There are many software that allow you to create bootable drives for installing the operating system. balenaEtcher is an open source application designed for creating bootable flash drives: its intuitive interface and ease of use make it a popular choice among users who need to prepare bootable USB sticks or SD cards.
The main flagship of balenaEtcher (known to many simply as Etcher), is the fact that it is a multiplatform utility: it is compatible with Windows, Linux and macOS systems. Furthermore, it allows you to create a bootable USB stick or other external media with a few simple clicks. Without proposing bizarre steps and too many settings, generally the prerogative of technicians and more expert users.
What is balenaEtcher and how does it work
balenaEtcher was created to make any USB stick bootable, as long as you use aISO image that contains boot files. Otherwise, the drive – inserted when the system starts – will not allow booting and any operating system already present on the machine in use will continue to run.
The balenaEtcher download page also offers one portable version for Windows: this means that users of the Microsoft operating system can use this software immediately, with a simple double click, without any need to start any installation procedure.
The button on the left, on the main program screen, allows you to write the contents of an ISO file on a USB medium or on an SD card (Flash from file). Unlike other utilities, however, balenaEtcher is able to do the flashing of an ISO file (process of writing or copying the contents of the file to a storage device) from a resource available via URL (Flash from URL). In other words, the software can download a ISO file remotely then load its contents into bootable media. The third option is Clona drive: Allows you to create a copy of the contents of one drive on another, thus generating a 1:1 “mirror copy”.
Create bootable USB media with balenaEtcher
After downloading the ISO file from which it is possible to install the operating system contained therein, simply run balenaEtcher and then click on the button Flash from drive. By selecting Select targetyou can indicate the drive on which you want to write data.
In this regard, it is interesting to note that balenaEtcher automatically hides the system unit i.e. the storage media that are connected internally to the PC in use. This is to avoid dangerous overwriting of the installed operating system and user data.
I exclamation marks they indicate that drives should never be selected as the destination for writing data. balenaEtcher is explicit: with appropriate labels it highlights the system units (System drive) and the medium that hosts the ISO file specified in the previous step (Source drive).
Once you have chosen the USB support to use, simply click on the button Flash on the balenaEtcher main screen to start preparing the removable storage media.
When the UAC message “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” you need to click on Yes to authorize the write operation (the dialog refers to the command prompt or cmd). The balenaEtcher interface, in fact, is nothing more than a GUI for the underlying utility that it works from command line. Once the user has set his preferences, these are automatically passed to the utility run from Command Prompt (which requires administrator rights).
The advanced options of balenaEtcher
By clicking on the gear icon at the top right, you can deny the transfer of anonymous information about the use of the software to the developers (deactivate the option Anonimously report errors and usage statistics to balena.io).
The option “Trim unallocated space on raw images (in ext-type partitions)” is designed for delete unallocated space within type partitions ext before writing the raw images. This process reduces the size of the written image, as it eliminates empty space within the partitions and can potentially speed up the writing process depending on the distribution of empty space within the partitions. The option does not change the partition sizes themselves, but avoid writing unnecessary data (blank space) during the process of writing the ISO image.
Differences between balenaEtcher and Rufus
balenaEtcher e Rufus they are both tools used to create bootable flash drives, for the purpose of installing operating systems or starting these platforms at system boot, directly from a USB stick or other external support. However, it is worth tracing an identikit of them differences between whaleEtcher and Rufus.
Apparently similar, in fact, the two utilities diverge, even quite significantly, if the behavior of each of them is carefully analyzed.
First of all, Rufus is designed for Windows and is not natively available for other operating systems. balenaEtcher, as we have already highlighted, also extends compatibility to macOS and Linux systems.
User interface and options offered
Furthermore, while balenaEtcher has auser interface Simple and intuitive, ideal for users who want a hassle-free user experience, Rufus features many advanced options. As we saw in the guide to using Rufus, this utility was created primarily to write and make correctly bootable ISOs of Windows installation media.
The program is compatible with UEFI BIOS-based systems while maintaining maximum compatibility with i BIOS legacy and with the CSM mode (Compatibility Support Mode). All these options can be conveniently selected through the menu Target system and allow you to create compatible bootable media with the systems on which they will be used.
By clicking the arrow next to Selectin the Rufus interface, the program (also free and open source) starts an effective script that allows you to download Windows ISOs, without even needing to search on the channels made available by Microsoft. The download takes place from the Redmond company’s servers, guaranteeing that the ISO files are “genuine” and not altered in any way by third parties.
However, nothing prevents you from using Rufus for write Linux images on USB installation media. From November 2021, among other things, media generated with Rufus are compatible with the Secure Boot security feature: this means that it is possible to boot them without making any changes at the UEFI BIOS level.
Rufus to use to create bootable media from Windows ISO files
By the balenaEtcher developers’ own admission, the application is not suitable for managing and writing Windows ISO images. In fact, they require a special treatment that balenaEtcher is not currently able to apply. This is why, when you try to choose the ISO image of the installation media of a version of Windows, balenaEtcher displays the warning Possible Windows image detected.
balenaEtcher copies the contents of ISO images byte by byte on the destination units, without making any transformation. Rufus, on the other hand, adapts the loading of the image – as we have seen – to the system used by the user, avoiding any possible problem.
Not only. As we saw in the article focused on Rufus’ tricks and secrets, the application can actively intervene on the content of Windows ISOs, for example allowing the installation of Windows 11 on non-compatible PCs, arranging for the automatic creation of a local user account, making the final installation phase (OOBE phase, Out-of-box Experience), disabling BitLocker, and much more.
Again, taking advantage of the Microsoft functionality Windows To Go, Rufus allows you to install and start Windows from a USB stick or media. This means that without modifying anything of the contents of the system in use, it is possible run Windows from USB with a working instance of the platform physically present on the external removable device.
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