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Copy SD card .img fast

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18 replies

by darthtanner

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I am looking for a free program that will take an .img file, and put it on an SD. I am using Windows XP. I have a program that will do it for a 2gb card in under 10 minutes. Any suggestions will help.

18 replies

by oh smeg

The Copy To option in XP will do this and it should move a 2 Gig File in less time than 10 Minutes depending on the speed of the computer and just how fast it can write to the actual Memory Card.

But maybe I'm missing something quite obvious here.

Col

by darthtanner

Ok, so I have an .img file. I don't know what program to use that will take that image, and "burn" it to the sd card in anything under several hours. We are currently doing it on a linux box using dd, but we have mostly XP computers. I have tried All Image, and it works pretty fast, but it costs a lot for each license. Thanks.

by oh smeg

Is it open the Image and manipulate it then save to a SD Card?

Or is it a straight copy to a SD Card?

Under XP if it is correctly setup you can do a straight copy to the SD Card after inserting it into the Card Reader or a Plug In USB Card Reader. Of course if you only have USB and not USB2 the file transfer will be slower as the Port is slower but even still a straight copy would be reasonably fast something like 1 to 2 minutes with USB 2 and with USB about twice as long if not slightly longer, this all depends on the hardware.

If you want to open the file in a Application and then save it to a SD Card that is a different story and the time taken to save it that way can be longer as the Program has to convert the image file and then send it to the SD Card. This takes longer because there is Software involved and conversions are taking place.

As for software this depends on your environment and if you have a Server as that would render several Free Apps unusable which are made for Home Users, in a Work Environment you should use Professional Programs but for a domestic Environment there are quite a few Applications available as stripped down commercial applications which the makers make available for Domestic Use.

Col

by darthtanner

I am so sorry, I am not explaining this very well. My work makes devices that use SD cards for saving thier information. We produce an image that has the latest firmware versions. I am trying to find a program that will take that image and copy it to the SD card. This replaces the entire 2 gb image with the new version. I know how to do it with an .iso image and putting it on a CD, but not to a USB device.

by darthtanner

I just need a free program, if there is one, that will copy an SD card .img to an SD card. I think we have it figured out, and we will be using All Image.

by oh smeg

You want to create the Image File with a piece of Software and output it to the SD Card. The problem here is that the time taken to write it to the SD Card isn't a function of the copy process it is to do with creating the IMG File. The actual copy process will take very little time but creating the actual IMG File is the time consuming part of your Process.

Is it necessary to create this file for every SD Card you need to make? If it isn't necessary it is possible to create the Image File on the HDD and then copy it to the SD Card far faster. Even if this needs to be done in batches of several SD Cards at a time it is possible to create the particular file and output it to the HDD and then make x Number of copies to different SD Cards far faster by just coping the SD Card. Of course if these are one offs then you have a problem as it is not the actual copy tot he SD Card that is time consuming by creating the Image Itself.

Col

by darthtanner

I am not actually creating an image file, I already have one. My company creates the image file, that includes everything we need for the device. Once the image is created, it is then placed on a website that I can download, I just need something to take the image file, and put it on the sd card. This is the process that takes time. I know about the dd program, but it takes several hours to copy each image. We have several linux box's that will do the dd process in less than 10 minutes, but most of us use XP.

by older mycroft

Perhaps the cards you are using at present are of a fairly old design?

Also - don't forget that SD Cards have a finite capability for read/write - NOT size of file being written BUT number of times the card is written to!
(particularly if you CONSTANTLY overwrite). ;)

by seanferd

Before copying?

Are your XP boxen running a lot of other stuff during the transfer? Do they have less powerful hardware than the Linux boxen?

Perhaps try rawrite once and see how it goes.

by darthtanner

The XP Box is not old, nor slow. I have tried DD, but it takes hours. I tried a free trial program called All Image, and it is able to copy the program in 5-10 minutes on the same box. The SD cards are new, and most only have the initial image written to the card. It is a software issue, the DD program uses goes through the operating system, and thus slows way down. I just need something to take the image from a file, and write it to the disk, thus overwriting everything on the card and putting everything I need on the card in the correct location.

by older mycroft

Because you keep saying that the .IMG file is just like an .ISO except it's not for a CD it's for an SD card.

It's just that you mentioned further up the thread that these cards mainly only have the initial files on them - so why not just overwrite the existing files??

You don't have to create an image file of 2GB just because it's a 2GB SD Card. They're more like floppies except not quite as big, and don't spin round, and don't make good beermats.

Have you tried checking how long it takes to COPY the files, NOT an .img file?

by oh smeg

The OP says that they have the ING File made and it takes a very long time to copy the File stored on the HDD to the SD Card but if they use Application XYZ it only takes a few minutes so I'm lost here as to what exactly it is that they are doing.

Something as simple as a Straight Copy to a Card in a Card Reader shouldn't take that long unless there is something very wrong going on here. Or I'm missing something so Blurringly Obvious that I'm unable to comprehend what it is that is going on here. ;)

Col

by older mycroft

If as you say, the file is primarily downloadable - why not leave it virtual?

[i]You see, lack of information tends to lead to these silly (but sensible) suggestions.[/i]

by rob miners

to save it as an ISO and then use WinRar to extract it to your SD card.

by seanferd

rawrite dd for windows

If you were already using dd for windows, try increasing the block size.

Otherwise, is that other app doing what you want? That is, is the problem solved?

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