S60/30 original nk.bin backup

[djuniah]

I know we are not allowed to distribute the original nk.bin, but I would really like to try rockbox on my S60 and would prefer to have a backup of my nk.bin before doing anything.  I was looking on the S series install page and noticed that backup procedures aren't mentioned anywhere.  I know that i'll most likely need to physically remove the drive and hook it up to my computer to get the backup.  I've opened my gigabeat before, but i was just wondering if someone had any pointers about doing this before i began.  Also, what kind of a connector does the HD use, it did not look like one i was familiar with.

Also, in the readme that comes with the pre-compiled bootloader on the install page i saw this:
bootloader.bin - Binary file for use with mknkboot for dual-booting
                   mknkboot <original firmware file> <path/>bootloader.bin <out file>

if/when i do get my original nk.bin, would this I be able to create the dual boot one using this command? or is there something else that i would need to do? Edit: got the adapter and backed up the firmware.  i then compiled mknk and am now dual booting perfectly.  should some minor instructions be added to the install page

[burkjavier]

The HDD is ZIF-based.   The big issue is that the drive is formatted in such a way that I don't think you can back it up, in the conventional way.  I suppose you could do a complete dump via a DD command, but I never tried that.

As for the original firmware, I don't know if there's a way to rip that out.   There is a Gigabeat restore tool that can be used, if you want to get things back to the way things were.    I found a copy here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/25382872/GigabeatSRecover.rar.html

Additional:  Take a look at this thread, as it helped me with getting my unit setup:

http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?p=300611

Specifically, a newer RB'd nk.bin than what is in the Rockbox wiki.

[saratoga]

I've commited a tool that can dump the nk.bin without removing the hard drive.

Its in utils/MTP/beastdump.c.  You can use it by patching your firmware normally with sendfirm, and then immediately (as in before you finish installing rockbox) run this program pointed at the gigabeat's hard drive.  It will scan the deleted files on the disk and "undelete" the original firmware file.  Obviously if you write anything to the gigabeat firmware partition (the one that is 150MB or so) afterwards, it will not be able to undelete.