Flashing storage block devices using BmapTool

Bmaptool is a versatile tool that helps in the creation of block maps (bmap) for a file and copying files using the block map. Its primary objective is to facilitate faster and more reliable copying or flashing of large files such as raw system image files. Traditional tools like dd or cp are slower and less efficient in comparison.

Originally created for the "Tizen IVI" project, bmaptool was used for flashing system images to USB sticks and other block devices like SD Cards. It can also be used for general image flashing purposes, such as flashing Ubuntu Linux OS distribution images to USB sticks.

bmaptool example commands

$ bmaptool create -o blockmap.bmap source.img

$ bmaptool copy --bmap blockmap.bmap source.img /dev/sdb

$ bmaptool copy --bmap blockmap.bmap source.img.gz /dev/sdb