balenaEtcher Portable

balenaEtcher Portable provides you with a cross-platform image burner for SD cards and USB drives. Etcher is an open-source project for Windows PC!



If you have ever attempted to boot off of a corrupted card then you certainly know the frustration, this stripped-down utility is designed with a simple UI that allows quick and easy image burning. It also includes validation so no surprises at boot time.

balenaEtcher Portable Version fully subscribes to K.I.S.S format making operation easy for any skill level; select your image, the drive, and then hit Flash! and you are done. It fully supports ISO, BZ2, DMG, DSK, ETCH, GZ, HDDIMG, IMG, RAW, XZ, and ZIP. The app is the Easiest Way to Make a Raspberry Pi SD Card!



Features and Highlights

Validated Burning
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 burning 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 burns, simultaneous writing for multiple drives.



FAQ

Is balenaEtcher Portable safe to use?
Yes, this program is safe to use. It includes features like drive selection safety and validated flashing to prevent data corruption and accidental overwriting of system drives.

Can Etcher flash multiple drives at once?
No, the tool currently does not support flashing multiple drives simultaneously.

Does Etcher support custom image formats?
It supports a wide range of image formats, including ISO, IMG, ZIP, and others. Custom formats are generally not supported.

Why is my drive not showing up in Etcher?
Ensure that your drive is properly connected and recognized by your operating system. Etcher lists only removable drives, so check if your drive is correctly identified as removable.

Why is my drive not bootable?
Etcher copies images to drives byte by byte, without doing any transformation to the final device, which means images that require special treatment to be made bootable, like Windows images, will not work out of the box. In these cases, the general advice is to use software specific to those kind of images, usually available from the image publishers themselves.



How to Use

• Download an OS Image: Obtain the desired OS image file (e.g., a Linux distribution or a Windows installation image).
• Launch the app: Open the balenaEtcher Portable application.
• Select Image: Click the "Select Image" button and browse to the location of your downloaded image file.
• Insert Drive: Insert the SD card or USB drive you want to use.
• Select Drive: Click the "Select Target" button and choose the appropriate drive from the list.
• Flash!: Click the "Flash!" button to start the process. Wait for the progress bar to reach 100% and for the validation to complete.
• Eject Drive: Once the process is finished, safely eject your drive and use it as needed.

Alternatives

Rufus: A popular tool for creating bootable USB drives, particularly for Windows users. It's fast and supports a variety of image formats.

UNetbootin: Another cross-platform tool that allows users to create live USB systems for a variety of Linux distributions.

Universal USB Installer: A simple application for creating bootable USB drives, especially for Linux distributions.

Ventoy: A newer tool that allows users to create a bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files. With Ventoy, you don’t need to format the drive repeatedly.

WinToUSB: A Windows-specific utility that enables the creation of bootable USB drives with Windows installations.

YUMI: A versatile multiboot USB creator that allows users to add multiple ISO files and create a single USB drive with multiple bootable systems.

Pricing

balenaEtcher Portable is completely FREE to use. As an open-source project, it does not have any associated costs, and users are encouraged to contribute to its development if they find it useful.

PROS

• Simple, intuitive interface.
• Cross-platform compatibility.
• Open-source and free.
• Validated flashing reduces errors.
• Drive selection safety feature.

CONS

• Does not support flashing multiple drives simultaneously.
• Limited to flashing removable media only.
• Lacks advanced features found in some alternative tools.

Also Available: Download Etcher for Mac