Friday, March 29, 2024
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Etcher – Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives, safely and easily

Etcher

Etcher is a powerful OS image flasher built with web technologies to ensure flashing an SDCard or USB drive is a pleasant and safe experience. Etcher is a free and open-source utility used for burning image files such as .iso and .img files, as well as zipped folders to create live SD cards and USB flash drives. It is developed by balena, and licensed under Apache License 2.0. Etcher was developed using the Electron framework and supports Windows, macOS and Linux. It protects you from accidentally writing to your hard-drives, ensures every byte of data was written correctly and much more. balenaEtcher was originally called Etcher, but its name was changed on October 29, 2018 when Resin.io changed its name to Balena.

Features

  • Validated Flashing – No more writing images on corrupted cards and wondering why your device isn’t booting.
  • Hard Drive Friendly – Makes drive selection obvious to avoid wiping your entire hard-drive
  • Beautiful Interface – Who said flashing SD cards has to be an eyesore.
  • Open Source – Made with JS, HTML, node.js and Electron. Dive in and contribute!
  • Cross Platform – Works for everyone, no more complicated install instructions.
  • More on the way – 50% faster flashes, simultaneous writing for multiple drives.

Supported Operating Systems

  • Linux (most distros)
  • macOS 10.9 and later
  • Microsoft Windows 7 and later

Installers

Debian and Ubuntu based Package Repository (GNU/Linux x86/x64)

  1. Add Etcher debian repository:
    echo "deb https://deb.etcher.io stable etcher" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/balena-etcher.list
  2. Trust Bintray.com’s GPG key:
    sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 379CE192D401AB61
  3. Update and install:
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install balena-etcher-electron

Uninstall

sudo apt-get remove balena-etcher-electron
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/balena-etcher.list
sudo apt-get update

Redhat (RHEL) and Fedora based Package Repository (GNU/Linux x86/x64)

  1. Add rpm repository:
    sudo wget https://balena.io/etcher/static/etcher-rpm.repo -O /etc/yum.repos.d/etcher-rpm.repo
  2. Update and install:
    sudo yum install -y balena-etcher-electron

    or

    sudo dnf install -y balena-etcher-electron

Uninstall

sudo yum remove -y balena-etcher-electron
sudo rm /etc/yum.repos.d/etcher-rpm.repo
sudo yum clean all
sudo yum makecache fast

or

sudo dnf remove -y balena-etcher-electron
sudo rm /etc/yum.repos.d/etcher-rpm.repo
sudo dnf clean all
sudo dnf makecache

Solus (GNU/Linux x64)

sudo eopkg it etcher

Uninstall

sudo eopkg rm etcher

Brew Cask (macOS)

Note that the Etcher Cask has to be updated manually to point to new versions, so it might not refer to the latest version immediately after an Etcher release.

brew cask install balenaetcher

Uninstall

brew cask uninstall balenaetcher

Chocolatey (Windows)

This package is maintained by @majkinetor, and is kept up to date automatically.

choco install etcher

Uninstall

choco uninstall etcher

Useful Links

Download | Support | Documentation | Contributing | Roadmap | CLI


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Harshvardhan Mishra

Hi, I'm Harshvardhan Mishra. Tech enthusiast and IT professional with a B.Tech in IT, PG Diploma in IoT from CDAC, and 6 years of industry experience. Founder of HVM Smart Solutions, blending technology for real-world solutions. As a passionate technical author, I simplify complex concepts for diverse audiences. Let's connect and explore the tech world together! If you want to help support me on my journey, consider sharing my articles, or Buy me a Coffee! Thank you for reading my blog! Happy learning! Linkedin

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