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Welcome to the DiskImager wiki!

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All basic info about DiskImager can be found here.

Contents

• Installation
• Creating a backup copy of SD card/USB stick
• Restoring a SD card/USB stick from backup image
• Troubleshooting, additional information & links

Installation

NOTE: In order to be able to run the DiskImager, you'll need to have access to administrator privileges.

First, You have to download latest version of DiskImager here.

There are two versions that you can use:

1. DI-portable.zip — this version is portable and does not require installation for use
2. DiskImager.Installer.msi — this is an installer of DiskImager

If you are not sure what version to choose, download installer if utility will be used quite often. In other cases, you will be doing great with a portable version.

Creating a backup copy of SD card/USB stick

In this tutorial I will be using SD card with firmware for TRIK robot which I want to back up to .img file zipped in XZ archive.

Plug in Your computer the SD card/USB stick you would like to back up. Then, open the DiskImager. You will see main window of a program.

• Select the drive that You want to back up.
• After selecting a drive press ... button to bring up dialog where You will be promted to choose a path and name for created backup image.

• Specify directory (it is a simple Windows file explorer dialog, so navigate as usual to a folder You like), name and file type for your backup image.

Note: if you do not know which file type to choose, select XZ archive, because the resulting image will take less disk space on your computer.

• Press Read button to start backing up.

• Wait until utility performs requested operation.

Restoring a SD card/USB stick from backup image

In this tutorial as an image I will be using firmware for TRIK robot which is .img file zipped in XZ archive.

Plug in Your computer the SD card/USB stick you would like to restore from your image. Then, open the DiskImager. You will see main window of a program.

• Choose the drives You want to restore

• Press ... button to bring up dialog where You will be promted to choose a backup image. You can choose filter in the bottom of the dialog to set up extension filter.

• Press Write button to start restoring from backup.

• Wait until utility performs requested operation.

Troubleshooting, additional information

Troubleshooting

Q: I have plugged my SD card/USB stick in my computer, but DiskImager does not show it as available in the list of drives.

A: You can check out Display all drives in Options menu to show all drives attached to Your computer. Be careful when turning this option on because it is possible to damage the data on Your main HDD if You accidentally pick it as a drive to read or write. If it still would not be listed, You should check consistency of this drive.

Additional information

There are 2 options available at your choice at the Options menu

• Use MBR sizes allows you to read only data that is written in allocated MBR partitions. By default this option is on, but You can turn it off to get a complete backup of Your drive.
• Unmount drives after write safely removes drives from the system so You can unplug them after write without caring about data losses. By default this option is on, but You can turn it off if You want to perform some operations with drives after writing image on them.