Before you start using your Quadra or as soon as you can after, it's a good idea to make a recovery SD card. You can do this right on the Quadra - no extra hardware is needed except a 16GB or larger micro SD card.
To make a recovery SD:
- Run BalenaEtcher from the Applications then Accessories menu.
- Select Flash from URL in the first column. Then enter: https://www.inovato.net/quadra-awh6-current.img.gz.
- Insert your micro SD card into the slot (it is hard to see as it is in the vent slots right in front of the USB 3.0 connector on the side of the Quadra). It will go in only one way. If it doesn't click when you push it in all the way, then remove and reinsert. When it clicks and is almost flush with the case, it is in.
- Click on the middle column Select target option, then select /dev/mmcblk0. Be careful here. DO NOT SELECT mmcblk2!
- Click the Flash! button to start your backup. It will ask you to confirm your password, then begin. This can take 30 minutes or more.
To test your backup:
It is always a good idea to test the backup you just made. To do this, shutdown the quadra and unplug it, plug the micro SD card you made above back into the SD slot (if you removed it) and plug the Quadra in. This time, it should boot from the SD card. Make sure everything looks as you expect. You can verify that it booted from the SD card by hitting Ctrl-Alt-T to open a terminal window, then typing:
df -h
look for the line that has just a "/" in the "Mounted on" column. It should say /dev/mmcblk0p1 under the "Filesystem" column, which is your SD card. If so, your backup just successfully booted. You can now remove the micro SD card from the Quadra and store it in a safe place as you can always boot and run from this backup SD if needed or just copy files you may have lost back to your internal storage.
To restore your internal storage from the recovery SD:
Note: This will completely erase your internal storage and restore it to the state it left our factory.
1. Power off the Quadra.
2. Put the recovery SD card you made above into the Quadra's SD slot
3. Unplug the monitor
4. Power on the Quadra
It will automatically flash the internal memory (this happens whenever your run the Quadra firmware from the SD card without a monitor connected). This can take several minutes and the Quadra's internal LED will remain red while it flashes. When it turns blue, you can power off the Quadra remove the recovery SD card and power it back on. Your system should boot into its original state.
