diff --git a/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh b/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh
index e4ccf9d7f2..57b2f00a4c 100755
--- a/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh
+++ b/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/platform.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,14 @@ RAMFS_COPY_DATA='/etc/fw_env.config /var/lock/fw_printenv.lock'
 REQUIRE_IMAGE_METADATA=1
 
 platform_check_image() {
-	return 0
+	case "$(board_name)" in
+	armada-385-turris-omnia|armada-388-clearfog-base|armada-388-clearfog-pro|globalscale,espressobin|marvell,armada8040-mcbin)
+		platform_check_image_sdcard "$ARGV"
+		;;
+	*)
+		return 0
+		;;
+	esac
 }
 
 platform_do_upgrade() {
diff --git a/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/sdcard.sh b/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/sdcard.sh
index 7aa91f463c..28fad31757 100644
--- a/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/sdcard.sh
+++ b/target/linux/mvebu/base-files/lib/upgrade/sdcard.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ get_magic_at() {
 
 platform_check_image_sdcard() {
 	local file="$1"
-	local magic
+	local magic diskdev partdev diff
 
 	magic=$(get_magic_at "$file" 510)
 	[ "$magic" != "55aa" ] && {
@@ -14,18 +14,82 @@ platform_check_image_sdcard() {
 		return 1
 	}
 
-	return 0;
+	export_bootdevice && export_partdevice diskdev 0 || {
+		echo "Unable to determine upgrade device"
+	return 1
+	}
+
+	get_partitions "/dev/$diskdev" bootdisk
+
+	#extract the boot sector from the image
+	get_image "$@" | dd of=/tmp/image.bs count=1 bs=512b 2>/dev/null
+
+	get_partitions /tmp/image.bs image
+
+	#compare tables
+	diff="$(grep -F -x -v -f /tmp/partmap.bootdisk /tmp/partmap.image)"
+
+	rm -f /tmp/image.bs /tmp/partmap.bootdisk /tmp/partmap.image
+
+	if [ -n "$diff" ]; then
+		echo "Partition layout has changed. Full image will be written."
+		ask_bool 0 "Abort" && exit 1
+		return 0
+	fi
 }
 
 platform_do_upgrade_sdcard() {
 	local board=$(board_name)
-	local diskdev
+	local diskdev partdev diff
+
+	export_bootdevice && export_partdevice diskdev 0 || {
+		echo "Unable to determine upgrade device"
+	return 1
+	}
 
 	sync
-	if export_bootdevice && export_partdevice diskdev 0; then
-		get_image "$1" | dd of=/dev/$diskdev bs=2M conv=fsync
+
+	if [ "$SAVE_PARTITIONS" = "1" ]; then
+		get_partitions "/dev/$diskdev" bootdisk
+
+		#extract the boot sector from the image
+		get_image "$@" | dd of=/tmp/image.bs count=1 bs=512b
+
+		get_partitions /tmp/image.bs image
+
+		#compare tables
+		diff="$(grep -F -x -v -f /tmp/partmap.bootdisk /tmp/partmap.image)"
+	else
+		diff=1
 	fi
 
+	if [ -n "$diff" ]; then
+		get_image "$@" | dd of="/dev/$diskdev" bs=4096 conv=fsync
+
+		# Separate removal and addtion is necessary; otherwise, partition 1
+		# will be missing if it overlaps with the old partition 2
+		partx -d - "/dev/$diskdev"
+		partx -a - "/dev/$diskdev"
+
+		return 0
+	fi
+
+	#write uboot image
+	get_image "$@" | dd of="$diskdev" bs=512 skip=1 seek=1 count=2048 conv=fsync
+	#iterate over each partition from the image and write it to the boot disk
+	while read part start size; do
+		if export_partdevice partdev $part; then
+			echo "Writing image to /dev/$partdev..."
+			get_image "$@" | dd of="/dev/$partdev" ibs="512" obs=1M skip="$start" count="$size" conv=fsync
+		else
+			echo "Unable to find partition $part device, skipped."
+		fi
+	done < /tmp/partmap.image
+
+	#copy partition uuid
+	echo "Writing new UUID to /dev/$diskdev..."
+	get_image "$@" | dd of="/dev/$diskdev" bs=1 skip=440 count=4 seek=440 conv=fsync
+
 	case "$board" in
 	armada-385-turris-omnia)
 		fw_setenv openwrt_bootargs 'earlyprintk console=ttyS0,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootfstype=auto rootwait'
diff --git a/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa53/target.mk b/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa53/target.mk
index d420fd9f59..fe89d08ffa 100644
--- a/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa53/target.mk
+++ b/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa53/target.mk
@@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ ARCH:=aarch64
 BOARDNAME:=Marvell Armada 3700LP (ARM64)
 CPU_TYPE:=cortex-a53
 FEATURES+=ext4
-DEFAULT_PACKAGES+=e2fsprogs ethtool mkf2fs
+DEFAULT_PACKAGES+=e2fsprogs ethtool mkf2fs partx-utils
 
