SD card copy

[meddyliol]

I have just received my Pi. It came with the software pre-installed on an 8 GB SD card. I think that it has various OS systems on it including Arch, Pidora, Raspbian and RaspBMC although as a complete beginner some of them might not be OS's. Anyway, before I fire the machine up I would like to make a complete copy of the SD card onto another one. Is it just a case of saving all the files onto my Macbook and then copying back onto a spare card?Or are there some hidden files on it? I wanted to have the Wheezy OS on but am not sure if that is one of the ones on the card. I have downloaded the Wheezy OS but am having problems putting it on an SD card. I used the line: sudo dd bs=1m if=~/Desktop/2013-09-25-wheezy-raspbian.img of=/dev/rdisk1. Is there any reason why this wouldn't work?

Thanks in anticipation

Brian

[GTR2Fan]

I have just received my Pi. It came with the software pre-installed on an 8 GB SD card. I think that it has various OS systems on it including Arch, Pidora, Raspbian and RaspBMC although as a complete beginner some of them might not be OS's. Anyway, before I fire the machine up I would like to make a complete copy of the SD card onto another one.

You don't need to. The NOOBS package is available for free download in the 'Downloads' section of this website.

[meddyliol]

Thanks for that. Is Wheezy part of the Noobs package?

[GTR2Fan]

Yes.

[DeeJay]

No disagreement with what @gtr2fan has said, but to add a little to it -

I think that it has various OS systems on it including Arch, Pidora, Raspbian and RaspBMC although as a complete beginner some of them might not be OS's.

Assuming it contains the NOOBS installer, the NOOBS Documentation has a screenshot showing what it can install. There is nothing there that is not an Operating System. (Unless you want to quibble about whether things targetted at supporting a media centre is a full OS or not... )

before I fire the machine up I would like to make a complete copy of the SD card onto another one. Is it just a case of saving all the files onto my Macbook and then copying back onto a spare card?

As stated, there isn't really any need to do this, but - provided you do it BEFORE the card is ever used to boot up an RPi - all the files are clearly visible in a single 'fat' (windows-compatible) partition, so a simple copy is all that is needed to preserve them. Indeed, the opposite process is exactly what is done to create a NOOBS SD card in the first place.

I wanted to have the Wheezy OS on but am not sure if that is one of the ones on the card.

Confirmed above.

I have downloaded the Wheezy OS but am having problems putting it on an SD card. I used the line: sudo dd bs=1m if=~/Desktop/2013-09-25-wheezy-raspbian.img of=/dev/rdisk1. Is there any reason why this wouldn't work?

I am not a Mac user, but that looks right to me. There is documentation here - http://elinux.org/RPi_Easy_SD_Card_Setu ... ng_Mac_OSX

[Tarcas]

My preinstalled NOOBS card had an old version on it. Instead of backing it up, I recommend you download the newest NOOBS and overwrite it. Seems a little backward, but it would have saved me some trouble, and updating it now might save you some.

Also, once you install an OS, issue the following commands from the command line to update your software packages and firmware (may take a while):
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo rpi-update

[meddyliol]

Thank you very much for your informative answers. I have just bought a Raspberry Pi Electronics Starter Kit RPI Starter Pack GPIO so am looking forward to playing with that. I haven't touched any programming since my HND days and have forgotten so much it worries me.

Thanks again

Brian

P.S. Expect lots of other questions in the future