CrunchBang Linux

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

sudo ls -l /dev/disk/by-id/*usb*

r0n d0n

New Member

From: 'mericuh

Registered: 2012-11-19

Posts: 8

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Thank you for this how-to, you just made my life much easier. It seems way too simple though, and I'm waiting for the catch.  If I may, I have a couple q's about the dd method:

What format (if any) does the drive have to be?

Also, can there be multiple partitions assuming I properly configure grub entries? Is GPT out of the question?

I have a rather elaborate plan that I have been studying up on concerning a 64Mb flash drive, a custom made recovery toolkit iso, and several installed operating systems and maybe a couple persistent live iso's as well. I know dd won't be able to get me all the way there, but I'd like to be able to do this as efficiently as possible.

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>lurk moar

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Hi r0n d0n

Thank you!

It does not matter what format the USB drive is in, it overwrites it as it formats it with the ISO.

I am not sure you can use multiple partitions or select a specific partition on a USB with dd...  I have never done it and a quick search does not show a procedure.

KrunchTime

#! Die Hard

From: not where I belong

Registered: 2012-03-02

Posts: 3,264

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Thanks, Vast One!   

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

^ My pleasure KrunchTime

Ozitraveller

#! Junkie

From: Less is More!

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 289

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Some extra thoughts.

Run df -h to see what devices are currently mounted
usb should be umount'd first.
If your usb shows up more than once in the output of df due to having multiple partitions on the usb, you should unmount all of these partitions.
I've also used gparted to remove any existing partitions, prior to dd'ing the new iso.
block size set to 4M will work most of the time, if not, try 1M, although 1M will take considerably longer.
sync is used to flush the write cache.

dcfldd is an improved version of dd. Most of the syntax is identical, just a few functions have been added. It will give a progress report about how much has been written.

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

I have never had to unmount a usb first, as a matter of fact I just ran dd burning Fedora 18 to it while it was mounted.

whereisthetea

#! Member

From: Tarraconensis

Registered: 2012-04-11

Posts: 66

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Oh my. What are we going to discuss on the IRC channel now? 
Maybe this should be stickied or sth... I have installed #! a couple of times already but I am sure that next time I’ll be looking for this kind of information on the net. I don’t think I am the only one with a short—whaddyacallit—yes, memory…

Gratias multas VastOne!

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Anymay away icklemay akesmay away ucklemay.

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

^ Thanks Whereisthetea!

It is stickied... Now we can bounce those asking in the IRC to this one...

hank122

New Member

Registered: 2012-11-29

Posts: 2

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Thanks for the info!
I wanted to mention that there is a Ubuntu/Debian tool called unetbootin that you can install that provides a small gui frontend to this process.

Hank.

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

^ Thanks Hank... several people here and on the IRC have reported total failure with unetbootin

lwfitz

#! Die Hard

From: Monrovia, CA

Registered: 2012-01-19

Posts: 886

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

VastOne

#! Ranger

From: V-Ger

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 10,165

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

^ Wise mom, wise son...

Thanks lwfitz!

CaptainIndifferent

#! CrunchBanger

From: The Vale of Si

Registered: 2012-05-05

Posts: 202

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

YMMV but I think unetbootin gets a bad rap sometimes. I've used it half a dozen different times so far this month and have never had a problem with it.

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Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand.

hank122

New Member

Registered: 2012-11-29

Posts: 2

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Hmm, are the failures happening on crunchbang or just any linux OS?
I use it with an Ubuntu 12.10 laptop to prepare USB sticks for deployment on other laptops. It has worked so far with Crunchbang, Ubuntu and derivatives, Debian, Fedora, and other distros (not all though). I always try to format the USB stick on Windows, if needed, first.
My only issue is that some distros won't boot to the 'Live' mode but almost always will work in the 'install' mode.

Hank

lcafiero

The #! Guy

From: Felton, California, USA

Registered: 2011-07-21

Posts: 2,225

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

MrPink

#! CrunchBanger

From: .dk

Registered: 2011-06-28

Posts: 213

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

I have had nothing but bad luck with Unetbootin....on Linux. The Windows version, however, has never failed me.
This is perhaps the second reason, why I maintain a Windows 7 along side Linux (the new Hitman game being the first)

r0n d0n

New Member

From: 'mericuh

Registered: 2012-11-19

Posts: 8

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

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>lurk moar

Resident Bot

#! Die Hard

From: The Netherlands

Registered: 2012-02-17

Posts: 638

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

can anyone tell me how much space a waldorf iso would take?  I dont want to use an 8 gb usb stick if I only need 2gb

Last edited by Resident Bot (2012-12-27 10:31:46)

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Troll = not a fanatic
slave of #!  and arch

Kuno

#! Die Hard

From: Osnabrück - DE

Registered: 2009-01-09

Posts: 674

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

lcafiero

The #! Guy

From: Felton, California, USA

Registered: 2011-07-21

Posts: 2,225

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

johnraff

nullglob

From: Nagoya, Japan

Registered: 2009-01-07

Posts: 4,148

Website

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

ew

#! Die Hard

Registered: 2012-09-27

Posts: 1,975

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

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- apt-mark hold account

Erik

#! CrunchBanger

From: Fort Worth, TX

Registered: 2009-03-28

Posts: 193

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Thanks for the guide! Some small notes

1) used dcfldd instead of dd (worked fine, just wanted to try it, it's available in the repos)
2) I needed the stick to be mounted, contra to what Ozitraveller mentioned
3) I ran the dcfldd command as normal user, not as root. I try to avoid using sudo commands if possible.

rkwurth

#! Junkie

Registered: 2012-09-04

Posts: 365

Re: How To prepare an ISO to USB - Linux & Windows Instructions

Azure- probably? You can test it by preparing a installation cd/dvd or flash drive and running the live session.