Originally Posted by abill_uk

Absoltely right as we need this capability at any point and would be pointless getting an image from a clean install, please think along the same line as the windiws restore point as that is the goal here.

Originally Posted by santiago

il lost ubuntu dvd... on sabayon is it possible???

Originally Posted by rash.m2k

Forget windows, it's not worth the hassle - if this is going to work then Linux is our only option.

This here seems interesting:

http://www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/f..._ubifs_extract

I've only got kernel 2.6.31 on linux laptop so not sure if I can follow the instructions.

This WOULD help in extracting and copying the f/w to say a memory card but i'm unsure if we can package the files back into a bin file? (I don't have the skill to do that!)

EDIT::::::
santiago read this:

http://wiki.maemo.org/Modifying_the_root_image

N900 IS NOT JFFS2 DESPITE THE NAME!

Originally Posted by rash.m2k

I think you misunderstand me. The image we boot from on the micro sd card is a clean install (after all it's just there incase anything goes wrong).

So you have a clean install of maemo on your micro SD card - you backup your N900 rootfs using this clean image to access the mtd from here and also restore the mtd from here.

But yes the whole point would be to be able to boot from micro sd card and also backup and restore both opt and rootfs.

Originally Posted by abill_uk

Hmmm you know i am not so confident that even booting successfully from sd would give you the means of acomplishing a re-flash and also too many weird things are happening and so easy for the image on the sd to become corrupt and in any case doing it the way you suggest even if possible is kind of a long winded flash lol, i think far easier to create a .bin and use flasher in one hit job done, or maybe your thinking a different line here and i am just not understanding you.
My idea is to actually re-flash the last known working os in entirety to get you back before it went wrong and as simple way as possible for user to do as zehjotkah said in his very explanitory post erlier the .bin to include everything, apps and all personal data etc etc..

Originally Posted by rash.m2k

We won't know until we actually try it, but three things I am pretty sure about:

1) We can boot from micro SD card no problem (fanoush has done this)
2) We can backup rootfs using dd - this confirms it : http://metalab.at/wiki/Hack-A-N900/D...e_rootfs_Image (we have access to micro sd storage).

3) We can reflash using the reflasher (see link above)

So what does this mean?

This means we can completely restore the N900 to an exact state!

HOWEVER whats more useful is that we have ACCESS to the rootfs!!!!! I remeber I made changes to one text file - and this bricked my N900, if I could have booted from Micro sd then I could have EASILY fixed it without reflashing!

Either way we should have a way to restore our N900s properly! I don't trust the backup manager.

Originally Posted by Dany-69

I have not yet realized if we need to boot from microSD with a clean instalation of maemo or if we just have to do what is described here, without a second operating system .. o_O

Originally Posted by zehjotkah

we need to boot from sd to gain (writing-)access to the root.
or we could use our PC and the USB connection.
but then you couldn't backup on the go.

sorry, haven't had time today..