4 ms·

For the specific case of "burning" some Linux distro's installer to a USB drive, I've always found those .img files much easier to deal with than ISO files, sim

For the specific case of "burning" some Linux distro's installer to a USB drive, I've always found those .img files much easier to deal with than ISO files, simply because a single dd(1) invocation is all I need to "burn" the image onto my drive. I figure this is probably the vast majority of people who install Linux from a physical device rather than network booting. (I have dealt with PXE about a decade ago but I can't figure out how to use it anymore.)

tadfisher 3y ago
That's the point of the "hybrid-iso" format; you can dd(1) it to a USB drive and it will boot, and you can burn it to a CD/DVD and it will boot. P.S. there's no reason to use dd(1) for this; cp(1) works just as well and is usually faster, since it can autoconfigure the block size.
- mixmastamyk 3y ago
  Recently discovered ventoy: https://www.ventoy.net/ https://www.ventoy.net/ Loads a boot menu so you can pick from a number of .iso files dynamically. Just copy them to the first partition of the drive. Drag and drop if you want. Much more efficient than clobbering the filesystem with a dedicated tool every time.
- bombolo 3y ago
  To make a windows bootable USB you need windows. Doing dd (or cp) will make a device that boots the installer but ultimately will fail to install.
  - arccy 3y ago
    it's possible, just not straightforward this worked for me a few days ago https://nixaid.com/bootable-usb-windows-linux/ https://nixaid.com/bootable-usb-windows-linux/
    - yellowapple 3y ago
      WoeUSB-ng worked last time I needed a Windows install USB: https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng
      - bombolo 3y ago
        Cool, I will soon need to replace my hard drive, I can give it a try.
- bravetraveler 3y ago
  Heck, I use shell redirects. Something like this: < /path/to/imagefile > /path/to/device Oddly, I've just realized this works fine in ZSH but not BASH :) ZSH copies, BASH makes a 0-byte file/writes nothing I guess I've been lucky not caring about the block size

tadfisher 3y ago

That's the point of the "hybrid-iso" format; you can dd(1) it to a USB drive and it will boot, and you can burn it to a CD/DVD and it will boot. P.S. there's no reason to use dd(1) for this; cp(1) works just as well and is usually faster, since it can autoconfigure the block size.

mixmastamyk 3y ago
Recently discovered ventoy: https://www.ventoy.net/ https://www.ventoy.net/ Loads a boot menu so you can pick from a number of .iso files dynamically. Just copy them to the first partition of the drive. Drag and drop if you want. Much more efficient than clobbering the filesystem with a dedicated tool every time.
bombolo 3y ago
To make a windows bootable USB you need windows. Doing dd (or cp) will make a device that boots the installer but ultimately will fail to install.
- arccy 3y ago
  it's possible, just not straightforward this worked for me a few days ago https://nixaid.com/bootable-usb-windows-linux/ https://nixaid.com/bootable-usb-windows-linux/
  - yellowapple 3y ago
    WoeUSB-ng worked last time I needed a Windows install USB: https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng https://github.com/WoeUSB/WoeUSB-ng
    - bombolo 3y ago
      Cool, I will soon need to replace my hard drive, I can give it a try.
bravetraveler 3y ago
Heck, I use shell redirects. Something like this: < /path/to/imagefile > /path/to/device Oddly, I've just realized this works fine in ZSH but not BASH :) ZSH copies, BASH makes a 0-byte file/writes nothing I guess I've been lucky not caring about the block size