linux DD command imaging compact flash card for Amiga

[leeuwtje]

Hi guys,


Is there anyone that know this?
For some time I use a terrible fire card in my CD32 with a Cf card that emulates an amiga harddrive.

For safety reasons I created a backup from the CF card a while ago.
Recently I have trouble with the cf card and decided to re image it with under linux (ubuntu like) with the DD command. The syntax I used was something like this:

sudo dd if=flashcard_amigaCD32_image250418.gz of=/dev/sdb(CFcard) bs=1M


This syntax works when I flash a bootable usb stick or CF for other systems, but apparently not for amiga, cause I ended up with an unreadable card for my amiga cd32. Too late now.... i can't go back.

I read some people use this command to flash for amiga. Could anybody tell me how to use the linux DD command to flash an amiga compatible card? I am depended on a .gz compressed linux image file. So in fact, any method for putting back such a file on a CF card for amiga o.s. would be great.

Thanks in advance.


leeuw.

[UberFreak]

dd writes raw input data to the output device, so with this command you're basically writing the gzip file itself to the CF card, starting from sector 0.

What does the gz file contain?

[Hewitson]

If the gzipped file is an image created with dd or similar software, you'll need to gunzip it beforehand.

[BastyCDGS]

Hi!

Originally Posted by leeuwtje

Hi guys,

sudo dd if=flashcard_amigaCD32_image250418.gz of=/dev/sdb(CFcard) bs=1M

leeuw.

Just do the following:
gunzip -dck flashcard_amigaCD32_image250418.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdb(CFcard) bs=32768


Note, I changed block size to 32K (it usually is faster than 1M).
Also, depending on permissions the gunzip needs a sudo, too.

[leeuwtje]

Thanks guys! Basty, that looks very hopeful.

I will try it out and let you know the results soon. I don't understand about the gunzip part, since I have used the DD command in combination with .gz files often to restore bootable media for other systems, which works generally good. DD seems to handle compressed backup files fine in those cases. Well, if it works it works. I'll let you know.

[BastyCDGS]

Hi leeuwtje!

Originally Posted by leeuwtje

Thanks guys! Basty, that looks very hopeful.

I will try it out and let you know the results soon. I don't understand about the gunzip part, since I have used the DD command in combination with .gz files often to restore bootable media for other systems, which works generally good. DD seems to handle compressed backup files fine in those cases. Well, if it works it works. I'll let you know.

No problem, I will explain:
-d is decompress
-c is to stdout
-k is keep original file



The dd command will read from stdin (which is the stdout of gzip thanks to the pipe), because if= parameter is omitted.

[leeuwtje]

Thanks Basty!

It worked! In German :"Herzlich danke! Wir trinken einen zusammen!"
I confused 2 different situations. I used a bash script to create the image earlier, but I forgot that. The script uses a compression piped command like you guessed.

So, thanks for your help! : gunzip -dck flashcard_amigaCD32_image250418.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdb(CFcard) bs=32768 status=progress

The result was a perfect readable CF card for Winuae. Unfortunately it only worked for Winuae. I have found I have a hardware related problem at my terrible fire card.
I will open a new ticket for it when needed. Right now I'm in contact with the developer to find a solution, Since he is a noble fellow I'm sure we'll work something out.

Thanks!

[Hewitson]

I believe the -d is automatically applied when using gunzip. In other words, it's not necessary.

[BastyCDGS]

Hi!

Originally Posted by Hewitson

I believe the -d is automatically applied when using gunzip. In other words, it's not necessary.

Yes, you're right. -d is only necessary when invoking gzip directly.


I'm also not sure, if -k is really necessary when stdin/stdout are involved, but just to be sure and to avoid surprises...