HOW TO: Simplest and Complete Cloning of OS to MMC; Dual-Booting - Page 13 - maemo.org

Laughing Man | # 121 | 2008-04-26, 06:46 | Report

It works. That's how I format my SDHC. I use the NIT as a card reader when plugged into my computer.

Stal | # 122 | 2008-04-28, 16:37 | Report

hi all i think i might have a go doing this, can i ask a dumb question before hand:

I have an N810 and am using an 8GB card, if i follow these instructions will i still have space to be able to store my music/videos on the sd card?

GeraldKo | # 123 | 2008-04-28, 16:56 | Report

Absolutely. You'll probably still have about 7GB instead of the about 7.6GB you have if you don't do the cloning.

BTW, for N810 I think where I have mmc2 you need to use mmc1 in the instructions. (I need to fix that; but I'm tired now.)

supergadgetman | # 124 | 2008-04-28, 19:08 | Report

Hello All...Long time lurker, first time poster.
I own a n800 and I have completed the booting off of sd card hack a couple months ago. Its working well. I have (2) 4 gig cards in my internal and external slots. Here lies my problem, I want to go up to 16 gig cards. I am booting from mmc2. How would I go about cloning my mmc2 (with the OS on it and app installs) to the new 16 gig card? I dont have a linux box and my windows box doesnt see the partition that the tablet os and apps installs are on. Is there any way to "ghost" my install onto the new card without having to redo the whole "boot off mmc" process all over again and having to reinstall all of my many apps all over again? Thanks for your help. Great Forum!!

GeraldKo | # 125 | 2008-04-28, 23:13 | Report

Originally Posted by supergadgetman View Post

Hello All...Long time lurker, first time poster.
I own a n800 and I have completed the booting off of sd card hack a couple months ago. Its working well. I have (2) 4 gig cards in my internal and external slots. Here lies my problem, I want to go up to 16 gig cards. I am booting from mmc2. How would I go about cloning my mmc2 (with the OS on it and app installs) to the new 16 gig card? I dont have a linux box and my windows box doesnt see the partition that the tablet os and apps installs are on. Is there any way to "ghost" my install onto the new card without having to redo the whole "boot off mmc" process all over again and having to reinstall all of my many apps all over again? Thanks for your help. Great Forum!!

Welcome aboard!

Use the first Newbie link in my sig and look for

Acronis clone OR mmc OR card

and I bet you'll find good stuff. It's doable. You just need a card reader (and maybe not even; but they're cheap anyway). And you can get a free trial from Acronis.

Good luck! (You'll barely need it.)

Stal | # 126 | 2008-04-29, 07:16 | Report

Originally Posted by GeraldKo View Post

Absolutely. You'll probably still have about 7GB instead of the about 7.6GB you have if you don't do the cloning.

BTW, for N810 I think where I have mmc2 you need to use mmc1 in the instructions. (I need to fix that; but I'm tired now.)

Great, thanks for the info. I think i might give this a try tonight when i get home

Does anyone think it runs faster from mmc? I read people saying that kde runs about 20% faster if running from mmc, what do people think?

fanoush | # 127 | 2008-04-29, 07:35 | Report

Originally Posted by supergadgetman View Post

I want to go up to 16 gig cards. I am booting from mmc2. How would I go about cloning my mmc2 (with the OS on it and app installs) to the new 16 gig card? I dont have a linux box and my windows box doesnt see the partition that the tablet os and apps installs are on. Is there any way to "ghost" my install onto the new card without having to redo the whole "boot off mmc" process all over again and having to reinstall all of my many apps all over again?

Yes, you have two slots in N800 so you can clone existing system from one to another. I guess there is no ready made script but you can follow any guide for doing it manually, just swap first 'mount -o jffs2 /dev/mtdblock4 /whatever' for 'mount -o ext2 /dev/mmcblkXp2 /whatever' (X is 0 for internal card, 1 for external card), otherwise the procedure it is the same.

Stal | # 128 | 2008-04-30, 08:58 | Report

Did this last night with no problems at all (or none ive noticed!)

I have an N810 and had to use mmc1 for external card and think i had to use /dev/mmcblk1 (hope thats correct, but seems to be working!)

Ive read through a lot of the posts in this thread, and just wondered if anyone would be so kind as to confirm something for me:

1. Am i correct in thinking thatto eliminate problems accessing the external card via the usb cable on my computer that i must edit the file /usr/sbin/osso-mmc-umount.sh
from

Code:

if [ $? = 0 ]; then
  umount $MP 2> /dev/null
fi
  RC=$?
else
  # it is not mounted
  RC=0
fi

to:

Code:

if [ $? = 0 ]; then
  if [ "$MP" != "/" ] ; then umount $MP 2> /dev/null ; fi
  RC=$?
else
  # it is not mounted
  RC=0
fi

2. Can anyone confirm the best method to edit the boot menu, eg set it to boot from external card by default (and remove option to boot from internal 2gb memory on n810)

As a side note, is the boot from usb hard drive option used for anything?

3. Just for future info, if i wanted to re-flash the external card with the basic installation i have saved on the internal flash, which steps do i take to do that?

Last edited by Stal; 2008-04-30 at 09:08.

Stal | # 129 | 2008-04-30, 09:21 | Report

just in case its needed, the CloningFiles0408.zip have been uploaded to a permenant location which can be found:

HERE

(have sent GeraldKO a PM if he needs to update the guide)

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Stal For This Useful Post:
GeraldKo, qwerty12

GeraldKo | # 130 | 2008-04-30, 18:34 | Report

Originally Posted by Stal View Post

Ive read through a lot of the posts in this thread, and just wondered if anyone would be so kind as to confirm something for me:

1. Am i correct in thinking thatto eliminate problems accessing the external card via the usb cable on my computer that i must edit the file /usr/sbin/osso-mmc-umount.sh
from

Code:

if [ $? = 0 ]; then
  umount $MP 2> /dev/null
fi
  RC=$?
else
  # it is not mounted
  RC=0
fi

to:

Code:

if [ $? = 0 ]; then
  if [ "$MP" != "/" ] ; then umount $MP 2> /dev/null ; fi
  RC=$?
else
  # it is not mounted
  RC=0
fi

2. Can anyone confirm the best method to edit the boot menu, eg set it to boot from external card by default (and remove option to boot from internal 2gb memory on n810)

As a side note, is the boot from usb hard drive option used for anything?

3. Just for future info, if i wanted to re-flash the external card with the basic installation i have saved on the internal flash, which steps do i take to do that?

1. Yes. [If the italics are a problem, t's easier to read the code above here.] (As an aside, my original file did not include the first fi and, initially, I omitted it also from the changes I made. That didn't work. Then I added the "; fi" and it did.) (Also, if someone wants to edit that file in emelfm2, you can do it only if you launch emelfm2 as root from Xterm.)

2. I think what you want is this. I'm not sure if you want immc1 or immc2.

3. I think I'm not understanding your question. What you're asking seems to me to be what you just did; if you follow Post #1 and don't flash the OS, you end up, on the external card, with whatever you had in the internal flash. The problem along these lines is what do you do if you want to update the OS by flashing -- you'll have to wipe out whatever changes you made since cloning and rebuild from backups.

Also, thanks, Stal, for the permanent home for the zipped cloning files. I downloaded it as a test and it was slow but worked. I'll be updating Post #1 or #2 with the new URL.

Last edited by GeraldKo; 2008-04-30 at 19:25.