Image too large to write back to card

Which version of Win32DiskImager did you use? Also, did you try checking the 'Read Only Allocated Partitions' checkbox? This will read to the last used block on the device (as opposed to the end of the device) and may help with this issue. Not sure why writing to the original device would fail, but knowing the version number would help.

There is an issue where reading from a device from vendor A and writing to a device listed as the same size from vendor B can fail, as they are often inaccurately listed and can differ by as much as 4k in size. Win32DiskImager looks at the number of blocks in the file and compares it with the number of blocks defined by the device, and will fail if the file is bigger. Using the checkbox will in most cases work around this issue.

Tnx for the quick reply Tobin. I am using the latest version, 1.0. I will try creating the image with the "Read Only Allocated Partitions" when I get back home tonight. This card is out of a Raspberry Pi 3 with Jessie. Not sure if that will make a difference with a Windows program trying to read a card with another OS but I had read that it was possible. I will let you know how it goes.

Win32DiskImager won't care what OS created the SD image. We do a raw read from sector 0 - end, including partition tables, etc. Windows may not like the resulting write if the image is not using Windows filesystems, but that's life (I'm actually a Linux developer).

When I test each release, I also do comparative testing with images created using dd on Linux. I even use that for benchmarking to make sure we're not doing something to slow down read/writes significantly (aside from the normal Windows overhead). Unfortunately, I only have limited resources, so some of the issues people are seeing are nearly impossible for me to replicate. But I do my best. In this case, it may be a simple indexing issue that got inadvertently added, so if you could also test with v0.9.5, that would help eliminate that possibility.

I just had the same exact problem burning a Raspberry Pi image. It was too large to burn back to the original SD card.

HI Tobin, I tried creating the image with the "Read Only Allocated Partitions" option but the image was the exact same size. Where do I find the v0.9.5 version as I could only find the v1.0 on SourceForge? I will give that version a shot once I download it. I am hoping that we can find out what is happening because this would be an awesome tool to have in the arsenal.

Mike, as a temporary work around if you are using a GUI interface on a RPi3 then there is an option under ACCESSORIES called SD CARD COPIER. This allows you to copy your internal RPi3 SD card to one that you put in one of the USB ports. The big downside to this is that you would need an SD card for every card you want to make a copy of. With Win32DiskImager we will be able to save an actual image on a PC or server which will be a lot more convenient and easier to use. Anyway, something to consider until this great little program is working.

V0.9.5 is available under the Files->Archive section on SF (all releases are there). To make it easier, just download the binary zip file instead of the installer. It will run from where ever you unzip the archive (easier for testing purposes).

Hi Tobin, sorry this has taken a while but it is summer and I have been enjoying the outdoors as much as possible. :-)

So, I used V0.9.5 to create an image of my working MicroSD card and then used V0.9.5 to try to write it back to another identically sized card. I am still getting an error message.

73,

Laird Solomon, VE3LKS

-----Original Message-----
From: Tobin Davis
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2017 12:04 PM
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #649469]: Image too large to write back to card

Your question #649469 on Image Writer changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+question/649469

Tobin Davis posted a new comment:
V0.9.5 is available under the Files->Archive section on SF (all
releases are there). To make it easier, just download the binary zip
file instead of the installer. It will run from where ever you unzip
the archive (easier for testing purposes).

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You received this question notification because you asked the question.

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I am having the same problem as Laird Solomon. When I create an image of my SD card, the image is too big to write back to the card later, even if I check "Read Only Allocated Partitions." I downloaded V 0.95, but that didn't help.

I'll need to do a little experimenting, but this sounds like an index comparison issue (at least it has all of the hallmarks of one). Seems odd though, as I would have hit that by now in my testing.