Introduction
If you need to write an ISO to a USB flash drive, this guide will show you how to use Etcher. Because most modern computers lack internal optical drives, booting from a USB drive is the fastest and most practical way to install or run an operating system.
While this guide was written with Linux in mind, it works for any modern bootable ISO.
TL;DR: Buy a 64GB+ drive (USB 5Gbps / 3.0 or 3.1 or 3.2 Gen 1 preferred; USB 2.0 is slower but serviceable). IF YOUR BUDGET IS THIN, YOU ARE BETTER OFF FORMATTING AN OLD 16-32GB DRIVE THAT CAN BE ERASED IF YOU ARE CHOOSING BETWEEN NO-NAME JUNK OR A KNOWN-NAME BRAND!
*If you ignore this warning, Etcher handles many of these better then Rufus. Use them at YOUR risk, as I can't endorse them beyond this warning. For tools like Parted Magic, TEST WITH A THROWAWAY HARD DRIVE BEFORE DOING LIVE WORK!
While name-brand 16GB and 32GB drives still work, they are nearing obsolescence as operating systems grow larger. 8GB is simply risky today—some Linux installers like Ubuntu 26.04 LTS are already over 6GB. True 8GB drives have been out of production for a decade, though low-quality ones are still sold in bulk. Many cheap, new 16GB drives are private-label or use B-stock NAND; these are prone to boot issues and are not worth the risk. 32GB drives are fine for the forseeable future, but you need to be careful where you buy them.
AMAZON WARNING: If you buy the drive for this on Amazon and it has issues out of the box, it is probably counterfeit - get rid of it and buy another one in person.
Guide notes
- Important: OSes without explicit USB boot support are not guaranteed to work. While the risk is low with the right tools, there are no guarantees. You are on your own if there are unforeseen issues with ancient operating systems.
- Used drives should ideally be erased before using Etcher - this generally is not an issue if skipped as Etcher handles this.
- You cannot select the formatting like in Rufus—however, Rufus is highly intolerant of lower-grade drive controllers and will often fail. Etcher uses raw block-level writing, making it much more resilient on budget drives. I successfully tested this with a cheaper 32GB Onn drive on both a legacy Latitude E6510 and a modern EliteBook 645 G11 using a legacy Linux ISO (Parted Magic 2020). There was also no issues with the same E6510 on a SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go 128GB.
What you need
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Download a copy of Etcher here: Balena Etcher and open it where you keep it your downloads. This is commonly located in Downloads in Windows and MacOS, with Linux varying per distro.
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Open Etcher from the folder it is located in.
Ask FixBot
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Click on Flash from File and select the image you want to flash - this will bring up your system's file explorer (not shown).
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Click on Select target and select the USB drive you want to write to.
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Click on Select X (X=drives selected) and click Flash.
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Once Etcher is complete, it will verify the drive. Let this finish as it makes sure the drive is bootable and ready to use.
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If the write was successful, the drive will say Flash Completed!. This is good. The drive is ready to use.
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To reassemble your device, follow these instructions in reverse order.
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