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What is the best software for creating Live USB (from ISO files)?

3

Options
Considered

67

User
Recs.

Sep 2, 2018

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

The Best 1 of 3 OptionsWhy?

Best software for creating Live USB (from ISO files)	Price	Last Updated
91 Etcher	-	Sep 2, 2018
88 Rufus	Free	Aug 23, 2018
-- UNetbootin	Free	May 20, 2018

Etcher

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Top Pro

Cross platform

Supports Linux, Windows and Mac. See More

Top Con

Lacking in settings

Compared to its competitors, while trying to keep the software as user-friendly and clean as possible, it also lacks the ability to perform more advanced tweaking, available in something like Rufus. See More

DeterminedBieggagallis's Experience

It looks beautiful, first of all. It will automatically detect your usb and burn an ISO image lightning quick onto it. Available on Mac, Windows, and Linux, so this beats Rufus on platform availability. See More

Top Pro

Polished GUI

The gui looks great and is easy to use. See More

Top Con

Large file size

Much larger file size in comparison to something like Rufus. See More

Top Pro

Open source

Free to use and modify. Apache license. Repository link: https://github.com/resin-io/etcher See More

Top Pro

Relatively fast

Flashes/burns images relatively fast. See More

Top Pro

Extremely user friendly

By far, the most user friendly and straight-forward UI I've ever seen in an application like this See More

2 Other Options Considered

Rufus

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Top Pro

Automatic USB detection

Rufus finds your USB drive automatically. This minimizes the risk that you will accidentally format your hard drive. See More

Top Con

Only runs on Windows

Although it can install all flavors of imaginable distros on a key, the software itself only has one official Windows version, effectively excluding Mac and Linux users. See More

Top Pro

Very fast

Rufus is one of the fastest utilities in the category to complete create a bootable USB. Twice as fast as UNetbootin, Universal USB Installer and Windows 7 USB download tool. See More

Top Pro

Simple but advanced

Has many options. See More

Top Pro

Safe

Zero ways to screw up. See More

Top Pro

Open Source

https://github.com/pbatard/rufus See More

UNetbootin

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Top Con

There's a chance it will destroy your USB

Not only is the performance of the software subpar, there is a high likelihood that it will corrupt your USB in the process. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

The fact that UNetbootin is cross platform means it can be used on any computer one has lying around, to create a bootable USB stick from a proper ISO file. It also makes it more viable as a tool since it can be recommended to anyone without having to worry about what operating system they are running. See More

Top Con

Might not work sometimes

For example UNetbootin has some troubles with the Hiren's Boot CD ISO file. See More

Top Pro

Supports most common distros for download

Although you can override this setting by selecting any ISO file of your choice, UNetbootin offers a simple interface in which you can choose to automatically download almost any mainstream operating system. This can save users the hassle of browsing through web pages in search of a download. See More

Top Pro

Automatically detects USB flash drives

UNetbootin automatically detects all the USB drives in the computer, this helps the interface be much more fluid, and protects inexperienced users from accidentally corrupting their hard drive. See More

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