Rockchip SD Tool v1.3.1

1.3.1

• Each write mode now explains itself in the window: what it does, what it keeps and when to pick
  it, written under the buttons rather than hidden in a tooltip. The README has a section with a
  screenshot of each option and a table for choosing between them.
• Steps against the false positives some antivirus products report. The Windows binary now carries
  a complete version resource (company, copyright, description, version) and an icon instead of
  almost no metadata. Every release is signed with a GitHub build provenance attestation, so a
  download can be traced to this repository's source and build log with
  gh attestation verify <file> --repo TheGammaSqueeze/rockchip_sd_tool, and the SHA-256 of every
  file is published in the release notes and attached as SHA256SUMS.txt. The README explains the
  difference between the SmartScreen warning and an antivirus detection, and how to check a
  download.

Downloads

File	Platform
rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-<version>.zip	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Apple silicon (M1 and later)
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Intel
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit x86
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit ARM

How to use

1. Unzip the download for your platform.
2. Windows: run rockchip_sd_tool.exe; accept the administrator prompt (raw disk access needs it). SmartScreen may warn once because the build is unsigned; choose More info, Run anyway. If an antivirus reports a named threat instead, it is a false positive on a new unsigned program that writes to raw disks; the checksums below and gh attestation verify <file> --repo TheGammaSqueeze/rockchip_sd_tool let you confirm the file came from this repository's build.
   macOS: open Rockchip_SD_Tool.app.zip, then right-click Rockchip SD Tool.app and choose Open (the build is not notarized, so the first launch needs this). The bare rockchip_sd_tool file next to it is the command line version.
   Linux: chmod +x rockchip_sd_tool and run it from a desktop session; it asks for your password through the system dialog when it writes to a card.
3. Choose the firmware image (the RKFW .img you downloaded), choose the SD card, press Write. Every block is read back as it is written and the card is verified at the end.
4. The write mode list offers four choices, and the window explains each one as you select it:
   • Boot card (erases all): a card the device runs from. Use it for a new card or a clean start.
   • Upgrade, keep user data: re-flashes a card you already play on and keeps the partition table, saves and settings. A card whose layout does not match the image is refused before anything is written.
   • Firmware update card: the device boots from it once and flashes its own internal storage. It wipes the device's user data afterwards, as the firmware asks.
   • Update card, keep user data: the same, with the firmware's request to wipe removed, so the device keeps its saves. Only use it when the new firmware can read the data already on the device.

Command line

rockchip_sd_tool info  <firmware.img>
rockchip_sd_tool list
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device>            (Linux: sudo, macOS: asks for the password)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to card.img.xz --size 128GB
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --upgrade     (keep the table and user data)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --update-card (a card that flashes the device)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --update-card --keep-data
rockchip_sd_tool verify <firmware.img> --from <device or image>

Full documentation is in the README inside the zip.

Checksums (SHA-256)

40e8da5b369752b02435ac8dc7217ba89a25415938a0fe7666ce20a41079800b  rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-1.3.1.zip
47b29178121f7f27d955090ec5ad958304dd7b5017d8be858b6f9ebd22a8aab9  rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-1.3.1.zip
4783f7ed71a12a25508dcde8f055ed9a03ae8229d9b89d62cba020939a7a53c6  rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-1.3.1.zip
757abb871005755576d34703aa3309f4ecbbbc516033d06234d31d3ba09b0d60  rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-1.3.1.zip
155e2e71373b75623d706adc068b1ad5ef3ef2478b52099302390f214d641223  rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-1.3.1.zip

Rockchip SD Tool v1.3.0

1.3.0

• New update card, keep user data mode (--update-card --keep-data, or the fourth entry in
  the mode list). A plain update card leaves the device wiped, because the firmware's misc item
  carries "boot-recovery" and "recovery\n--wipe_all" and the recovery writes that item onto the
  device as it is. The new mode clears the two bootloader control blocks inside the misc item of
  the copy carried on the card and recomputes the image's trailing MD5, so the recovery still
  accepts the firmware, installs every partition as before, and the device comes back up with its
  user data. Nothing else in the firmware is changed.
  Only suitable when the new firmware can read the data already on the device.

