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PiLess

Introduction

PiLess is a macOS bash shell script to create a "shrunk" image of a Raspberry Pi system SD Card which can be copied to other SD Cards or restored. It does this by leveraging the Pi's ability to expand a filesystem to fit the SD Card automatically on boot. It is similar in concept to shrinking implemented by ApplePiBaker, SD Clone (no longer available) and PiShrink

Features:

  • Runs on macOS
  • Shrinks the Linux Partition to minimum size in place
  • Instructs Raspberry Pi to expand to fit SD Card on next insertion by amending /boot/cmdline.txt
  • Works with recent Raspberry Pi System Images (/boot and Linux Partition)
  • Doesn't require additional hard disk space (only space for final compressed image)
  • Images are compressed with bzip2
  • Works with xz compressor if installed
  • Fast

Disclaimer

  • Use at your own risk, it works for me, but may not work for you
  • It will alter your SD Card (resize the fs, partition) and update cmdline.txt for the backup
  • Your ssh keys will be regeneated next time you login
  • It may corrupt your system drives if something goes wrong
  • Limited error checking
  • Only use of Raspberry Pi System SD Cards (e.g. bullseye)

Requirements

  • macOS
  • SD Card
  • Raspberry Pi
  • e2fsck & resize2fs
    • This can be obtained from e2fsprogs, it is also included in this repository
    • License: GNU Public License version 2 and GNU Library General Public License Version 2 (see NOTICE e2fsprogs )

Installation

cd
git clone https://github.com/ChasinSpin/PiLess.git
cd PiLess
chmod u+x PiLess.sh

Running

cd ~/PiLess
sudo ./PiLess.sh myNewImageFile

Testing

  • Write Raspios "Bullseye" img.xz to SD Card using Raspberry Pi Imager
  • Place SD Card in Raspberry Pi, boot (automatically expands to fill SD Card during boot)
  • Login to verify operation
  • sudo poweroff
  • wait before removing power until all card activity (green light) has ceased, this can take 10-15mins
  • cd ~/PiLess
  • sudo ./PiLess.sh myNewImageFile
  • Insert SD Card when prompted
  • bzunzip2 myNewImageFile.img.bz2
  • Write myNewImageFile.img to SD Card using Raspberry Pi Imager
  • Place SD Card in Raspberry Pi, boot (automatically expands to fill SD Card during boot)
  • Login to verify operation and that the restore was successful (note ssh keys will have been regenerated)

Note: If using xz compressor, then img doesn't have to be "unzip" before burning with Raspberry Pi Imager

Testing Output

(base) Yoda:PiLess zawie$ sudo ./Piless.sh myNewImageFile
Password:
********** IMPORTANT WARNING **********
THIS UTILITY WILL CHANGE THE SD CARD PROVIDED, AND MAY CORRUPT OTHER DISKS CONNECTED TO YOUR SYSTEM
USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
This utility will:
   Shrink the Linux Partitition on the SD Card on and partition table
	 Alter /Volumes/bootfs/cmdline.txt to allow for automatic resizing on next boot

Continue (Y/n): Y

I need to find your SD Card, if you've already connected it, eject and remove first so I can auto detect.
Ready? (Y/n): Y

Now insert your SD Card, wait 30 seconds (or until the OS sees the SD Card) and continue.
Continue (Y/n): Y

I will shrink: 
   Device:                    /dev/disk9
   Device / Media Name:       USB3.0 CRW-SD
   Disk Size:                 127.9 GB (127865454592 Bytes) (exactly 249737216 512-Byte-Units)
   Device Location:           External
   Removable Media:           Removable

Is this the correct device? (Y/n): Y


Last chance, about to write SD Card, okay? (Y/n): Y
# Unmounting all SD Card partitions
Unmount of all volumes on disk9 was successful

# Mounting /Volumes/bootfs
Volume(s) mounted successfully

# Checking for FAT and Linux partitions

# Checking we're not already shrunk

# Checking filesystem with e2fsck -f
./e2fsck -f /dev/disk9s2
e2fsck 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2023)
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
rootfs: 121760/7760160 files (0.1% non-contiguous), 1321181/31150592 blocks

# Shrinking Filesystem resize2fs -M -p
./resize2fs -M -p /dev/disk9s2
resize2fs 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2023)
Resizing the filesystem on /dev/disk9s2 to 941823 (4k) blocks.
Begin pass 2 (max = 38282)
Relocating blocks             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Begin pass 3 (max = 951)
Scanning inode table          XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Begin pass 4 (max = 10338)
Updating inode references     XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The filesystem on /dev/disk9s2 is now 941823 (4k) blocks long.

# Linux partition shrunk to: 3857707008 bytes

# Get Original Linux Partition Size

# Changing Linux partition size from 249204736 to 7534584 512 byte blocks
# Ignore the following error: fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory
Unmount of all volumes on disk9 was successful

# Original partition table:
8192,524288,0x0C,-,64,0,1,1023,3,32
532480,249204736,0x83,-,1023,3,32,1023,63,32
0,0,0x00,-,0,0,0,0,0,0
0,0,0x00,-,0,0,0,0,0,0
fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory
Enter 'help' for information
fdisk: 1>          Starting       Ending
 #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 2: 83 1023   3  32 - 1023  63  32 [    532480 -  249204736] Linux files*
Partition id ('0' to disable)  [0 - FF]: [83] (? for help) Do you wish to edit in CHS mode? [n] Partition offset [0 - 249737216]: [532480] Partition size [1 - 249204736]: [249204736] fdisk:*1> Writing MBR at offset 0.
fdisk: 1> Invalid command 'y'.  Try 'help'.
fdisk: 1> # New partition table...
8192,524288,0x0C,-,64,0,1,1023,3,32
532480,7534584,0x83,-,1023,254,63,1023,254,63
0,0,0x00,-,0,0,0,0,0,0
0,0,0x00,-,0,0,0,0,0,0
Volume(s) mounted successfully

# Changing /bootfs/cmdline.txt to resize on boot...

# Determining image size...
Image Size (512 byte blocks): 8067064

# Backing up image, please wait...
Unmount of all volumes on disk9 was successful
Fri 12 May 2023 16:35:31 MDT
  4125876736 bytes (4126 MB, 3935 MiB) transferred 719.948s, 5731 kB/s
8067064+0 records in
8067064+0 records out
4130336768 bytes transferred in 720.394257 secs (5733439 bytes/sec)
Fri 12 May 2023 16:47:31 MDT

Finished writing: myNewImageFile.img.bz2
Now eject SD Card