Continuing our series of articles on the transition from Windows to Linux vWe will see some graphical tools to create bootable devices.
A bootable device It is a storage device — for example, a flash drive, CD, DVD, hard drive, or SD card that is prepared by software so that its contents are loaded when the computer is turned on.These types of devices are useful for testing, installing, or repairing operating systems.
For a device to be bootable it must include
- A boot manager that will be responsible for telling the computer
- The tools needed to complete the loading and execution of the files and of course, the files.
This is important to keep in mind. Not every program will work with a bootable device.Like a rocket that sheds sections as it gains altitude, different tools are needed to handle the different startup stages.
Graphical tools for creating bootable devices
Before starting with the tools, some preliminary explanations.
To create a bootable device you need a disk imageDon't be confused by the concept of an image; it has nothing to do with graphics. A disk image is a file containing an exact copy of the contents of a storage medium, of course in a compressed format.
Since this article is limited to tools for creating bootable flash drives and memory cards, we'll limit ourselves to two types of images.
- .iso: Originally a copy of a CD/DVD but can be used to create pendrives.
- .img: Copy of a hard drive or SSD that can be read from a flash drive or memory card.
Rufus
This is the program I recommend you install if you're not sure you'll like Linux. The second thing you should do after creating Linux installation media is to create Windows installation media, if you don't have it. Rufus allows you to download both Windows and some of the most popular Linux distributions. Of course, you can also use those you downloaded directly to your computer.
Additionally, it allows you to solve some problems with the official Microsoft tool, such as compatibility with NVMe SSD drives and some Windows 11 requirements such as the requirement for an online account and TPM chip.
Rufus is available only for Windows on this link
UNetbootin
In this case it is an application for Windows, Linux and Mac. Like Rufus, it allows us to download some Linux distributions or select them from the computer.One point that often confuses new users is that at some point the file copy seems to stop. It doesn't; the process continues.
An interesting feature of UNetbootin is that it allows you to enable persistence on Ubuntu-based distributions. Let's explain this:
Many Linux distributions have what's called "Live Mode," in which the operating system behaves as if it were installed on the computer, although part of the RAM is used as a hard drive. This means that any changes you make are lost when you shut down the computer.
To work around this limitation, UNetbootin uses a portion of the disk to store changes. When you log in again from the device, it loads the changes from there.
UNetbootin can be downloaded from here
Whale Etcher
The prettiest of the graphic tools we'll discuss in this post. But don't be fooled, it's not just a pretty face.
Available for Windows, Linux and Mac, allows us to create an installation media from a pendrive, a file or a download link to a pendrive or memory card.
It is very easy to use since it does not have too many options.
You can get Balena Etcher here
windy
I have to warn you that if you install Linux, you run the risk of contracting a disease called "acute distributionitis." This disease consists of wanting to install every version of Linux you come across. If this happens to you, you're definitely going to love Ventoy.
This program has two peculiarities.
The first is that you can have installers for multiple operating systems, and the second is that the program doesn't copy the files; you just have to drag the images to a specific folder.