What is Fastest Way to Clone a Jetson Orin Nano?

Robotics & Edge Computing Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Orin Nano
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I have Jetson Nano reComputer J30 that runs Ubuntu 20.4. I copied the contents of its NVMe(SSD) to a clean fresh USB using the “dd” tool. I want to boot other brand new jetsons from my USB so it skips the set up and has all of its profiles and passwords and scripts up and running when I boot it. How do I do that? I can boot the brand new jetson from my USB but it goes directly to setup still.

Should I be saving the “golden” Jetson as a .img file and then doing something with that? I am pretty lost. I don’t even know where to start trying to understand how to do this.

What is the fastest way of making an exact copy of the contents of a jetson to another?

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*** Please note that this reply is generated by LLM automatically ***

To create an exact copy of the contents of a Jetson to another, you’ll need to create a bootable image of the golden Jetson and then flash it to the new Jetsons. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you achieve this:

Creating a bootable image of the golden Jetson

  1. Use the dd command to create a raw image: You’ve already done this by copying the contents of the NVMe SSD to a USB drive using dd. However, this method only copies the data and not the boot configuration.
  2. Use a tool like flash.sh to create a bootable image: The flash.sh script is a part of the NVIDIA Jetson Linux Driver Package (L4T). It can create a bootable image of the Jetson’s root file system, including the boot configuration.

To create a bootable image using flash.sh, follow these steps:

a. Install the L4T package on your golden Jetson.
b. Run the flash.sh script with the -r option to create a bootable image of the root file system:

sudo ./flash.sh -r <output_image_file>.img

Replace <output_image_file> with the desired name for your image file.

c. The flash.sh script will create a bootable image of the root file system, including the boot configuration.

Flashing the bootable image to new Jetsons

  1. Use the flash.sh script to flash the image: Once you have the bootable image, you can use the flash.sh script to flash it to new Jetsons.
  2. Use the flash.sh script with the -i option: Run the flash.sh script with the -i option to specify the input image file:
sudo ./flash.sh -i <input_image_file>.img

Replace <input_image_file> with the name of the bootable image file you created earlier.

Skipping the setup process

To skip the setup process on the new Jetsons, you’ll need to configure the oem-config tool to skip the first boot setup. You can do this by creating a file called oem-config.txt in the root directory of the bootable image.

Add the following line to the oem-config.txt file:

oem-config skip-first-boot=true

This will skip the first boot setup process on the new Jetsons.

Comparison of methods

Using dd to create a raw image of the NVMe SSD is a simple method, but it only copies the data and not the boot configuration. Using flash.sh to create a bootable image is a more comprehensive method that includes the boot configuration.

Creating a bootable image using flash.sh is the recommended method, as it ensures that the new Jetsons will boot with the same configuration as the golden Jetson.

Fastest way to make an exact copy

The fastest way to make an exact copy of the contents of a Jetson to another is to use the flash.sh script to create a bootable image of the golden Jetson and then flash it to the new Jetsons. This method ensures that the new Jetsons will have the same configuration as the golden Jetson, including the boot configuration.

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How do I install L4T package to use ./flash?

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Also in this scenario am I using the “golden” jetson to flash other jetsons and not the USB?

7

Hi,

Please refer to Flashing Support — NVIDIA Jetson Linux Developer Guide official doc to perform backup/restore .

Thanks

8

Jetson Orin doesn’t have a power button or a recovery mode button, all instructions always say to put it in recovery mode, how do I do that on a reComputer J30?

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Hi,

Please disregard the LLM suggestions and follow the backup, restore, or mass flash backup image methods as described in the documentation above.

Thanks

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