There'll be a way to extract the data from the flash backups you have, which you can then write to the device in a way that knows about the bad blocks. The ams_delta installer script will be doing exactly this. I can't remember what any of the E3 partitions do any more but the big one will most likely be a JFFS2 filesystem. Loopback mounting those JFFS2 images is a pain because you need to use mtdram to fake a flash device.
If all else fails, you can always run ams_delta on it.
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 at 23:34, Nick Griffin span1922@live.com wrote:
It looks like when it backs up the NAND its copies the blocks that are bad too making the image bigger, so if you try and restore the E3 back to the way it was, you can’t because the bad Blocks stop it from installing, if you want to use Linux on the E3 use it from the Ramdisk in Release V2 here http://the.earth.li/pub/e3/E3_release_v2.tar.gz,Just don’t run ams-delta-install then you will not lose the Amstrad E3 Original Firmware. Like I did and I am gutted. I have to now buy another one and its going to cost me £30 because they are not cheap because they are retro, well…😊How can it be retro when the service only was close 8 years ago. A Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum is retro..😊
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*From:* Nick Griffin span1922@live.com *Sent:* Monday, 15 April 2019 17:11 *To:* Discussion of the Amstrad E3 emailer hardware/software e3-hacking@earth.li
Well it didn’t flash, and I think it didn’t erase too so my code is wrong I think… looks like it has bad blocks too and they and made the files bigger in size than the partition..???
*This process will completely restore your E3's NAND. This will try and restore The Amstrad firmware on the device. Are you sure you wish to continue? [y/N]: y*
*Starting restore.. This might take a while... Found e3-nand-backup.0 Erasing /dev/mtd0 Erase Total 0 Units done Writing e3-nand-backup.0 to /dev/mtd0 Image 3784704 bytes, NAND page 512 bytes, OOB area 512 bytes, device size 3670016 bytes Input file does not fit into device: Success Data did not fit into device, due to bad blocks : Success Found e3-nand-backup.1 Erasing /dev/mtd1 Erase Total 0 Units done Writing e3-nand-backup.1 to /dev/mtd1 Image 270336 bytes, NAND page 512 bytes, OOB area 512 bytes, device size 262144 bytes Input file does not fit into device: Success Data did not fit into device, due to bad blocks : Success Found e3-nand-backup.3 Erasing /dev/mtd3 Erase Total 0 Units done Writing e3-nand-backup.3 to /dev/mtd3 Image 270336 bytes, NAND page 512 bytes, OOB area 512 bytes, device size 262144 bytes Input file does not fit into device: Success Data did not fit into device, due to bad blocks : Success Found e3-nand-backup.4 Erasing /dev/mtd4 Erase Total 0 Units done Writing e3-nand-backup.4 to /dev/mtd4 Image 29196288 bytes, NAND page 512 bytes, OOB area 512 bytes, device size 28311552 bytes Input file does not fit into device: Success Data did not fit into device, due to bad blocks : Success Finished restoring the Amstrad E3 Firmware, Type Reboot to see if the Amstrad E3 splashcreen comes up*
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