Issues creating an image-file from a SD-card Topic is solved

[Lelo]

Hello.

I have succesfully converted Buster-based ARMbian-Images to DietPi using the very nice "Other device"-instruction:
An Orange Pi Zero and an Banana Pi M2+ are running nearly fine now.

But I have discovered two problems:

- Before starting the converted DiePi I made an Image-file with Win32DiskImager. As I only have 32GB SD-cards the
.IMG-file went 32GB big, but after zipping it the file size was below 2GB. Is there a way/tool to create an .IMG-file
which only uses the space really used on the SD-card (pure .IMG-file, no extra zipping)?

- When i wrote this .IMG-file to another SD-card with a capacity of also 32GB using W32DiskImager and balena Etcher
both programs stated that I would need a little more space on the target SD-card. How is that possible?

So: How do I create an .IMG-file with minimum-size and compatible to other SD-card capacities?


Cheers,
Lelo

[Joulinar]

For the image creation DietPi use following script.

Code: Select all

bash -c "$(curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MichaIng/DietPi/dev/.meta/dietpi-imager)"

1. install Debian base image
2. run the PREP script
3. shutdown that device
4. take out SD Card
5. mount SD Card on a different DietPi device or DietPi VM
6. run dietpi-imager script
7. Select Drive as source
8. select dd as cloning tool, DO NOT select Clonezilla installer, since this only works for x86_64 target systems
9. select external usb drive
10. select rootFS
11. specify file name
12. be patient, creation of the image will take some time

[Lelo]

Thanks for your response, but I don´t succeed with this:
I have a Windows-laptop with an "Linux Mint XFCE" installed in VirtaulBox. It looks like a USB3-Port is not supported in VB,
but connecting the carderader to a USB2 port shows me the SD-card mounted in Thunar-filemanager.

I opened a terminal, entered the command you stated (with & without sudo) and got this reponse ("-->" = translation):

Code: Select all

sudo bash -c "$(curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MichaIng/DietPi/dev/.meta/dietpi-imager)"
[sudo] Passwort:     
bash: Zeile 19: /boot/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden ---> File or directory not found
bash: Zeile 21: G_CHECK_ROOT_USER: Befehl nicht gefunden ---> command not found
bash: Zeile 22: G_CHECK_ROOTFS_RW: Befehl nicht gefunden ---> command not found
bash: Zeile 24: G_INIT: Befehl nicht gefunden ---> command not found
environment: Zeile 59: G_WHIP_MENU: Befehl nicht gefunden ---> command not found

Where did I go wrong?

[Joulinar]

You would need to have a virtual machine running DietPi
Should not be a problem on Virtual Box

[Lelo]

Ah, OK, I thought "some DD-scripting" would do well with any linux.
Worked with VBox and the Dietpi-PC-Image fine then. Thanx for your support.

[Joulinar]

yes, dietpi-imager is expecting a couple of DietPi functions (G_) as you can see on your error message

[robcarr]

You would need to have a virtual web machine running DietPi
Should not be a problem on Virtual Box

That's a good idea, actually.

[Joulinar]

there is a read to run image available for VirtualBox on DietPi download page