HOW TO CREATE A BOOTABLE USB DRIVE FROM DIFFERENT DEVICES.

A USB which is bootable is convenient to have where one needs to set up or even repair an OS (Operating System) on your computer. One can also make their own bootable USB which contains the Operating System of your own choice.

How to create a Bootable Drive from Windows or from an Image.

1. One should kick start this process by downloading and creating an image file which normally ends with .IMG or .ISO that one wishes to turn into a bootable USB drive. One should check out How to Create an ISO File in order to know how to create one from an already existing CD/DVD, existing folders and files.
2. One should then go to https://rufus.ie. and download Rufus  which is free and mostly advised by many product specialists and developers in the internet. Once on the page, one should scroll down and tap on the “Download” button. It will then show you the latest version of the tool. In the event that id does not start download automatically, click on the save to start the download.
3. One should then double-click on the tool downloaded to run Rufus. One may then have to select Yes when prompted to open the folder.
4. At this point, one should then enter the USB drive. The dive should be large enough to house the size of your image folder. Where one already has files on the drive, one should back them up before continuing as this process will format everything on the drive.
5. One should then choose their USB drive from the “Device” menu. This is usually at the top of the Rufus page.
6. One should then select the “Disk or ISO image” button from the Boot selection menu on the Rufus window.
7. One should then choose their preferred image file. You should do this by clicking on the select button which is on the right side of the checkmark then move to the IMG or ISO file. You should then tap on Open.

This will enable the Volume label to get matched with the ISO. One can also rename the drive if they wish to do so by replacing the text with a name you wish. The other settings will just be okay in the default mode but one is free to change any part of settings to suit you.

• One should then tap on the “Start” button in order to complete creating the drive. Rufus will then proceed to copy the file image to your drive. This will make the drive bootable after completing the process.

The process of creating a bootable drive from a Mac Image.

1. One start by downloading or creating an image file. One will require a bootable image which usually end with .IMG, .ISO OR .DMG. One is ready to start the process incase they have an image file that they want to turn to a bootable USB drive. When one does not know how to turn the file image into a bootable drive, they can visit wikiHow and follow the process to do just that.
2. One should then download the Etcher from https://www.balena.io/etcher which is free and usually advised by many tech experts. Etcher allows one to create bootable USB Flash drives from file image.
3. One should then put in the USB flash drive. One should then back up their flash drive as this process will delete everything in it. This flash should be 16GB and above in order to house the OS (Operating System) files.
4. You should then open the Etcher on your Mac and as soon as the installer is downloaded, you should double-click the file image. You will see it on the screen named balenaEtcher-1.5.102.dmg and some may have a dissimilar number. After installation, select Etcher in the apps folder to enable the app to start running.
5. One should then choose the file image one wishes to use in order to create a bootable USB flash drive. If one downloaded the file image, it will be available in the Download folder on your Mac.
6. One is then required to select the flash drive they want to use. If it is already selected and you do not wish to use that one, tap on Change and select your preferred one.
7. One should then tap on Flash so that you can create your bootable drive. At clicking this, Etcher will proceed by copying the image file to your drive thus making it bootable. After completion of the process, you will get a message showing success of creating a bootable drive.
8. One should tap on the Eject button if they view a disk error. A disk error means that the disk you had put in cannot be read by the computer. Do not click on Initialize as one can still use the drive to boot at some other different time.