Downloads

File	Platform
rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-<version>.zip	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Apple silicon (M1 and later)
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Intel
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit x86
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit ARM

How to use

1. Unzip the download for your platform.
2. Windows: run rockchip_sd_tool.exe; accept the administrator prompt (raw disk access needs it). SmartScreen may warn once because the build is unsigned; choose More info, Run anyway.
   macOS: open Rockchip_SD_Tool.app.zip, then right-click Rockchip SD Tool.app and choose Open (the build is not notarized, so the first launch needs this). The bare rockchip_sd_tool file next to it is the command line version.
   Linux: chmod +x rockchip_sd_tool and run it from a desktop session; it asks for your password through the system dialog when it writes to a card.
3. Choose the firmware image (the RKFW .img you downloaded), choose the SD card, press Write. Every block is read back as it is written and the card is verified at the end.
4. The write mode list offers three choices: a boot card the device runs from, an upgrade that re-flashes a card you already use and keeps everything on it, and a firmware update card that the device boots once to flash its own internal storage. Every partition the image carries is replaced, the partition table and your data stay as they are, and a card whose layout does not match the image is refused before anything is written.

Command line

rockchip_sd_tool info  <firmware.img>
rockchip_sd_tool list
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device>            (Linux: sudo, macOS: asks for the password)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to card.img.xz --size 128GB
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --upgrade     (keep the table and user data)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --update-card (a card that flashes the device)
rockchip_sd_tool verify <firmware.img> --from <device or image>

Full documentation is in the README inside the zip.

Rockchip SD Tool v1.2.0

1.2.0

• New firmware update card mode (--update-card, or the mode list in the window), which is
  Rockchip's "Upgrade Firmware" option. The card is not one the device runs from: boot the device
  from it once and it goes into recovery, installs the firmware the card carries and afterwards
  runs from its own internal storage.
  The front of the card holds the loader and the firmware partitions up to and including
  recovery, with misc set to "boot-recovery" and "--rk_fwupdate"; the rest is a FAT32
  partition holding the image as sdupdate.img with sd_boot_config.config and rksdfw.tag
  beside it. The bootloader's GPT stays at sector 1 without a protective entry, so an operating
  system sees the data partition through the master boot record while the bootloader still finds
  the firmware partitions.
  Two deliberate differences from Rockchip's tool: the data partition is always FAT32, because
  the recovery on these devices mounts it as vfat and cannot read the NTFS that tool switches
  to above 2 GiB; and an image of 4 GiB or more is refused, since FAT32 cannot hold it.
• The write mode is now a list in the window rather than a checkbox, with the boot card, the
  upgrade and the update card side by side.

Downloads

File	Platform
rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-<version>.zip	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Apple silicon (M1 and later)
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Intel
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit x86
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit ARM

How to use

1. Unzip the download for your platform.
2. Windows: run rockchip_sd_tool.exe; accept the administrator prompt (raw disk access needs it). SmartScreen may warn once because the build is unsigned; choose More info, Run anyway.
   macOS: open Rockchip_SD_Tool.app.zip, then right-click Rockchip SD Tool.app and choose Open (the build is not notarized, so the first launch needs this). The bare rockchip_sd_tool file next to it is the command line version.
   Linux: chmod +x rockchip_sd_tool and run it from a desktop session; it asks for your password through the system dialog when it writes to a card.
3. Choose the firmware image (the RKFW .img you downloaded), choose the SD card, press Write. Every block is read back as it is written and the card is verified at the end.
4. The write mode list offers three choices: a boot card the device runs from, an upgrade that re-flashes a card you already use and keeps everything on it, and a firmware update card that the device boots once to flash its own internal storage. Every partition the image carries is replaced, the partition table and your data stay as they are, and a card whose layout does not match the image is refused before anything is written.

Command line

rockchip_sd_tool info  <firmware.img>
rockchip_sd_tool list
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device>            (Linux: sudo, macOS: asks for the password)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to card.img.xz --size 128GB
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --upgrade     (keep the table and user data)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --update-card (a card that flashes the device)
rockchip_sd_tool verify <firmware.img> --from <device or image>

Full documentation is in the README inside the zip.

Rockchip SD Tool v1.1.3

1.1.3

• A fresh card no longer depends on the first-boot recovery wipe. The firmware carries no
  image for metadata, cache or userdata, so a card kept whatever those sectors held
  before. Android is meant to be handed blank ones: metadata holds the keys userdata is
  encrypted with, and the two only work when made together. The vendor arranges that by asking
  recovery to wipe on the first boot, so a device that never reaches recovery, or reaches it
  without a command, was left with filesystems it could not repair and sat in the recovery menu.
  A full write now clears the first 4 MiB of those three partitions, which costs seconds and
  makes the first boot deterministic: Android creates the filesystems itself whether or not the
  recovery wipe runs. An upgrade still leaves all three completely alone.

