Hey advanced Debian users, I would like to use a full CD ISO image of Testing/Wheezy (e.g., one of the downloaded CD images from an /iso-cd subfolder of [1]) to make a bootable USB stick onto a 1 GB, 2 GB or larger capacity stick. Several related questions really, all related to Section 4.3 of the Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide, 'Preparing Files for USB Memory Stick Booting'[2]
1. How may I use the instructions in this Debian GNU/Linux Installation Guide while still retaining the capacity to put extra files on the same drive?? E.g., storing downloaded documents in various formats listed in the 'Installation Guide'[3] onto the same USB stick AFTER the bootable USB stick has already been created?? The reason for asking is that Section 4.3.1 of the Installation Guide 'Preparing a USB stick using a hybrid CD or DVD image' seems to indicate that once the recommended commands.... # cp debian.iso /dev/sdX # sync .. are carried out onto /dev/sdX, it may be impossible(?) to add new files onto the same device. Yes there are the instructions in Section 4.3.3. 'Manually copying files to the USB stick — the flexible way', but that too has its drawbacks, see question 3 below. 2. When is it better to use the command sequence 'dd if=<file> of=<device> bs=4M; sync' to make a bootable USB stick from the full CD ISO image rather than the pair of commands listed above from Section 4.3.1 of the Installation Guide?? The Frequently Asked Questions section 'How do I write a CD image to a USB flash drive?'[4] recommends this 'dd' method, although this too may make it impossible(?) to add new files onto the same default /dev/sdX device. 3. How could I use the steps listed in Section 4.3.3 'Manually copying files to the USB stick — the flexible way' for an EXT3 or EXT4 formatted USB device /dev/sdX1 (Linux type 82 partition) instead of for a FAT16-formatted device?? Besides requiring a FAT16-formatted drive, Section 4.3.3 also requires the installation+use of the dosfstools, syslinux and mtools packages for this method of creating a bootable USB onto /dev/sdX1. Again, the purpose of all this is use a full CD ISO image of Testing/Wheezy to make a bootable USB stick onto a 1 GB, 2 GB or larger capacity stick with room to spare for documentation files (e.g., files stored on /dev/sdX2) My preferences at this point would be to (a) use the 'dd' command to image-copy the full CD ISO onto a Linux type 82 partitioned /dev/sdX1 for USB-booting and then AFTERWARDS partition+format a separately accessible /dev/sdX2 for various stored files, if this is at all possible (b) use the steps listed in Section 4.3.3 'Manually copying files to the USB stick — the flexible way' adapted for an EXT3 or EXT4 formatted /dev/sdX1 bootable USB, and then afterwards partition+format a separately accessible /dev/sdX2 for various stored files (c) proceed with the steps listed in Section 4.3.3 for Manually copying files to the USB stick including the full CD ISO onto a bootable /dev/sdX1 (giving full consideration to its diskspace requirements), even though this REQUIRES FAT16 and its various MBR prepping tools, then separately partitioning+formatting a /dev/sdX2 with ext3 or ext4 as I please for storing extra files. Any further good recommendations?? Numbered References: [1] http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/weekly-builds/ [2] http://www.debian.org/releases/testing/i386/ch04s03.html.en [3] http://www.debian.org/releases/testing/installmanual [4] http://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb -A -- R.I.P. Aaron Swartz, January 11, 2013 YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN!! -- _____________________________________________________________ Get your FREE, LinuxWaves.com Email Now! --> http://www.LinuxWaves.com Join Linux Discussions! --> http://Community.LinuxWaves.com
