011:

Make new boot image

Update image on one of the 4GB sticks, then make new imagefile

  • put 4GB stick on another linux (with GRUP installed)
  • mount the disk on a local directory as root, e.g.:
sudo bash
mkdir -p disk
mount /dev/sdb1 disk
  • copy everything on disk to an image file (it takes several minutes):
cd disk
tar -czf ../image/smrXubuntu20120715.tar.gz *
cd ..
umount disk

Clone image to (new) disk

Make a new bootable disk from existing image:

Use clone-xubuntu and clone-databar on smr24 as root in /root, where available images are in the images subdirectory.

Old description

old disk cloning procedure