(How To) CM7 Bootable SD

[Javan]

Concerning transferring a TB backup to a blank SD, copying it to the computer HD, then writing it to a CM7 bootable SD: I am having trouble understanding how this is accomplished. TB is installed on the uSD card. When I boot into the Nook OS, I cannot find any trace of the TB in the emmc, so I do not know how I would make a backup to a blank uSD. Please help.

 

[J515OP]

So here is what it sounds like you are saying. 1) Have a stock Nook. 2) You are trying to put TB on a blank SD card and insert that into the stock Nook to make a TB. 3) You want to save the backup you make to the PC. 4) You want to use a bootable SD in the Nook. 5) You want to use the backup on the PC to restore the apps and data onto the bootable SD. Is that correct?

TB will not work on your Nook OS unless it is rooted. If it is not rooted I'm not sure what it is you would be backing up anyway, unless you bought apps in the B&N app store you are trying to keep with data. If you are just trying to back up books you downloaded to the stock Nook, don't worry about those. You can redownload them from the B&N app once you install it onto the booted SD card.

 

[Javan]

So here is what it sounds like you are saying. 1) Have a stock Nook. 2) You are trying to put TB on a blank SD card and insert that into the stock Nook to make a TB. 3) You want to save the backup you make to the PC. 4) You want to use a bootable SD in the Nook. 5) You want to use the backup on the PC to restore the apps and data onto the bootable SD. Is that correct?

TB will not work on your Nook OS unless it is rooted. If it is not rooted I'm not sure what it is you would be backing up anyway, unless you bought apps in the B&N app store you are trying to keep with data. If you are just trying to back up books you downloaded to the stock Nook, don't worry about those. You can redownload them from the B&N app once you install it onto the booted SD card.

Thanks for the information. I had tried to make a reply with quote of your response from several months ago.
Here is what I am trying to do. My wife has a Nook Color for which I have made a uSD containing CM7 RC3. We have accumulated quite a few apps, and everything works great. I am buying a NC for myself, and I would like to make a uSD that is a duplicate of my wife's. A copy of the TB Pro backup is on my HD, but I have not found a way to copy it to the right place on a new uSD. Perhaps there is a better way to duplicate her uSD?

 

[J515OP]

If you want an exact duplicate you can use win32diskimager to burn an image of her SD card to the computer. Once you have the image saved on the pc, insert the blank SD card and burn that image back to the blank card. Now you should have a duplicate SD card exactly like the original to use in another device. You don't even have to do anything with TB.

Of course making an exact duplicate has limitations. You will be sharing a Google account (unless you go in and change it) and as soon as you start using it the app data will diverge from the original. For example if you start on level 3 of Angry Birds from the previous progress, as soon as you beat level 4 the data of the two apps will be out of sync. Or if you install an app on one but not the other, the app will show in the shared account but only be on one device. In other words they won't stay exact duplicates.

You can still use TB as well if you just want to restore apps and their data so that you can start from the same level of Angry Birds as she was on or have all the apps that she had downloaded. I think the step you are missing is you can't just put TB on a blank card and use it to "restore" a fully operational system. You just get the apps and data from the TB backup you still need to create a new bootable SD card. Once you have that working put it in the Nook and boot up and install TB. Then transfer the TB backup file to the same location you copied it from on your wife's Nook. Go into the TB app and restore and it should find and use the backup file you copied over.

 

[Javan]

Thank you very much. An exact duplicate is what I wanted so that I would not have to download/buy the apps that I use again. Divergence between the two Nooks is not an issue

Being a novice at using win32diskimager, I did not have a clue as to how an image was made, but googled and found the instructions here:
[HOWTO] Make a Complete Backup Image of Your CM7/Froyo/Honeycomb SDCard without CWR [Archive] - xda-developers

The duplicated uSD works perfectly. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[J515OP]

Glad you got it working. Happy I could help once I could see what it was you wanted to do. Good job

JP

 

[awolfers]

After following steps 1-7, I just get the default nook startup screen, without CM7 boot. What can be done?

 

[J515OP]

In that case you are not making the card bootable. Check the file and make sure you got a good download. Unpack the bootable image file but don't unzip it. Also make sure you run windisk as administrator when burning the image.

 

[awolfers]

When I run win32 disk imager, it tells me it failed to query the properties. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

 

[J515OP]

When I run win32 disk imager, it tells me it failed to query the properties. Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

No, this shouldn't happen. Not sure what causes that message. You may need to download and reinstall win32diskimager again or possibly download the sd card image again. Once the image file is downloaded you need a program like 7zip or winrar to "unrar" it to an image file (.img) before you can use win32 to burn the image to the sd card. Also are you using an sd card slot on the PC or a usb reader? Some people have trouble with the on board PC slots and sometimes you need to try a different usb port with the usb readers.

 

[awolfers]

Reinstalling win32 diskimager did not help, nor did swapping the ports of my USB reader. However, I now get a different error, read : Error 1: Incorrect function, while accessing the device. The error appears as soon as I start win32 disk imager. Perhaps my SD card simply does not work with this process?

 

[J515OP]

If you insert the card to into the reader can you generally access it? Say copy music or other files to it? It is possible you have a card that needs to be formatted, a bad SD card adapter (if you are using one) or just a bad card in general.

Try inserting the card into the stock Nook. Go to Settings and find the SD card then unmount and format it. Then unmount, eject it and try it in the pc again.

Edit: Also, does win32 actually open but you get the error when trying to burn or you just get the error as soon as you open the program?

 

[awolfers]

Win32 opens, but I get the error still. I've also reformatted several times, and I can generally access it.

 

[J515OP]

You are right clicking and running as Administrator correct? Maybe you can try a different imager like this one Download ODIN (Open Disk Imager in a Nutshell) from SourceForge.net.

 

[awolfers]

Could you give a link to download the img file to verify I have the right one?