The best program for creating bootable flashdrives? (Ubuntu Distribution's primarly"

[u/Due-Republic-7044]

Hello, I am looking for a usb program similar like Rufus or Balena alternative. I would like it to be able to flash windows .iso x86 and arm, as well as other images like the two programs. Is there also one that will make bootable mac os flashdrives to on the same linux pc? I know there is a compatibility layer for Linux where it can semi run mac os programs. Just like wine.

[u/rayyfield]

Ventoy by a mile, in my experience the most reliable, easiest to use, and especially the most convenient since you can fill up a larger thumb drive with multiple ISOs.

[u/AccomplishedGold3426 → u/rayyfield]

Ventoy is great but I keep one old usb with just dd for stubborn ISOs that refuse to boot from it

[u/GGoldenChild → u/rayyfield]

Took me awhile to finally try ventoy and after making a ventory flash drive, I cam a convert! Once you make a ventoy flash drive, then you can just copy an .iso file to the free space

[u/BranchLatter4294]

For Ubuntu, I just use the built in one. I've never had a problem.

[u/budius333 → u/BranchLatter4294]

+1 for the built in.

Just open the overview and search for "disk" its already installed and works great

[u/YarnStomper]

I just use the cat command.

EDIT: nevermind I thought you were talking about for linux distro isos.

[u/deepSnit]

I've been using the DD for a while. Then you don't have to worry about any app or anything you just have a file and have a drive and you just DD from one to the other

[u/YarnStomper → u/deepSnit]

Actually, cat does the same thing and it's faster than dd.

[u/Due-Republic-7044 → u/deepSnit]

I've tried dd I've had issues with it here and there. And plus just dont fully understand it yet. Im still new to the linux community and learning quite a lot.

[u/One_Instruction6490]

Ventoy covers the Windows side fine, just double check the arm ISO boots on your actual hardware since Ventoy is mostly x86 stuff. The mac one is the annoying part tho, the official createinstallmedia only runs on an actual Mac, and wine won't help there. dd isn't that scary btw, run lsblk first, then sudo dd if=file.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress, just triple check the sdX is your usb. What are you trying to boot on the arm side, a pi or a laptop?

[u/doc_willis]

Balena Etcher - is basically just doing a 'direct data' image of the .iso to the USB. There are dozens of programs that do the same thing. Even Rufus has its dd mode. The kind of image (arm, x86, whatever) should really not matter, as its a pure data dump of the iso onto the usb. There could be some specific things I am unaware of. Since I never use a Mac. :)

These days I tend to use Fedora Media Writer for most Direct imaging tasks.

Balena Etcher = Has been a very problematic tool of late, and offers very little compared to other alternatives. Its living on its past reputation, and there have been a lot of instances over the last year or so of Balena being totally broken. Its time to retire that tool.

Rufus - has its dd mode, which works basically as other direct imaging tools. The other Features of RUFUS i cant say much about, as i never need them. I basically dont use windows, so i never use rufus these days.

Others have mentioned Ventoy Which i use for my x86 PC's for linux isos. But I have NO idea if ventoy works at all for Mac systems. You should check its docs.

[u/grantnlee → u/doc_willis]

Definitely my choice: Balena Etcher

[u/Plan_9_fromouter_]

You are best off using the tools MS provides for Windows. I used Ventoy a lot for about a year, and then it stopped working well. So now I use Popsicle app on Linux.

[u/RoninKen]

Ventoy is the real deal, every time.