Requirements
You will need a working copy of esptool.py. You might already have it with you IDE of choice, make sure you locate it and it’s up to date.
The examples below assume you have esptool.py somewhere in the path, otherwise specify the full path to the tool.
Serial port device
When –port argument is not specified, esptool.py will enumerate all connected serial ports and try each one until it finds an Espressif device connected (source)
For Linux / macOS, use full device path (/dev/ttyUSB*, /dev/cu.* or /dev/tty.*). If you are using Windows, mode utility will display all available serial devices (COM*)
Connection
To backup the image you will need to boot your board in flash mode. The procedure is exactly the same as when you are getting ready to flash a new image and it will depend on your device. Check the supported hardware page for instructions. After each command esptool will reset the device.
Backup
Flash size can be determined by running flash_id command. Example output with ESP12E board:
$ esptool.py flash_id esptool.py v2.7-dev Serial port /dev/ttyUSB0 Connecting.... Detecting chip type... ESP8266 Chip is ESP8266EX Features: WiFi MAC: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx Uploading stub... Running stub... Stub running... Manufacturer: 20 Device: 4016 Detected flash size: 1MB Hard resetting via RTS pin...
To perform full backup you will need to specify starting address as 0 and size as flash size in bytes (either hex or decimal):
$ esptool.py read_flash --help usage: esptool read_flash ... address size filename positional arguments: address Start address size Size of region to dump filename Name of binary dump $ esptool.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 read_flash 0x00000 0x400000 d1-mini.bin
For 1MB board:
$ esptool.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 read_flash 0x00000 0x100000 esp-1MB-backup.bin
To restore the image, you only need to specify the starting address:
$ esptool.py --port /dev/ttyUSB0 write_flash 0x00000 d1-mini.bin
To completely erase the flash before you Flash EvAk firmware:
esptool.py erase_flash