Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

martix · 2017-01-02 17:34:16

Well, dd is surely 'definitely dangerous' and some users (especially noobs) do like to have a GUI for all kind of tasks.

Etcher is - according to its github page - "a powerful OS image flasher built with web technologies to ensure flashing an SDCard or USB drive is a pleasant and safe experience. It protects you from accidentally writing to your hard-drives, ensures every byte of data was written correctly."

Here it is:

https://etcher.io/

https://github.com/resin-io/etcher

It's a handy little tool, easy to use.

damo · 2017-01-02 18:29:08

I'm sure it is very nice, if you don't mind a 68MB zip download when you already have cp and dd

iMBeCil · 2017-01-02 19:19:21

damo wrote:

... 68MB zip download ...

Oh dear ... what on earth did they put inside 8) 8) 8)

$ unzip Etcher-1.0.0-beta.17-linux-x64.zip 
Archive:  Etcher-1.0.0-beta.17-linux-x64.zip
  inflating: Etcher-linux-x64.AppImage 

$ ll -h
total 137M
-rw-r--r-- 1 user user 68M Jan  2 20:10 Etcher-1.0.0-beta.17-linux-x64.zip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 user user 69M Nov 28 16:33 Etcher-linux-x64.AppImage*

$ file Etcher-linux-x64.AppImage 
Etcher-linux-x64.AppImage: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked, 
interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, for GNU/Linux 2.6.18, 
BuildID[sha1]=d629f6099d2344ad82818172add1d38c5e11bc6d, stripped

You're right damo ... 'dd' and 'cp' are definitely my best friends.

EDIT: Oh, I see ... it is an AppImage. To be fair, one can make/download a deb package of Etcher (as they suggest on its web site), probably being much much smaller.

Last edited by iMBeCil (2017-01-02 19:24:06)

Horizon_Brave · 2017-01-02 19:32:50

Well obviously the cleanest method for us is dd and failing that, cp... but we definitely shouldn't shut our eyes to those who have wrecked their systems or botched up the usage of the cli tools. So it does seem a bit heavy at 69 megs, there isn't really a gui alternative that works with the hybrid burn iso's, outside of the native windows tools.

martix · 2017-01-02 19:33:45

^Thank you both for pointing it out. Well, it's not that little after all... may be handy nevertheless... Here is a demonstration how it looks.

iMBeCil · 2017-01-02 20:18:31

^Oh, my post might sound a bit harsh ... didn't really meant to be. I'm sure there are people who will enjoy using Etcher.

As for the size, I tried to install it in my BL in VBox (via deb, per instruction on github):

$ sudo apt-get install etcher-electron 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  etcher-electron
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 47.5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 227 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 https://dl.bintray.com/resin-io/debian/ stable/etcher etcher-electron amd64 1.0.0~beta.17-1 [47.5 MB]
Fetched 47.5 MB in 37s (1,283 kB/s)                                                
Selecting previously unselected package etcher-electron.
(Reading database ... 151020 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../etcher-electron_1.0.0~beta.17-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking etcher-electron (1.0.0~beta.17-1) ...
Processing triggers for desktop-file-utils (0.22-1) ...
Processing triggers for mime-support (3.58) ...
Setting up etcher-electron (1.0.0~beta.17-1) ...

I must say the those parts:

...
Need to get 47.5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 227 MB of additional disk space will be used.
...

look really intimidating. It seems that the deb package is simply the AppImage wrapped as deb package. (I might be wrong, though.)

Anyway, as much as the program is novice-friendly and visually nice, I will nevertheless stay with my super-nice and adorable

$ sudo dd if=/path/to/some/image of=/hopefully/correct/dev/designation bs=4M; sync

Last edited by iMBeCil (2017-01-02 20:19:16)

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-01-02 20:33:34

# cat image.iso > /dev/sdX ; sync

ftw!

EDIT: forgot to `sync` :8

Last edited by Head_on_a_Stick (2017-01-02 20:38:06)

iMBeCil · 2017-01-02 20:38:10

^Always had to go to google to check the 'ftw' to see if someone is cursing at me

But, thanks, I'm aware of 'cat' and 'cp' versions ... yet, my fingers are trained on 'dd', and refuse to remember anything else

damo · 2017-01-02 20:56:54

Etcher was mentioned around here a while ago so I checked it out.... and recoiled from the file size!

/thinks/..... it should be easy enough to script some checks and use dd with a yad gui.....

martix · 2017-01-02 22:23:46

iMBeCil wrote:

$ sudo dd if=/path/to/some/image of=/hopefully/correct/dev/designation bs=4M; sync

Well, yes, "hopefully" Although, if it "happens", of course it's not that funny... Just a quote from the "off-topic" thread here:

2016-12-19 09:07:09: "Running Arch. I've completely fallen for Gnome. I'm totally about to exceed my mobile data limit."

2016-12-21 14:00:34: "So, I woke up with this intense migraine but decided I would take the opportunity this morning to install Point Linux on my mother's computer. I inserted a thumb drive into my laptop running Arch and proceeded to use dd. Now, I'm not sure why what happened next happened next, but it did. Arch was on sda2, and sda2 is also what I supplied to dd to use as its output device instead of sdb. Why? Maybe because I'm not completely awake, and I don't know... and Arch is gone.... and damn this morning."

