How To Format A USB with Linux 💿

Date: 23-08-2024

This is a quick tutorial to show you how to burn any file to a piece of optical disk media!

Warning ⚠️

Once you burn an optical disk you cannot reburn it. -

Optical media does not have the best storage, normally under 1GiB so make sure your files align with the size of the optical media. -

What you will need 📋

Optical drive capable of writing to a CD
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥️
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

- -

Steps to burn 🔥

You will only need one program to burn media to a CD; the name of that program is wodim, and it is part of a collection of programs called cdrkit, as in thename ofe this collection of programs that allow you to do a whole variaty of things withopticall media! -

- -

1) Install cdrkit, on some Linux distrobutions cdrkit is already installed, but on my main Linux distrobution Arch Linux, it is not so check you have it installed, the package on your distro will most likely be called cdrkit.

-
-

sudo pacman -S cdrkit

-
- -

- -

2) You want to get whatever data you want into an ISO file, so if you had a file called movies that held movies you would use the command.

mkisofs -o movies.iso movies

movies.iso being the output ISO and movies being the directory with the movies in there.

- -

3) Now the last command is the actual event of burning the optical media! So insert it into your optical drive and type this command.

wodim -v dev=/dev/sr0 movies.iso

movies.iso being the output ISO from the last command.

- -

4) Now it is time to sit back and wait for it to burn; do not get impatient; give it time, and it will burn. When it is done, you may enject the optical media from the CD drive, and it should have all the files you desire.

- -

That is all the required steps to burn optical media on Linux, I hope this has helped you!

  Back 🚪
-

How to burn an ISO to a USB stick 💾

Date: 24-08-2024

Burning an ISO onto a USB stick on Linux is very easy, and you only need to use a few commands!

What you will need 📋

A USB drive
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

Warning ⚠️

Make sure there is no valuable information on the USB stick.

- -

How to burn an ISO to a USB 🔥💾

1) You need to have an ISO file. I am guessing you already have one, but if you do have one, I would suggest checking out Distrowatch.

- -

2) Now that you have the ISO file, you need to plug in the USB stick. After doing that, you need to identify the name of the USB with the following command:

lsblk

The USB name will be something like sdb or sdc; if you are unsure, check the size of the USB and the size of the device listed.

- -

3) We need to make sure the USB is unmounted, and we do this with this command. Remember to use your USB name:

sudo umount /dev/sdX

- -

4) Now it is time to burn the ISO to the USB stick, use your USB name and your ISO name with this command!

sudo dd if=debian.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

- -

5) After waiting a bit for it to burn, you now need to eject it so you are able to use it with this command:

sudo eject /dev/sdX

- -

Finished ✅

After following all of these steps, your USB should have the ISO image burned into it. I hope this has helped you burn a Linux or BSD distro to a USB!

- -

  Back 🚪
-

Formatting USBs With Linux 🔌🔥

Date: 23-08-2024

Formatting a USB in Linux is easier then burning an ISO and only needs a few quick commands!

What you will need 📋

A USB drive
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

- -

Formatting the USB

1) The first thing you want to do is plug in your USB stick and identify the USB stick's name.

lsblk

Normally the USB will be something like sdX; a tip on identifying it is by looking at the size of the USB in the table that lsblk gives you!

- -

2) Now you need to use a program called fdisk that will allow you to create a new partition table for the USB, this will format the USB.

sudo fdisk /dev/sdX

You will need to press the following keys to make a new partition table for the USB.

o - Creates a new DOS partition table
n - New partition, press enter to all that follows
w - Writes the partition table

Give fdisk a minute to write the new partition to the USB.

- -

3) Now is the time to give that partition a file system. You should look into this beforehand to see what file system you want, but I will use fat32 because it works with all operating systems.

sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 -n "Backup-USB" /dev/sdXx

The small x represents the number of the partition; the -L flag is used to give the USB stick a name.

- -

Finished ✅

All done! Now you have an empty USB stick you can use for all your files!

- - -

  Back 🚪
-

Encrypting USB with luks

Date: 17-02-2025

What you will need 📋

A USB drive
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

- -

1) Install cryptsetup -

sudo pacman -S cryptsetup

- -

2) Backup any information on the USB stick because this process involves formatting the USB drive.

- -

3) Formatting USB.

- sudo fdisk /dev/sdX -

The X being your USB drive.

Press the following keys:
o
n
Press enter for the rest
w

- -

4) Encryption time! -

- sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdX1 -

Make your password secure please! - -

- -

5) Decrypt USB

- sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdX1 USB -

Note: The first password is your root user password, not the encryption password. I have sadly made this mistake in the past.

- -

6) Format the Encrypted Partition

- sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/USB -

Depending on the size of the USB, this may take some time. For me, it took 3 minutes.

