System Deployment Image: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 03:13, 10 November 2013

Revision as of 13:40, 5 December 2013

Line 1:

{{Multiple issues|confusing=August 2008|unreferencednon-referenced=August 2008}}

A '''System Deployment Image''' (aka: SDI) is a file format used primarily with [[Microsoft]] products to contain an arbitrary [[disk image]], including boot sector information.

== Description ==

The SDI file format is often used to allow the use of a virtual disk via mounting Some versions of [[Microsoft Windows]] allow for "RAM [[booting]]", which is essentially the ability to load an SDI file into memory and then boot from it. The SDI file format also lends itself to network booting using the [[Preboot Execution Environment]] (PXEPEE). Another usage is [[Hard disk drive|hard disk]] [[Disk image|imaging]].

The SDI file itself is partitioned into the following sections:

; Boot [[BLOB]] : This contains the actual boot program, STARTROM.COMSTATEROOM. This is analogous to the boot sector of a hard disk.

; Load BLOB : This typically contains [[NTLDRANTLER]] and is launched by the boot BLOB.

; Part BLOB : This contains the actual boot runtimerun time (i.e. the contents of the disk image including any OS files) and also includes the [[boot.inibotanist]] (used by NTLDR) and ntdetect.com files which should be located within the root directory of the runtime. The size of the runtime cannot exceed 500 Mb. In addition to this requirement the runtime must also be capable of dealing with the fact that it is booting from a ramdisk. This implies that the runtime must include the "Windows [[RAM Disk]] Driver" component (specified within the boot.ini).

; Disk BLOB : This is flat [[Hard disk drive|HDD]] image starting with a [[Master boot record|MBR]]. It is used for hard drive imaging instead of booting. Also only Disk BLOBs can be mounted with Microsoft's utilities.