installing Linux from USB stick - which "USB creator" to use?

[bitsnpcs]

@br1anstorm
Thank You for the Linux Mint community link, yes the techradar link does look like the tutorial written first by austin.texas

[br1anstorm]

OMG, bitsnpcs.  That techradar article makes my brain hurt!  Way above my pay grade. 

Just goes to show that working with Linux can be a simple, or as complex, as your knowledge and abilities allow....and that (almost) anything is possible once you know how to work using the command line, edit code, and generally get your hands dirty with the machinery under the surface.

That article does seem to be on similar lines to a tutorial I read on the Linux Mint community site here , written some three years ago by austin.texas (who is seriously expert!) .   

Still falls into the "too difficult" tray for me.  Until I have a few more years' experience, I think I'll just buy a fistful of small USBs, and do ISOs one at a time.

[bitsnpcs]

Otherwise I guess if you want several distros (ISOs) on a single - larger - USB stick, you have to look at YUMI?

http://www.techradar.com/how-to/how-to-boot-multiple-linux-distros-from-one-usb

[Moltke]

This has become a really interesting thread, with some useful insights and information.  We seem to have a shortlist of three:  Etcher, Rufus, and Linux Lite's inbuilt image-writing option as described by torreydale.  (Incidentally I think Linux Mint has a similar inbuilt USB image-creator option).All seem to be rated highly.... I'll just have to try them!

Just one further and possibly dumb question.  Am I correct in believing that with any of these, the deal is one USB stick, one ISO image?  In other words, when writing an ISO image on to a USB stick to create a bootable USB with any of these programs, the program - after formatting - only puts one ISO image (equivalent to one Live CD/DVD) on to the USB stick, and any remaining space on the stick is invisible/inaccessible/unusable?

If that is so, it seems to be an argument for using a USB stick which is fairly small.... and if you want to have more than one distro available for installation, you have one USB stick for each?

Otherwise I guess if you want several distros (ISOs) on a single - larger - USB stick, you have to look at YUMI?

Peppermint has an inbuilt tool as well. For creating multiboot USB sticks Yumi is certainly one option. There are a few others; MultibootUSB a cross platform software written in python which allows you to install multiple live linux on a USB disk non destructively and option to uninstall distros. There's also Sardu which appears to work only for creating Windows bootable sticks, I tried it once, not exactly user-friendly as far as I can remember. So yes, whether you use Etcher, Rufus and/or I believe inbuilt options as well is 1 USB stick = 1 .ISO burnt.

[br1anstorm]

This has become a really interesting thread, with some useful insights and information.  We seem to have a shortlist of three:  Etcher, Rufus, and Linux Lite's inbuilt image-writing option as described by torreydale.  (Incidentally I think Linux Mint has a similar inbuilt USB image-creator option).All seem to be rated highly.... I'll just have to try them!

Just one further and possibly dumb question.  Am I correct in believing that with any of these, the deal is one USB stick, one ISO image?  In other words, when writing an ISO image on to a USB stick to create a bootable USB with any of these programs, the program - after formatting - only puts one ISO image (equivalent to one Live CD/DVD) on to the USB stick, and any remaining space on the stick is invisible/inaccessible/unusable?

If that is so, it seems to be an argument for using a USB stick which is fairly small.... and if you want to have more than one distro available for installation, you have one USB stick for each?

Otherwise I guess if you want several distros (ISOs) on a single - larger - USB stick, you have to look at YUMI?

[Moltke]

Etcher is excellent. I've had one or another issues with a number of burning applications. Etcher is so good, I use it on our Shop USB drives. Never had one failure in all the time that I have used it. A remarkable record.

You're right @Jerry  Etcher is a fine piece of software, however, I did notice that my USB drive was kind of "locked" after; it showed under drives but I couldn't open it in thunar. I had to formatted in Windows - I don't know how to in Linux, it might be possible too, I think, I just don't know -  cause I couldn't use it anymore as a USB drive, this has never ever happened to me while using Rufus; I can keep on using the USB drive to copy and carry data with me even if a Linux, Windows system is on it. Do you know why that is? The USB drive seems to be ok with no harm that I know about, I'm just curious, what does exactly Etcher do that it let the drive in such a state? I google for it but I didn't find anything, maybe I was using the the wrong search terms/parameters. By the way, I would use Etcher again cause it works just fine and it's really easy to use, so yes, I'm not complaining but only asking out of curiosity.

