![Copy of Linux-aeon.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmQf4mS9tdfywpgy25hhSSfRpyzWavdUKfuYHteg5gHRPR)


## Intro
They said you need clunky GUIs like Unetbootin to create bootable USB install drives.

**They lied!**

With just one command, you can accomplish this task without issues.
I had more issues with the GUI apps you can find online than doing it in this way.

## The command
**BEWARE 1:  I am not responsible for any damage you may do to your system and devices by improper use of the unix dd utility.**
**BEWARE 2: the following command will erase any data contained in the target USB device. You don't even have to format it first :)**


The magic command is one of the oldest and greatest army knives of every Linux user, Data Duplicator (DD):
```sudo dd if=manjaro-kde-17.1.11-stable-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M status=progress```

**if** = **input file** = The ISO image of your operating system of choice (In my case, [the great Manjaro distro](https://manjaro.org/)).

**of** = **output file** = The **device** you are going to write the ISO image to. I repeat, **the device** and not **the partition**.
* **/dev/sdb = Device**
* /dev/sdb1 = Partition



<br/>
*Hint: to find how your USB stick is called, simply run:*

```sudo fdisk -l```
```
Disk /dev/sda: 223,6 GiB, 240057409536 bytes, 468862128 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x58e6b2a7

Device     Boot     Start       End   Sectors   Size Id Type
/dev/sda1            2049 450402085 450400037 214,8G 83 Linux
/dev/sda2       450402086 468857024  18454939   8,8G 82 Linux swap / Solaris




Disk /dev/sdb: 14,4 GiB, 15497953280 bytes, 30269440 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

Device     Boot   Start     End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1  *         64 4232079 4232016   2G cd unknown
/dev/sdb2       4232080 4240271    8192   4M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
```

In my case /dev/sdb is the USB drive.


## The output
```
2168455168 bytes (2,2 GB, 2,0 GiB) copied, 291 s, 7,5 MB/s 
517+1 records in
517+1 records out
2171019264 bytes (2,2 GB, 2,0 GiB) copied, 291,41 s, 7,5 MB/s
```

When it finishes you may have to unmount and remount the drive to allow the data to be synced.

That's it! your bootable USB drive is ready to use!

## Conclusion
DD is a great tool and it is very powerful, so be careful when using it!
It is capable of many, many other tasks like:
* Cloning partitions.
* Modifying files.
* Measure drive performance.
* Converting a text file to upper or lower case (Yes you got it right :)).
* And much more!.

More info on [its own wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix))

### Thank you! Stay tuned for more linux tips, tricks and much more!
<span style="display:block;text-align:center">![resh aquasummit.png](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmXrxwDmaPUXwpRtTqp6e5FRt3eFxk3673dbAk7pHUEJqg)</span>