SDI Manager Function

[Alex Hsiao]

Hi,All

Has anybody tried SDI Manager to deploy OS image?
I got a problem in it.

My target system:
CPU: P3 1.06 GHz
H.D : 2GB
Pre-FBA Image Size : Around 350MB (Workable OS image : Verified)

The following is my procedure to implement this function:
1. Create a SDI Disk
(1) Launch SDI Loader to create a SDI Disk (400MB) and a new sdi file
(PreFBA.sdi).
(2) Launch Disk Manager to format SDI Disk to FAT32 and make it active.
(3) Copy Pre-FBA image to SDI Disk
(4) Use SDI Loader to remove disk
PreFBA.sdi is ready to be deployed.
2. Deploying Pre-FBA Image
(1) Boot my target system with WinPE boot disk.
(2) Booting successfully then trying to connect to the sdi file
(3) On the command prompt :
sdimgr PreFBA.sdi /writedisk:0 /yes
(4) Start to write disk.
(5) Reboot target system

But when i reboot my target system, it failed.

Please give me some hints, thanks a lot.

Best Regards,

 

[David Reed \(MS\)]

I think the problem revolves around mis-matched drive
geometry. SDI is not supported when the original drive
geometry is very different than the target media, which
is what you are describing.

Your SDI file's drive geometry is based off 350 MB; your
hard drive's geometry is based off of 2 gig and uses LBA
most likely. So there is a big difference between the two
configurations and the way the clusters and sectors are
configured.

If your image is booting to a blinking curser, and never
start Windows, then it should like you are hitting the
mis-matched drive geometry issues.

David

 

[Saad Syed [MS]]

Alex,

This is a supported configuration, what kind of error (if any) do you see?
Have you tried a different file system ?

Thanks,
- Saad, MS

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Sean Liming \(eMVP\)]

Alex,

There is one more step that you need to add. SDI file is divided into
several blobs. The two blobs that are important here is the Disk Blob and
the Part Blob. When a SDI file is mounted, you accessing the Disk blob, but
when your using SDIMGR to deploy the image, the Part Blob is being used.

After you have your PreFBA.sdi file, you will need a second SDI file to copy
the files to the part blob.

1. Keep the PreFBA.SDI file mounted.
2. Use SDIMGR to create a second SDI file:

C:>sdimgr /new c:\DeployFBA.sdi

3.Next, use SDIMGR to read the contents into the partition blob.

C:>sdimgr c:\DeployFBA.sdi /readpart:<drive letter>:

where driver letter is the mounted PreFBA.SDI drive. Please not the colons :
:

4. Continue with the steps to boot the system using WinPE and connecte to a
share that has the DeployFBA.sdi.
Use SDIMGR to deploy the image from the second file

D:\xpe>sdimgr z:\DeployDBA.sdi /writepart:c: /yes

If you use SDI2HD utility, you can use the PreFBA.SDI file to deploy the
image.

Regards,

Sean Liming
www.a7eng.com
Author: Windows NT Embedded Step-By-Step and XP Embedded Advanced.

 

[Alex Hsiao]

Hi, Sean

Sorry for late response and thank you for your great information.
I have tried your suggestion and i am not sure i have done the right steps.

1. Create a SDI Disk and a SDI File(PreFBA.sdi)
2. Create a Part Blob File(DeployFBA.sdi)
Keep this SDI Disk mounted and use SDIMGR to read partition,like this:
sdimgr c:\DeployFBA.sdi /readpart:f:
3. Wait for the job done then use SDI Loader to dismount SDI Disk
4. Use the WinPE boot disk to boot target device and write part bolb to H.D,
like this:
sdimgr z:\DeployDBA.sdi /writepart:c: /yes

But i still can't boot target device successfully.

Did i make a mistake about the steps?

Thank you for your kindly support.

Best Regards,

Alex