- -

Step 7: Mount the Encrypted Partition

- sudo mkdir -p /mnt/USB -
- sudo mount /dev/mapper/USB /mnt/USB -

- -

Finished ✅

Your password better be good dude. Make sure to memorize it!

- - -

  Back 🚪
-

How to burn an ISO to a USB stick 💾

Date: 24-08-2024

Burning an ISO onto a USB stick on Linux is very easy, and you only need to use a few commands!

What you will need 📋

A USB drive
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

Warning ⚠️

Make sure there is no valuable information on the USB stick.

+ +

How to burn an ISO to a USB 🔥💾

1) You need to have an ISO file. I am guessing you already have one, but if you do have one, I would suggest checking out Distrowatch.

+ +

2) Now that you have the ISO file, you need to plug in the USB stick. After doing that, you need to identify the name of the USB with the following command:

lsblk

The USB name will be something like sdb or sdc; if you are unsure, check the size of the USB and the size of the device listed.

+ +

3) We need to make sure the USB is unmounted, and we do this with this command. Remember to use your USB name:

sudo umount /dev/sdX

+ +

4) Now it is time to burn the ISO to the USB stick, use your USB name and your ISO name with this command!

sudo dd if=debian.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

+ +

5) After waiting a bit for it to burn, you now need to eject it so you are able to use it with this command:

sudo eject /dev/sdX

+ +

Finished ✅

After following all of these steps, your USB should have the ISO image burned into it. I hope this has helped you burn a Linux or BSD distro to a USB!

+ +

  Back 🚪
+

Encrypting USB with luks

Date: 17-02-2025

What you will need 📋

A USB drive
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

+ +

1) Install cryptsetup +

sudo pacman -S cryptsetup

+ +

2) Backup any information on the USB stick because this process involves formatting the USB drive.

+ +

3) Formatting USB.

+ sudo fdisk /dev/sdX +

The X being your USB drive.

Press the following keys:
o
n
Press enter for the rest
w

+ +

4) Encryption time! +

+ sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/sdX1 +

Make your password secure please! + +

+ +

5) Decrypt USB

+ sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdX1 USB +

Note: The first password is your root user password, not the encryption password. I have sadly made this mistake in the past.

+ +

6) Format the Encrypted Partition

+ sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/mapper/USB +

Depending on the size of the USB, this may take some time. For me, it took 3 minutes.

+ +

Step 7: Mount the Encrypted Partition

+ sudo mkdir -p /mnt/USB +
+ sudo mount /dev/mapper/USB /mnt/USB +

+ +

Finished ✅

Your password better be good dude. Make sure to memorize it!

+ + +

  Back 🚪
+

Formatting USBs With Linux 🔌🔥

Date: 23-08-2024

Formatting a USB in Linux is easier then burning an ISO and only needs a few quick commands!

What you will need 📋

A USB drive
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

+ +

Formatting the USB

1) The first thing you want to do is plug in your USB stick and identify the USB stick's name.

lsblk

Normally the USB will be something like sdX; a tip on identifying it is by looking at the size of the USB in the table that lsblk gives you!

+ +

2) Now you need to use a program called fdisk that will allow you to create a new partition table for the USB, this will format the USB.

sudo fdisk /dev/sdX

You will need to press the following keys to make a new partition table for the USB.

o - Creates a new DOS partition table
n - New partition, press enter to all that follows
w - Writes the partition table

Give fdisk a minute to write the new partition to the USB.

+ +

3) Now is the time to give that partition a file system. You should look into this beforehand to see what file system you want, but I will use fat32 because it works with all operating systems.

sudo mkfs.fat -F 32 -n "Backup-USB" /dev/sdXx

The small x represents the number of the partition; the -L flag is used to give the USB stick a name.

+ +

Finished ✅

All done! Now you have an empty USB stick you can use for all your files!

+ + +

  Back 🚪
+

How To Format A USB with Linux 💿

Date: 23-08-2024

This is a quick tutorial to show you how to burn any file to a piece of optical disk media!

Warning ⚠️

Once you burn an optical disk you cannot reburn it. +

Optical media does not have the best storage, normally under 1GiB so make sure your files align with the size of the optical media. +

What you will need 📋

Optical drive capable of writing to a CD
A computer with Linux 🐧🖥️
The ability to read instructions and to follow them 🧠

+ +

Steps to burn 🔥

+ +

+
+

sudo pacman -S cdrkit

+
+ +

+ +

2) You want to get whatever data you want into an ISO file, so if you had a file called movies that held movies you would use the command.

mkisofs -o movies.iso movies

movies.iso being the output ISO and movies being the directory with the movies in there.

+ +

3) Now the last command is the actual event of burning the optical media! So insert it into your optical drive and type this command.

wodim -v dev=/dev/sr0 movies.iso

movies.iso being the output ISO from the last command.

+ +

That is all the required steps to burn optical media on Linux, I hope this has helped you!

  Back 🚪
+