 KERNELNAME:=Image dtbs
diff --git a/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa72/target.mk b/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa72/target.mk
index a9384f3fa6..540ef1104f 100644
--- a/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa72/target.mk
+++ b/target/linux/mvebu/cortexa72/target.mk
@@ -11,6 +11,6 @@ ARCH:=aarch64
 BOARDNAME:=Marvell Armada 7k/8k (ARM64)
 CPU_TYPE:=cortex-a72
 FEATURES+=ext4
-DEFAULT_PACKAGES+=e2fsprogs ethtool mkf2fs
+DEFAULT_PACKAGES+=e2fsprogs ethtool mkf2fs partx-utils
 
 KERNELNAME:=Image dtbs
diff --git a/target/linux/mvebu/image/cortex-a9.mk b/target/linux/mvebu/image/cortex-a9.mk
index 9d84283525..66cf54f9c5 100644
--- a/target/linux/mvebu/image/cortex-a9.mk
+++ b/target/linux/mvebu/image/cortex-a9.mk
@@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ define Device/armada-388-clearfog-pro
   KERNEL_INSTALL := 1
   KERNEL := kernel-bin
   DEVICE_TITLE := SolidRun ClearFog Pro
-  DEVICE_PACKAGES := mkf2fs e2fsprogs swconfig
+  DEVICE_PACKAGES := mkf2fs e2fsprogs partx-utils swconfig
   IMAGES := sdcard.img.gz
   IMAGE/sdcard.img.gz := boot-scr | boot-img-ext4 | sdcard-img-ext4 | gzip | append-metadata
   DEVICE_DTS := armada-388-clearfog-pro armada-388-clearfog-base
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ define Device/armada-388-clearfog-base
   KERNEL_INSTALL := 1
   KERNEL := kernel-bin
   DEVICE_TITLE := SolidRun ClearFog Base
-  DEVICE_PACKAGES := mkf2fs e2fsprogs
+  DEVICE_PACKAGES := mkf2fs e2fsprogs partx-utils
   IMAGES := sdcard.img.gz
   IMAGE/sdcard.img.gz := boot-scr | boot-img-ext4 | sdcard-img-ext4 | gzip | append-metadata
   DEVICE_DTS := armada-388-clearfog-pro armada-388-clearfog-base
@@ -162,7 +162,8 @@ define Device/turris-omnia
   DEVICE_TITLE := Turris Omnia
   DEVICE_PACKAGES :=  \
     mkf2fs e2fsprogs kmod-fs-vfat kmod-nls-cp437 kmod-nls-iso8859-1 \
-    wpad-basic kmod-ath9k kmod-ath10k-ct ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct
+    wpad-basic kmod-ath9k kmod-ath10k-ct ath10k-firmware-qca988x-ct \
+    partx-utils
   IMAGES := $$(IMAGE_PREFIX)-sysupgrade.img.gz omnia-medkit-$$(IMAGE_PREFIX)-initramfs.tar.gz
   IMAGE/$$(IMAGE_PREFIX)-sysupgrade.img.gz := boot-img | sdcard-img | gzip | append-metadata
   IMAGE/omnia-medkit-$$(IMAGE_PREFIX)-initramfs.tar.gz := omnia-medkit-initramfs | gzip