The Reflasher App
The Record Evolution Reflasher is a cross-platform desktop application that helps you create bootable configured flash drives ready to use on any device.
Last updated
The Record Evolution Reflasher is a cross-platform desktop application that helps you create bootable configured flash drives ready to use on any device.
Last updated
The Reflasher has one main panel showing a list of devices plus two side drawers for managing attached flash drives and general settings.
Below you see the Reflasher panel with one device in the device configuration list:
You can add a device (configuration) to the list using the large yellow plus icon. You can also add a device configuration by double-clicking any .reswarm file. If a flash drive is available, it will automatically be assigned to the new device configuration. If no drive is assigned automatically, you can select any available drive from the dropdown menu.
Here you can also choose a local WiFi network that enables your device to connect to the internet.
The WiFi connection should be available at the location where the device is started. Later on, you can add any number of other WiFi connections. This step is not necessary if your device is equipped with a compatible mobile connection facility or an ethernet connection. If the device fails to connect to the internet, it cannot be used on the platform.
To select the flash drives that the Reflasher will use, open the left drawer. The left drawer contains a drive management panel listing all attached external flash drives:
Each flash drive may be individually enabled/disabled for use in the Reflasher.
Make sure NOT to select any drive with important information on it, e.g. your internal system SSD drive. The flashing process will completely destroy any content previously stored on the selected drive. However, the Reflasher usually prevents that from happening by NOT displaying any internal drives and refuses to write to any internal drive. Please note that it is the user's responsibility to make sure to not select any of their internal drives containing important information. Record Evolution is not responsible for lost user data.
If you add a flash drive to your computer after starting the Reflasher, you may need to click the refresh button in the upper right-hand corner of the left drawer to display it.
The right-hand drawer of the Reflasher allows you to adjust the tool's theme (light or dark mode) as well as some of the performance parameters:
Use the two input fields to set a custom value for the block sizes to be used for read and write operations during the flashing process.
Different flash drives can handle different block sizes better or worse. Higher values can be selected for a faster flashing process but can also result in more errors. You may have to experiment a bit to find the settings that work best for you.
After adding devices, you can launch the flashing process by clicking on the Flash button for individual devices or on the general Flash All button to flash all devices.
All major operating systems require elevated user privileges to allow for the deletion or addition of file systems on a drive. Linux and MacOS will ask the user for their superuser password. Windows asks for elevated privileges during startup of the Reflasher app.
This is how you will be asked to provide your Windows/Mac/Linux login password as part of the authentication process:
Your password will only be used to acquire the system permissions to allow for accessing the raw flash drive. Your password is only persistent during a single session and will not be saved in any form.
The flashing process is comprised of three steps:
Writing
Validation
Configuration
During the flashing process, the dropdown extension panel of the active devices displays a set of parameters and status reports.
Below is a snapshot of the Reflasher's activity during the writing process:
In sum, you can use the Reflasher to prepare bootable SD cards with any image of your choice as you can do with a number of other tools (see below).
The Record Evolution Reflasher features parallel flashing of any number of devices only limited by the employed hardware, i.e. card readers, USB hubs, etc. To ensure reliable functionality and connectivity, the Reflasher validates the image of the operation system for every single device.
Comparable tools that can be used for preparing bootable SD cards or USB flash drives are:
Below is a feature comparison of these tools and the Reflasher:
The features table shows that the Reflasher is the only app that currently operates on Windows, Mac and Linux, and offers the full spectrum of functionalities - progress status, image validation, and device configuration. It is also the only app that currently offers parallel flashing of multiple SD cards / devices at once.
For more information on managing your IoT devices, see the next section Manage Your IoT Devices.
