Restoring Raw Copy to Slightly Smaller Flash Drive

[nh905]

I had an 8GB SDHC card that failed. I previously made a backup using HDD Raw Copy Tool. The replacement 8GB SDHC drive from the same manufacturer is slightly smaller: 7593MB vs. 7672MB so the restore is incomplete. I know I can resize partitions but it appears HDD Raw Copy Tool backs up the entire SDHC card.

Has anyone run into this problem and found a solution? I still have one of the larger 8GB SDHC drives that I am using now but if it fails, I am stuck. One thought would be to create an 80MB partition at the end of the larger 8GB SDHC drive so that the incomplete restore should still contain all used data.

Thanks, Norbert

[jermy]

why would you need 8GB ?
put it on 16, 32 ... GB drive

[nh905]

@jermy, the SDHC card is being used in a rather old ARM 'plug' computer. Aside from not needing the additional space (the data is all on an external harddrive), I know the plug computer works fine with the 8GB SHDC cards from this manufacturer. I also have a bunch of their smaller 8GB SDHC cards - I just haven't taken the time to migrate off the larger ones. Now is the time...

Thanks, Norbert

[HaQue]

would it be easier to extract the data from the raw image to rebuild your new card?

I remember going through much pain when working on WRAP boards and other small computers for wireless networking. CF cards though.

[nh905]

I restored my 8GB backup to the slightly smaller 8GB SDHC card and got a write error at the 99% mark. When I inspected the partition layout, I found that the last partition was allocated as swap. In addition, it appears that the partition table did not run off the end of the new card. Based on my notes, it looks like the Debian Squeeze installer partitioned the original SDHC card - it must have left some space at the end. Sometimes I get lucky...

[data-medics]

Even if it hadn't worked out like that, you could have resized the partition. In the past I've used software like Virtual Clone Drive to mount a RAW image, then used partition software to resize the partition within the image, so I could write to a smaller drive.

[chinopk]

would it be easier to extract the data from the raw image to rebuild your new card?

I remember going through much pain when working on WRAP boards and other small computers for wireless networking. CF cards though.

yes, this should be easiest solution.

[data-medics]

would it be easier to extract the data from the raw image to rebuild your new card?

I remember going through much pain when working on WRAP boards and other small computers for wireless networking. CF cards though.

yes, this should be easiest solution.

Unless it's bootable (as I suspect) in which case that can be a bit of a pain. That's why it's often easier to just mount the image and resize the partition.

[nh905]

Everyone, thanks for all of your suggestions! I am sure I will need them in the future to recover from a failed drive or human error.