can't take backup of eMMC

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1

hi,

I am using bbb with debian distribution and i want to load angstrom package. so i think to backup my debian image from eMMC and to reuse in future. But i am unable to do that. I have followed the instructions from http://elinux.org/BeagleBone_Black_Extracting_eMMC_contents
I formatted sd card (8GB) in FAT format and inserted it into powered off bbb and holding the s2. i released s2 after few seconds but i can not notice any changes in user0 led. what is the problem, i can’t realize it. can anyone help me? is it board’s hardware problem?

thanks in advance.

2

S2 tells the BBB to boot from the SD card. You don't say if you put the contents of the referenced zip file onto the card. If there's nothing on the SD card, it won't boot.

3

I’m getting the same problem , after i copy those files in SD and try to boot it , nothing changes.

4

Should use external power supply and not rely on PC USB power which is limited for flashing eMMC.

Step 1: Use exiting Beaglebone Black to create a flasher image on your microSD card.
There is a file on most newer Beaglebone Blacks that can make a flasher image on a microSD card.
from ssh terminal window, change your directory and run the script if it is on your OS distribution.
THIS WILL OVER WRITE YOUR microSD card and take some time till completed.

cd /opt/scripts/tools/eMMC

./beaglebone-black-make-microSD-flasher-from-eMMC.sh

when process is done, you need to power down Beaglebone Black and remove your microSD card.

Step 2: Use created microSD flasher card to clone your Beaglebone Black on other BBB’s or Restore yours.
You can use this microSD card to put in another Beaglebone Black with Power off, press S2 and hold
while powering up. It will put this image in your Beaglebone Black eMMC and over-write what was there.

Step 3: Storing your microSD image on your Ubuntu Linux computer.
Caution: when you put a bootable microSD card in your computer, you may need to “Cancel” pop up window from trying to run this.
change directory on your Ubuntu Linux PC to where you want this backup image to go
the name for you file can be anything but should be descriptive, eMMC_Backup_name-sdcardsize.img.gz
This next command will take the microSD card and create an image file that will be stored on your linux pc computer.
make sure your microSD device is correct, ie - /dev/mmcblk0
( you can find this with the Ubuntu Linux “Disks” package under the SD card ICON in the upper right.)

This takes the SD card and creates a compressed image in the current linux pc directory. Note -4gb is a 4gb microSD card size.
$ sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 | gzip > BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-date-xxxx-4gb.img.gz

it never hurts to run $ md5sum file.img.gz to get a check sum type value and record it in an accompaning text file for
verifying the file does not become corrupted.

Step 4: Using a compressed image to create a bootable master microSD flasher card.
This process will uncompress your .gz file, you may what to create a backup .gz file and copy it somewhere else first.

Unzip compressed file:
$ sudo gunzip BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-date-xxxx-4gb.img.gz

this converted the file to an .img file BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-date-xxxx-4gb.img

Now use the .img file to create a flasher microSD card
Note: make sure your SD card on your linux pc is /dev/mmcblk0 ( some pc use sda, etc.)
$ sudo dd if=BBB-eMMC-flasher-debian-date-xxxx-4gb.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=8M

takes about 10 minutes to finish.

You can remove this card and put it in a Beaglebone Black, hold S2 down, power up, then
release S2 after about 5 to 10 seconds, then wait about 10 minutes for image to be written to eMMC.

You may want to delete the .img file on your Linux PC and just keep the .img.gz compressed file to conserve disk space.

DONE.

5

Also, instructions from http://elinux.org/BeagleBone_Black_Extracting_eMMC_contents have been updated as of Jan. 23, 2015, it may work now. Prior to this date, the procedure for images larger than 2gb did not work. The procedure for images less than 2gb did work from my perspective. Also, you need to make sure the blue leds are flashing the way they say they should - holding S2 button
above the microSD slot is a must to make the BBB boot from SD as mentioned by other. You should NOT get a double heart beat LED blinking or else it did not enter the proper mode.

6

Sorry, forgot to mention in step 1, after power up of BBB when you put a microSD into your Beaglebone Black before creating a flasher image, you need to un mount your microSD card for the procedure to work properly.
NOTE: when you power up, mmcblk0 is the device the unit boots from, so if you power up from eMMC, eMMC will be mmcblk0, your microSD when put in will become mmcblk1. If you boot from the microSD on power up, your microSD will be mmcblk0 and your eMMC will become mmcblk1 from my understanding.
beaglebone # umount /dev/mmcblk1

7

Thanks a lot! I tried several other methods (.tar.gz archive, Buildroot, etc.) and this one worked perfectly and it’s so easy. I’m now able to backup and duplicate Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (beaglebone black version) with all the modifications I made (ethernet + WiFi + ROS setup, …).
I don’t know why I didn’t found this easy and powerful tool before.