3. Preparing a device — flashing the disk

Operator task

You need the device image file (a .wic file) provided by Global Storm, a Linux workstation, and the target disk (the device’s internal drive, an SSD, or a USB/ SD boot medium depending on hardware).

This section covers flashing individual devices. For production volumes, use the manufacture-once, register-in-bulk workflow in section 4, Bulk provisioning at manufacturing scale.

3.1 Register the device first

Devices must be pre-registered with Global Storm before they can join your fleet. We walk you through the process during onboarding.

Make sure your device is registered before you flash it.

3.2 Identify the target disk

Plug in / connect the target disk and identify its device node. Be careful — writing to the wrong disk will erase it.

lsblk

Look for the disk that matches your target’s size (e.g. /dev/sdX, /dev/nvme0n1, or /dev/mmcblk0). Note the name. In the commands below, replace /dev/sdX with your real target.

3.3 Write the image (Intel / x86 devices)

sudo dd if=<image-file-from-Global-Storm>.wic \
        of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress
sync

• if= is the image file you were given.
• of= is the target disk (double-check it with lsblk).
• sync ensures all data is flushed before you unplug.

Caution

This is destructive. Everything on /dev/sdX is overwritten. Confirm the target twice before pressing Enter.

3.4 NVIDIA Jetson devices

Jetson hardware uses the vendor flashing procedure rather than dd. Follow the Jetson flashing guide supplied with your hardware kit (Global Storm provides a device-specific bundle and steps).

3.5 Partition layout (for reference)

After flashing, the disk contains the EFI, Root A, Root B, and Data partitions described in section 2.3. You do not need to manage these — the OS handles A/B slot switching and expands the data partition to fill the disk automatically on first boot.