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32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 4:28 pm
by Primax
Hi.

I have been successfully using the USB Image Tool for restoring the Linux Finiex 3.3 image:
https://fienixppc.blogspot.com/p/u-boot.html

Here I used the device mode because the image itself included a boot partition.

Now I try to restore the Fienix 5.1 image (The Fienix Live Image is available for AmigaOne X5000) :
https://fienixppc.blogspot.com/p/download.html

For that I had to create two partitions: one little boot partition (about 1GB, Fat16) and the second the rest (Fat32).
But after about 70& of the image has been restored, I get the message:
I shall close all other applications (nothing is open) and that the partition has not enough space. But the image only has about 5,7 GB. So, what I am doing wrong...?

Thank you very much!
Daniel

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 5:42 pm
by Alex
I will try to recreate the problem. Do I just need to download and write the image or are other steps necessary (manual partinioning)?

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 8:43 pm
by Primax
Hi Alex.

Thanks for trying to help me.
I can give a little update: after uninstalling two partitioning software tools, now your USB Image tool runs fine until 100%.
BUT: both partitions are empty. Even my little boot partition, where I already had copied two files.

Regarding partitioning: here is, what an user wrote me:
"You have to create a small FAT16 boot partition and a partition for the Fienix img. The size of the img is approx. 6GB."

Thanks,
Daniel

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 7:07 pm
by Alex
I did some more investigation on this topic. However, I don't really have a clou about what exactly might be the problem here. The live image from https://fienixppc.blogspot.com/p/download.html can be restored successfully to a usb device with the right size. But it does not seem to contain a valid MBR or GPT at the first sectors. First 1024 bytes of the image are empty, followed by something, that could be the Fienix image. I can see no sign of a FAT16 partition. Is this the image, we are talking about? Do I have to create some partitions manually first on a stick and then backup + restore the image? What steps are necessary?

What I noticed during my tests: Due to the old gzip file format, size information for the image is wrong (please see FAQ). This leads to an error when writing the last bytes to a device with insufficent size. I used a 4 GiB stick for my first tests, but the image itself is 5,9 GiB large. Zip tools only show a size of ~1,8 GiB, because the 32bit size info in the gzip file info overflows. Unfortunately, there is no real chance to detect this before starting the restore process, but I will show a better error message after reaching the device size limit.

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2022 8:40 pm
by Alex
Quick update. I manually partitions on an USB device (1 GiB FAT16, 7 GiB FAT32). Then wrote the gz image in volume mode onto the 2nd partion. Put 2 files on the 1st FAT16 partition. Created a backup in device mode of the whole stick. Will restore tomorrow and check the result. No problems with that so far.

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2022 5:55 am
by Primax
Thank you very much, Alex.
Then I do not know, what I am doing wrong. I did it just like you, but both partitions after restoring the image are empty.
Windows recognizes both volumes after the procedure? You can see, what files are included in the Fienix partition?

Could my fault be, that I devide my 32GB stick in two partitions (1 and 30,5) but did not leave some "unused space" on it?
Is it better to set it to 1 GB and let us say 10 GB and the rest is free?

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2022 6:07 pm
by Alex
Did the restore today, both partitions restore fine, incliding the files on the first partition. But I don't really inderstand how to prepare the Fienix image for installation. I found a Fienix 3.0 image, which contained a valid MBR in the first image sector. The Fienix 5.1 live image does not - don't really know, what to do with it. The ISO is meant for DVD. I will ask the maintainer of Fienix for some hints on his support page. I' curious about what I'm doing wrong in the process.

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2022 4:25 am
by Primax
Good morning and thanks again!
As far as I know, you have to copy uImage-5.19 and cyrus-p5020.dtb to the boot partition. You can download it from here:
https://forum.hyperion-entertainment.com/viewtopic.php?p=55775#p55775

But: this is only meant for running with AmigaOne X5000 PPC computers...I guess, you cannot test it because you do not have one ;)

But the question is: why do I fail restoring the image? I will try to setup a 8 GB partition and leave the rest unused...

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 4:25 am
by Primax
Hmmm...here something goes wrong...unfortunately I cannot attach screenshots, so I try to describe it:

I have created a 1GB and a 10GB patition on my 32GB USB stick. Means: about 21 GB unused.
On your USB Image Tool version 1.85 I did choose Volume mode, then my 10GB partition, then restore and take the fienix image.

The process runs fine up to 100%.
After that, the partition is empty. Nothing!
BUT: In my download folder of my Windows laptop, now there is a file, called this:
"乹敘Ƥ⺃敗灀ř灀ř习敘䯚敘"

5,939,200 KB big.

So, what goes wrong here? I start your tool from the download folder.
Thanks, Daniel

Re: 32GB USB stick, trying to restore a Fienix image

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 6:11 am
by Primax
PS: Which version do you use?
I have only one idea, will repeat the procedure on another PC...