[Jerry]

Etcher is excellent. I've had one or another issues with a number of burning applications. Etcher is so good, I use it on our Shop USB drives. Never had one failure in all the time that I have used it. A remarkable record.

[torreydale]

@br1anstorm ,
For the record, Etcher can be used in Windows, too.  It is multi-platform, meaning there are versions for Linux, Windows, and MacOS.

[Moltke]

Thanks to both Moltke and torreydale for that advice.  Useful to know which programes work with Windows and which with Linux. 

The built-in option in Linux Lite looks even simpler.  I like the idea of not having to install anything.  I'll have to look at it. 

One obvious question - does the USB stick have to be blank.... or formatted ..... or partitioned before doing the Restore Disk Image?

As far as I know, whatever the tools you use will format the usb stick, so i guess you don't have to. You're asking for user-friendliness, I have to say that this word describes Rufus; it's foolproof.

[br1anstorm]

Thanks to both Moltke and torreydale for that advice.  Useful to know which programes work with Windows and which with Linux. 

The built-in option in Linux Lite looks even simpler.  I like the idea of not having to install anything.  I'll have to look at it. 

One obvious question - does the USB stick have to be blank.... or formatted ..... or partitioned before doing the Restore Disk Image?

[torreydale]

If you're using Linux Lite, you can use a program that is already installed.  That program is Disks (Menu->Settings->Disks).  From there click on your USB flash drive on the left.  Then in the upper right, click the settings icon, and select Restore Disk Image.  A popup window will show, and you select the location where your ISO file is saved.  Your USB flash drive will become a bootable drive with the image you burned to it.


Etcher is good, too.  But this way, you don't have to install anything.

[Moltke]

hi @br1anstorm
If from Linux I would suggest Etcher, I recently use it to install LL and it works fine. If from windows then Rufus is the choice. I've used it every time to create bootable usb drives when trying distros in live mode; it's fast and easy to use. I think it's a shame there's no a Rufus Linux version. If you can do it from windows I really suggest you use Rufus. Hope this helps!  

[br1anstorm]

Over the last few years I have installed various Linux distros in the "traditional" way by downloading the ISO, burning a CD/DVD which then runs as a Live session, and installing from that CD/DVD.  I now have quite a collection of CDs and DVDs with versions of Lite, Mint, LXLE, Zorin and PCLinuxOS - many of which are no longer supported.

I now want to install/replace one or two distros, in laptops which I don't use daily and which therefore have no crucial config settings or files which I need to preserve.  So in effect they are 'clean installs'.

Rather than burn yet more CD/DVDs with recent Linux ISOs, I'd prefer to create a bootable USB stick from which I can then install.  I'd like advice on which is the best/easiest/most reliable of the various different software programs that can create the bootable stick.  I should add that I'll be installing from the USB stick on to older non-UEFI, non-GPT systems and/or on to external hard drives.

I am familiar with YUMI - and indeed have run Live sessions of various distros from a YUMI USB.  But I have never installed from YUMI - mainly because their website has an explicit warning that installing from a YUMI USB may sometimes work, but is not supported.  Hardly a ringing reassurance!

So is is better or safer to create a bootable USB stick - and then install - using some other means.  Unetbootin?  Rufus? LiveUSBInstall?  Universal USB Installer (UUI)?  Etcher?  Others?   I notice incidentally that the LL install help manual suggests doing it from within LL by running commands in the terminal (I'm not too keen on that idea as I still find command line working pretty unfamiliar territory).

I would be creating the bootable USB stick using either Windows 7 or Linux Lite or Mint.

My main priority, apart from reliability, is simplicity and user-friendliness:  a decent user interface, and not too many complicated tweaking choices.  Any recommendations would be appreciated.