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Storage media and partitions

When flashing with XBurn, the Storage media field must match the target storage type. Different media determine the available flashing regions and how images are named. This page explains the concepts of media classification and the region model; for the specific media, region lists, and image paths per model, see each product's flashing docs.

Storage media

In the table below, "flash" and "backup" both refer to the region granularity (full-image flashing is supported for all media):

MediaNatureModelsFlashBackup
eMMCOnboardRDK S100
UFSOnboardRDK S600
NANDOnboardRDK X5
NVMeM.2 expansionRDK S600, etc.

In addition to the media above, some models have a separate base boot region, miniboot_flash, containing boot components such as HSM/MCU0 and BL31/U-Boot. It is more low-level than the system image: full-image flashing overwrites it as well, and you can also flash it alone to update only the Bootloader without reflashing the entire disk. Its physical location varies by model: on the S100/S600 it is on the Norflash, and on the RDK X5 it is on the onboard NAND.

Region model

Flashing is performed in units of "regions", and the storage media determines which regions can be selected. Full-image flashing writes a complete image package covering all regions of the main media and miniboot_flash; selecting "region flashing" writes only one of the regions. The regions are as follows:

RegionGranularityFirmware contentStorage media
miniboot_flashBase bootBootloader components (HSM/MCU0, BL31/U-Boot)Varies by model
miniboot_emmcBase bootBL31/U-Boot, etc.eMMC
emmcWhole diskComplete system image (includes miniboot_emmc)eMMC
miniboot_ufsBase bootBL31/U-Boot, etc.UFS
ufsWhole diskComplete system image (includes miniboot_ufs)UFS
miniboot_nvmeBase bootBL31/U-Boot, etc.NVMe
nvmeWhole diskComplete system image (includes miniboot_nvme)NVMe
sdcardWhole diskSystem imageCurrently fixed as NAND
Flashing NVMe ≠ booting from NVMe

An NVMe image can be flashed, but whether the device can boot from NVMe is determined by the boot switch, and varies by model (for example, the S100 cannot boot from NVMe, the S600 can). Whether boot is supported follows each product's flashing docs.

Backup image naming

A backup image appends _backup to the original image name (for example, miniboot_flash.imgminiboot_flash_backup.img). For the backupable regions and image lists per model, see each product's flashing docs.

Reflashing a backup image

When reusing a backup image for flashing, remove _backup from the file name and use the same extension as when flashing that region: base boot regions use .img (miniboot_flash_backup.imgminiboot_flash.img), and whole-disk regions use .simg (ufs_disk_backup.imgufs_disk.simg).