# Differences between "mender-convert" and "mender-artifact"

**URL:** <https://hub.mender.io/t/differences-between-mender-convert-and-mender-artifact/1752>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [April 5, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/differences-between-mender-convert-and-mender-artifact/1752 "2020-04-05T10:30:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HarLeyAtMender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eb9ed0/32.png) [@HarLeyAtMender](https://hub.mender.io/u/HarLeyAtMender)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2020, 10:30am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/differences-between-mender-convert-and-mender-artifact/1752/1 "2020-04-05T10:30:39Z")

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I am new to Mender, studied the documentation (looking humbly on the great work being done with this project) and standing on the threshold now to start my 1st Snapshot/Golden Image with RaspbianLite on a Raspberry CM3 module. To avoid unnecessary work I would like to ask the experienced folks here about the following two aspects which I did not really understand:

1. What is the difference between “mender-convert” and “mender-artifact” (especially comparing input, output and actions of both tools) ? As far as I understand, “mender-convert” generates all the required partitions from the Golden Image in an _.img-File while “mender-artifact” (_.mender) wouldn’t do this ? Does mender-convert also generate a “/data” partition, not only boot and rootfs A/B ?

2. What is the intended way to keep settings in OS configuration files like /etc/networks or /etc/hosts (which are normally stored in the rootfs and not in /data partition) after updates ? Is this functionality (which should be a common task with every implementation) by default covered by one of the above outputs (\*.img or \*.mender) or is a “homebrewn” solution required for such things ?

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After more detailed examination of the documentation I found the answer myself:

1. I think \*.mender artifacts (generated with “mender-artifact”) don’t contain a data partition. Only complete partitioned images (like \*.img, \*.sdimg, generated with mender-convert) will contain a “/data” partition.
2. Generating symlinks on my own for each config file are the intended way to preserve such data

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mirzak](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/hub.mender.io/mirzak/32/2056_2.png) [@mirzak](https://hub.mender.io/u/mirzak)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://hub.mender.io/t/differences-between-mender-convert-and-mender-artifact/1752/2 "2020-04-06T07:39:49Z")

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> I think \*.mender artifacts (generated with “mender-artifact”) don’t contain a data partition. Only complete partitioned images (like \*.img, \*.sdimg, generated with mender-convert) will contain a “/data” partition.

Correct, `mender-artifact` is the tool to generate the update Artifacts and is not a way to generate disk images etc.

`mender-convert` will,

- provide the bootloader integration required by Mender
- install the Mender client on your golden image
- generate the appropriate partition tables and filesystem images
- produce a Mender Artifact (.mender) file using `mender-convert`

> Generating symlinks on my own for each config file are the intended way to preserve such data

Yes, this would the recommendation as we do not provide a “canned” solution for this.