As mentioned, definitely dangerous... Happened me too...

One more thing I'd like add regarding dd: "status=progress" (not in stable yet). This feature took only 41 years (as I just read, dd was first introduced in version 5 of UNIX).

damo · 2017-01-02 23:19:09

martix wrote:

.....
One more thing I'd like add regarding dd: "status=progress" (not in stable yet). This feature took only 41 years (as I just read, dd was first introduced in version 5 of UNIX).

The dcfldd fork has had progress capability for a long time

ohnonot · 2017-01-03 09:26:56

a powerful OS image flasher built with web technologies to ensure flashing an SDCard or USB drive is a pleasant and safe experience. It protects you from accidentally writing to your hard-drives, ensures every byte of data was written correctly.

web technologies! yay!
another image burner, as if we really needed that.
i always like to look at the languages a github project is written in.
added bonus: a totally pointless web UI, transmitting usage data to the devs AND google.
]:D
ok, don't mind my foul mouth, i haven't actually tried it.
i have tried other image burners though and i always fluctuate back to dd.
i will remember to not use it with a migraine (this fictional diary entry applies to so many things in life, i doubt software will EVER fix mindlessness).
and i was never intimidated by the lack of a progress bar, lol.

Last edited by ohnonot (2021-07-02 09:36:41)

iMBeCil · 2017-01-03 12:01:40

^Haha, my thoughts exactly. Initially, at least. Then I remembered myself, certain number of years ago, when I was ditching MSWin for Ubuntu 8.10. And at that time tools like Etcher were perfect for me, a linux-desktop-newbie.

Of course, now, with the help of #! and BL (and ubuntu shift to Unity which drove me off of ubuntu), I appreciate 'dd' (and variants), and have no desire to really look into the progress bar. Which, by the way, has mostly psychological effects How many times it would be stuck on, for example, 80%, and then suddenly go to 92% ...

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-01-03 12:20:13

iMBeCil wrote:

the progress bar. Which, by the way, has mostly psychological effects How many times it would be stuck on, for example, 80%, and then suddenly go to 92% ...

^ This.

I have tried dd(1) with status=progress and it is *rubbish*

Obligatory XKCD link:

https://xkcd.com/612/

martix · 2017-01-03 12:51:52

^Oh, good to know about these issues. I used status=progress on other distros often and did not notice anything unusual. Especially for longer processes I found it useful, but it's surely not necessary.

ohnonot wrote:

added bonus: a totally pointless web UI, transmitting usage data to the devs AND google.

Is it really sending data to google? There is a setting option to drop-out from analytics but it's supposed to be anonymised data for the developers. Although, in this day and age, it's not really surprising if it's sending more... One more "pro" for dd then.

ohnonot · 2017-01-03 22:23:54

martix wrote:

There is a setting option to drop-out from analytics but it's supposed to be anonymised data for the developers.

i was only joking, but you confirmed it... oh my god... 8.(

geekosupremo · 2017-01-04 00:32:14

In the catagory of FWIW - I use this app often, on Windows, to flash my "installer" usb stick which I then use to install experimental *nix on my computers.

Is it heavy for what it is: yes

Does it work: Yes, and rather well

Are the developers responsive on their Gitter channel: yup! was able to help them troubleshoot a weird windows bug

Are you an amature playing at being a sys admin: yes :cry:

ohnonot · 2017-01-04 12:00:35

^ so is this something to recommend to windwos => linux migrants?
i thought rufus was the way to go? at least it seems to be a "normal" app, so unless someone convinces me otherwise i'll keep on recommending rufus.

Head_on_a_Stick · 2017-01-04 12:36:25

^ Just make sure you tell people to select "DD" mode [sic] or Rufus fails miserably with Debian & BunsenLabs ISO images.

I prefer to recommend USBWriter as that has no settings to mess up:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/usbwriter/

geekosupremo · 2017-01-04 21:07:14

ohnonot wrote:

^ so is this something to recommend to windwos => linux migrants?

I'd classify it as one to recommend to those more familiar with a GUI as primary interface. And yes the Windows/Mac converts are definintly in that pool.

#1 2017-01-02 17:34:16

Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#2 2017-01-02 18:29:08

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#3 2017-01-02 19:19:21

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#4 2017-01-02 19:32:50

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#5 2017-01-02 19:33:45

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#6 2017-01-02 20:18:31

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#7 2017-01-02 20:33:34

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#8 2017-01-02 20:38:10

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#9 2017-01-02 20:56:54

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#10 2017-01-02 22:23:46

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#11 2017-01-02 23:19:09

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#12 2017-01-03 09:26:56

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#13 2017-01-03 12:01:40

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#14 2017-01-03 12:20:13

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#15 2017-01-03 12:51:52

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#16 2017-01-03 22:23:54

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#17 2017-01-04 00:32:14

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#18 2017-01-04 12:00:35

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#19 2017-01-04 12:36:25

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

#20 2017-01-04 21:07:14

Re: Tip: Etcher - GUI for flashing OS images to SD cards & USB

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