Downloads

File	Platform
rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-<version>.zip	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Apple silicon (M1 and later)
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Intel
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit x86
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit ARM

How to use

1. Unzip the download for your platform.
2. Windows: run rockchip_sd_tool.exe; accept the administrator prompt (raw disk access needs it). SmartScreen may warn once because the build is unsigned; choose More info, Run anyway.
   macOS: open Rockchip_SD_Tool.app.zip, then right-click Rockchip SD Tool.app and choose Open (the build is not notarized, so the first launch needs this). The bare rockchip_sd_tool file next to it is the command line version.
   Linux: chmod +x rockchip_sd_tool and run it from a desktop session; it asks for your password through the system dialog when it writes to a card.
3. Choose the firmware image (the RKFW .img you downloaded), choose the SD card, press Write. Every block is read back as it is written and the card is verified at the end.
4. To re-flash a card that already runs this firmware and keep everything on it, tick Upgrade, keep user data before pressing Write. Every partition the image carries is replaced, the partition table and your data stay as they are, and a card whose layout does not match the image is refused before anything is written.

Command line

rockchip_sd_tool info  <firmware.img>
rockchip_sd_tool list
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device>            (Linux: sudo, macOS: asks for the password)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to card.img.xz --size 128GB
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --upgrade   (keep the table and user data)
rockchip_sd_tool verify <firmware.img> --from <device or image>

Full documentation is in the README inside the zip.

Rockchip SD Tool v1.1.2

1.1.2

• A card can no longer get stuck in the recovery menu. Rockchip firmware ships the misc
  partition with the same boot command ("boot-recovery" with "--wipe_all") written twice: at
  offset 0, where Google's bootloader convention puts it, and at 16 KiB, where Rockchip's older
  convention puts it. The bootloader reads whichever one matches the firmware's Android version,
  but Android's recovery only ever clears the copy at offset 0. A device whose bootloader reads
  the 16 KiB copy is therefore sent to recovery on every boot while recovery itself finds no
  command and sits in its menu: a device that never finishes booting and cannot be rescued
  without rewriting the card.
  A full write now keeps the boot command only where this firmware's bootloader reads it, using
  the same rule the bootloader uses (the Android version in the boot image header: offset 0 from
  Android 10, 16 KiB before that), and clears the other copy.
• An upgrade now also clears that unused control block, which rescues a card already stuck in
  the recovery loop without touching user data. It still never writes a boot command, so an
  upgrade cannot ask a device to wipe itself.
• Fixed: upgrading a raw .img file skipped every range the plan wanted zeroed, on the
  assumption that the target was blank. That is only true of a file being created for a full
  write, so an upgrade of an image file could leave stale data where a sparse partition expects
  zeros. Upgrades now always write their zero ranges. Cards were not affected.

Downloads

File	Platform
rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-<version>.zip	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Apple silicon (M1 and later)
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Intel
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit x86
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit ARM

How to use

1. Unzip the download for your platform.
2. Windows: run rockchip_sd_tool.exe; accept the administrator prompt (raw disk access needs it). SmartScreen may warn once because the build is unsigned; choose More info, Run anyway.
   macOS: open Rockchip_SD_Tool.app.zip, then right-click Rockchip SD Tool.app and choose Open (the build is not notarized, so the first launch needs this). The bare rockchip_sd_tool file next to it is the command line version.
   Linux: chmod +x rockchip_sd_tool and run it from a desktop session; it asks for your password through the system dialog when it writes to a card.
3. Choose the firmware image (the RKFW .img you downloaded), choose the SD card, press Write. Every block is read back as it is written and the card is verified at the end.
4. To re-flash a card that already runs this firmware and keep everything on it, tick Upgrade, keep user data before pressing Write. Every partition the image carries is replaced, the partition table and your data stay as they are, and a card whose layout does not match the image is refused before anything is written.

Command line

rockchip_sd_tool info  <firmware.img>
rockchip_sd_tool list
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device>            (Linux: sudo, macOS: asks for the password)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to card.img.xz --size 128GB
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --upgrade   (keep the table and user data)
rockchip_sd_tool verify <firmware.img> --from <device or image>

Full documentation is in the README inside the zip.

