On Tue 15 Jan 2013 at 15:12:25 -0800, GoOSSBears wrote: > 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.
The space not occupied by the ISO is available for paritioning and storing any files you want to have there. > 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?? Altering bs= may possibly make the writing to the stick quicker than using cp, but I don't believe there is any basic difference in the methods to concern yourself about. > 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. Different authors; different recommendations. I'd see cp, dd and cat as equivalent in what they do. cp in the Guide was altered from cat because some systems require you to be root to use 'cat ISO > /dev/sdX'. > 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 This is the ideal route for you to take. Note that the initial state of the partitioning of the stick is immaterial. dd will destroy everything on it when it makes an iso9660 filesystem. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20130116002748.GR32121@desktop
