SD-Backup / Clone / etc.
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I have two Raspberry Pis 3 and two Sandisk 64GB cards. I would now like to copy the SD card with the current Retropie installation to the other SD card (as a kind of clone or mirror) using Win32 DiskImager (or another program). On the one hand I have a backup and on the other hand I can use a mobile and a stationary retro station. Is there any misconception here? I once had problems copying an image from a 32 GB card to another because the target card was said to have not enough space. This seems to happen, but if I buy the same cards?
The Retropie installation that I want to use for this is currently still on a 32 GB card. Copying this to a larger one shouldn't be a problem, should it? I was reading something yesterday about an Aome backup tool, would you recommend it more than Win32 disk imager?
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@10vorne yeah, win32diskimager is the way to go. The image copies bit-for-bit every sector on the volume including unused/empty space, so it can only be written back to a volume that is the same size or larger than the original. Cards from different manufacturers (or even different cards from the same manufacturer) can have slight variations in size so they may not be compatible even if they nominally have the same capacity.
Copying to a larger card should always work. You could also use Drewsif's PiShrink to shrink your image down by removing the empty/unused space and it should fit on any card that's big enough for the actual data:
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@10vorne Even "identical" and brand new/fresh SD-Cards may differ slightly in their size. With PiShrink it is possible to shrink an image by removing unused sectors from it (I've tried it in 2020 with some images done via Win32 DiskImager and failed, I am really not sure why but since then I am creating the images to pass to PiShrink via dd on my Ubuntu Install) ... Another way would be to shrink the partition (via GParted or similar tool) before the image creation (With such a clone it is needed to manualy (resize via setup) expand the filesystem after writing it back, whereas with PiShrinked Images that would be automatic (as far as the OS of the image is supporting that method, for some sources that must be disabled whence creating the image with the -s option).
@sleve_mcdichael: You got me there by just a Submit Click microns ;>
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@sleve_mcdichael This is exactly what I was looking for. I installed Retropie and about 100 NES, SNES ROMS, themes etc. on a 256 card but looking to do USB rom service on NESPI 4 case on a 256 SSD. Thought I would be able to make an image and then install it on a 128 card but no, Win32diskimager says the card is too small. I thought there is no freaking way this card was too small but now I know it copied the unused sectors too.
Thanks for tip about PiShrink! You hopefully saved me $40 on another SD card! Thanks again!
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