Rockchip SD Tool v1.1.1

1.1.1

• Upgrade no longer resets the device. An upgrade was writing the image's misc
  partition, which Rockchip firmware ships with the bootloader command boot-recovery and
  the recovery argument --wipe_all; the device acted on it at the next boot and wiped the
  user data the upgrade was meant to keep. An upgrade now leaves misc alone, along with
  cache, metadata, frp, swap, backup and userdata: state that belongs to the
  device, not to the firmware. A full write is unchanged and still writes them, which is what
  makes a new card set itself up.
• Anyone who upgraded a card with 1.1.0 should use 1.1.1 from now on; 1.1.0 upgrades wiped
  user data on the following boot.

Downloads

File	Platform
rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-<version>.zip	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Apple silicon (M1 and later)
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Intel
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit x86
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit ARM

How to use

1. Unzip the download for your platform.
2. Windows: run rockchip_sd_tool.exe; accept the administrator prompt (raw disk access needs it). SmartScreen may warn once because the build is unsigned; choose More info, Run anyway.
   macOS: open Rockchip_SD_Tool.app.zip, then right-click Rockchip SD Tool.app and choose Open (the build is not notarized, so the first launch needs this). The bare rockchip_sd_tool file next to it is the command line version.
   Linux: chmod +x rockchip_sd_tool and run it from a desktop session; it asks for your password through the system dialog when it writes to a card.
3. Choose the firmware image (the RKFW .img you downloaded), choose the SD card, press Write. Every block is read back as it is written and the card is verified at the end.
4. To re-flash a card that already runs this firmware and keep everything on it, tick Upgrade, keep user data before pressing Write. Every partition the image carries is replaced, the partition table and your data stay as they are, and a card whose layout does not match the image is refused before anything is written.

Command line

rockchip_sd_tool info  <firmware.img>
rockchip_sd_tool list
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device>            (Linux: sudo, macOS: asks for the password)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to card.img.xz --size 128GB
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device> --upgrade   (keep the table and user data)
rockchip_sd_tool verify <firmware.img> --from <device or image>

Full documentation is in the README inside the zip.

Rockchip SD Tool v1.0.2

1.0.2

• macOS: the program no longer runs a root helper. The raw disk is opened through the
  system authopen helper (the standard administrator password dialog), and the image
  is read with the user's own permissions. This fixes "cannot open ...: Operation not
  permitted" on images in Downloads and "flush failed: inappropriate ioctl" on raw disks.
• macOS: the built-in SD card slot of Macs is listed again (it reports as an internal
  device; only the boot disk and non-removable internal drives are hidden now).
• Linux: the root helper could not open its progress file when fs.protected_regular is
  enabled (the default on current distributions), which showed up as a permission error
  right after the password prompt. The files now live in a private directory.
• The GPT header is written with a consistent last usable LBA (total - 34), so Windows
  and the device no longer rewrite it, and the post-write check validates the table
  structurally. Fixes "verification failed in GPT at byte 528 (sector 1)" on Windows.
• Release zips and macOS bundles carry the version number.

Downloads

File	Platform
rockchip_sd_tool-windows-x86_64-<version>.zip	Windows 10/11, 64-bit
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-arm64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Apple silicon (M1 and later)
rockchip_sd_tool-macos-x86_64-<version>.zip	macOS 11 or newer on Intel
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-x86_64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit x86
rockchip_sd_tool-linux-aarch64-<version>.zip	Linux, 64-bit ARM

How to use

1. Unzip the download for your platform.
2. Windows: run rockchip_sd_tool.exe; accept the administrator prompt (raw disk access needs it). SmartScreen may warn once because the build is unsigned; choose More info, Run anyway.
   macOS: open Rockchip_SD_Tool.app.zip, then right-click Rockchip SD Tool.app and choose Open (the build is not notarized, so the first launch needs this). The bare rockchip_sd_tool file next to it is the command line version.
   Linux: chmod +x rockchip_sd_tool and run it from a desktop session; it asks for your password through the system dialog when it writes to a card.
3. Choose the firmware image (the RKFW .img you downloaded), choose the SD card, press Write. Every block is read back as it is written and the card is verified at the end.

Command line

rockchip_sd_tool info  <firmware.img>
rockchip_sd_tool list
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to <device>            (Linux: sudo, macOS: asks for the password)
rockchip_sd_tool write <firmware.img> --to card.img.xz --size 128GB
rockchip_sd_tool verify <firmware.img> --from <device or image>

Full documentation is in the README inside the zip.

v1.0.1

Rockchip SD Tool 1.0.1

v1.0.0

Rockchip SD Tool 1.0.0