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+--- Thread: Etcher, the superior burning choice! (/showthread.php?tid=2251)
Etcher, the superior burning choice! - Ghost - 09-21-2016
Hi
Many of the threads here on the forums, when talking about burning operating system images mention the use of Win32DiskImager. But there is a better alternative called Etcher.
It's user-friendly, open source, cross-platform, and most importantly, it verifies that a burn has been completed successfully.
You can download it here.
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - tkaiser - 09-21-2016
FYI: https://github.com/resin-io/etcher/issues/44#issuecomment-248541819 (Etcher is an actively developed tool, supports decompression of compressed images on the fly and might add a quick check for counterfeit cards as well -- important since good OS images are provided small and do an auto FS resize on first boot, hopefully our great Android guys look into that direction as well)
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - cr2016 - 09-21-2016
I don't have any SD card to burn right now, so just asking: the whole windows x64 version is more than 200MB, with about half of it in the resources folder. Do we need this last folder or can we run the app without (from the main folder)?
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - MarkHaysHarris777 - 09-21-2016
(09-21-2016, 07:16 AM)cr2016 Wrote: I don't have any SD card to burn right now, so just asking: the whole windows x64 version is more than 200MB, with about half of it in the resources folder. Do we need this last folder or can we run the app without (from the main folder)?
Typically, an app requires its resources. When you're not using it you could archive it or compress it.
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - By-Jokese - 09-23-2016
Is it capable of making a back up? Read option in Win32DiskImage
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - tkaiser - 09-23-2016
(09-23-2016, 06:14 AM)By-Jokese Wrote: Is it capable of making a back up? Read option in Win32DiskImage
Etcher does not claim to be able to make backups/clones. And Win32DiskImager can't make backups (reliable) since it does not implement verify. The funny thing with this is that people make backups all the time and never test the restore. And if the SD card is broken, they buy a new one that is 1 sector less in size (restore will fail when the OS image has not been prepared properly before) or realize then that all their backups are corrupted since the card reader silently corrupted data.
When relying on Win32DiskImager you need a patched version anyway: http://com.odroid.com/sigong/blog/blog_list.php?bid=144 (guess what, there are SBC vendors out there who care)
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - tkaiser - 09-23-2016
Update: Etcher will get more features over time. Without even asking for it another developer mentioned backup functionality a few hours ago: https://github.com/resin-io/etcher/issues/711#issuecomment-249196324
It's fun working with and trying to contribute to them
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - By-Jokese - 09-23-2016
Thas good, seem to be a interesting project, with ideas.
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - xtcrefugee - 10-11-2016
(09-23-2016, 07:58 AM)tkaiser Wrote: ... or realize then that all their backups are corrupted since the card reader silently corrupted data.
Maybe this is stating the obvious, but if your card reader is silently reading/writing corrupted data then that's what you need to change, not your software.
A better backup solution would be a working recovery so we can get the Pine itself to write and verify backups. I haven't tried FlashFire for that yet (under Android), but it may work.
RE: Etcher, the superior burning choice! - jvdkleij - 10-17-2016
I use Rufus (The Reliable USB Formatting Utility) with great success released under the GNU license. It's one executable, well maintained and only 916 KB for the 2.11 version that's all you need on Windows. I'll leave it up to the greater community what's superior....
Cheers,
John