Make Bootable USB Drives Using Etcher...For Free

Have you ever wanted to make a bootable USB drive? It's fairly common, people want to run an operating system from a USB key for multiple reasons, or use it to install a new operating system.

If you're considering using Linux instead of Windows a bootable USB drive is a great option. It lets you try out Linux without making any changes to your existing computer. If you decide it's not for you just reboot the computer without the USB drive and you're back to normal.

There are many utilities to make bootable USB drives, but one of the easiest also happens to be free.

Etcher by Resin.io lets you make bootable images without hassle.

Etcher runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux so you can use it on all your devices.

Using Etcher is remarkably simple, you launch the app and press the "select image" button to choose your disk image. Etcher supports iso, dsk, img, rawm and a few other formats.

After you've chosen the image you select the drive to write it to. This is where some of the magic of Etcher kicks in.

Unlike some other utilities, Etcher won't let you select your main hard drive by accident, offering some comfort if you're new to making bootable drives.

Etcher offers validated burning, meaning Etcher checks to ensure the image put on the USB drive isn't corrupted so you know it will work.

Being able to make bootable USB drives is becoming more of a requirement as technology progresses. Etcher can help you do it without having to learn arcane instructions.

Happy surfing!

-The Home Geek