diff --git a/build/jam/HaikuImage b/build/jam/HaikuImage
index 2f209889e3..223dd1191a 100644
--- a/build/jam/HaikuImage
+++ b/build/jam/HaikuImage
@@ -678,6 +678,7 @@ AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>addattr ;
 AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>bfs_shell : bfsShell ;
 AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>fs_shell_command : fsShellCommand ;
 AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>copyattr ;
+AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>create_image : createImage ;
 AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>makebootable ;
 AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>rc ;
 AddTargetVariableToScript $(script) : <build>resattr ;
diff --git a/build/scripts/build_haiku_image b/build/scripts/build_haiku_image
index 651ab2ef46..a981794ae8 100755
--- a/build/scripts/build_haiku_image
+++ b/build/scripts/build_haiku_image
@@ -116,17 +116,15 @@ if [ $isImage ]; then
 	if [ ! $updateOnly ]; then
 		echo "Creating image ..."
 
-		ddFlags=
+		imageFlags="-i${imageSize}M"
+		if [ ! "$dontClearImage" ]; then
+			imageFlags="$imageFlags -c"
+		fi
+
 		if [ $isVMwareImage ]; then
-			vmdkImageFlags=
-			if [ ! "$dontClearImage" ]; then
-				vmdkImageFlags="-c"
-			fi
-			$vmdkimage -h 64k -i${imageSize}M $vmdkImageFlags "$imagePath" \
-				|| exit 1
-		elif [ ! -e "$imagePath" -o ! "$dontClearImage" ]; then
-			dd if=/dev/zero of="$imagePath" bs=1048576 count=$imageSize \
-				|| exit 1
+			$vmdkimage -h 64k $imageFlags "$imagePath" || exit 1
+		else
+			$createImage $imageFlags "$imagePath" || exit 1
 		fi
 
 		$bfsShell --initialize $imageOffsetFlags "$imagePath" \
diff --git a/src/tools/Jamfile b/src/tools/Jamfile
index 6ad793158a..9a75cf77db 100644
--- a/src/tools/Jamfile
+++ b/src/tools/Jamfile
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@ UsePrivateObjectHeaders copyattr.cpp : shared : : true ;
 BuildPlatformMain <build>copyattr : copyattr.cpp
 	: $(HOST_LIBBE) $(HOST_LIBSTDC++) $(HOST_LIBSUPC++) ;
 
+BuildPlatformMain <build>create_image : create_image.cpp : $(HOST_LIBSUPC++) ;
+
 BuildPlatformMain <build>data_to_source : data_to_source.cpp
 	: $(HOST_LIBSUPC++) ;
 
diff --git a/src/tools/create_image.cpp b/src/tools/create_image.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7f79f46bf1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/tools/create_image.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2009, Ingo Weinhold, ingo_weinhold@gmx.de.
+ * Copyright 2007, Marcus Overhagen. All Rights Reserved.
+ * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
+ */
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <getopt.h>
+#include <limits.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+
+#define EXIT_FAILURE 1
+
+
+static void
+print_usage(bool error)
+{
+	printf("\n");
+	printf("create_image\n");
+	printf("\n");
+	printf("usage: create_image -i <imagesize> [-c] [-f] <file>\n");
+	printf("       -i, --imagesize    size of raw partition image file\n");
+	printf("       -f, --file         the raw partition image file\n");
+	printf("       -c, --clear-image  set the image content to zero\n");
+	exit(error ? EXIT_FAILURE : 0);
+}
+
+
+int
+main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+	off_t imageSize = 0;
+	const char *file = NULL;
+	bool clearImage = false;
+
+	while (1) {
+		int c;
+		static struct option long_options[] = {
+			{"file", required_argument, 0, 'f'},
+			{"clear-image", no_argument, 0, 'c'},
+			{"help", no_argument, 0, 'h'},
+			{"imagesize", required_argument, 0, 'i'},
+			{0, 0, 0, 0}
+		};
+
+		opterr = 0; /* don't print errors */
+		c = getopt_long(argc, argv, "+hi:cf:", long_options, NULL);
+		if (c == -1)
+			break;
+
+		switch (c) {
+			case 'h':
+				print_usage(false);
+				break;
+
+			case 'i':
+				imageSize = strtoull(optarg, NULL, 10);
+				if (strchr(optarg, 'G') || strchr(optarg, 'g'))
+					imageSize *= 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
+				else if (strchr(optarg, 'M') || strchr(optarg, 'm'))
+					imageSize *= 1024 * 1024;
+				else if (strchr(optarg, 'K') || strchr(optarg, 'k'))
+					imageSize *= 1024;
+				break;
+
+			case 'f':
+				file = optarg;
+				break;
+
+			case 'c':
+				clearImage = true;
+				break;
+
+			default:
+				print_usage(true);
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (file == NULL && optind == argc - 1)
+		file = argv[optind];
+
+	if (!imageSize || !file)
+		print_usage(true);
+
+	if (imageSize < 0) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Error: invalid image size\n");
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+
+	if (imageSize % 512) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Error: image size must be a multiple of 512 bytes\n");
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+
+	int fd = open(file, O_RDWR | O_CREAT, 0666);
+	if (fd < 0) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Error: couldn't open file %s (%s)\n", file,
+			strerror(errno));
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+
+	struct stat st;
+	if (fstat(fd, &st) < 0) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Error: stat()ing file %s failed (%s)\n", file,
+			strerror(errno));
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+
+	if (!S_ISREG(st.st_mode) && !S_ISBLK(st.st_mode) && !S_ISCHR(st.st_mode)) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Error: type of file %s not supported\n", file);
+		exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+	}
+
+	if (S_ISREG(st.st_mode)) {
+		// regular file -- use ftruncate() to resize it
+		if ((clearImage && ftruncate(fd, 0) != 0)
+			|| ftruncate(fd, imageSize) != 0) {
+			fprintf(stderr, "Error: resizing file %s failed (%s)\n", file,
+				strerror(errno));
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		}
+	} else {
+		// some kind of device -- clear it manually, if we have to
+		if (clearImage) {
+			char buffer[1024 * 1024];
+			memset(buffer, 0, sizeof(buffer));
+
+			ssize_t written;
+			while ((written = write(fd, buffer, sizeof(buffer))) > 0) {
+			}
+
+			if (written < 0) {
+				fprintf(stderr, "Error: writing to device file %s failed "
+					"(%s)\n", file, strerror(errno));
+				exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	close(fd);
+	return 0;
+}