Re: Can I dd copy an sdcard image to a USB stick for a Pi 4B?

OK, thanks.

Just make sure you put the source device name in for xxx on the left, and the correct destination device name for xxx on the right. If you do get it wrong the disc will be corrupted instantly and pressing Ctrl+C wont be quick enough.

Use lsblk to list the available drives and make sure you don't write to anything that is mounted. If your destination drive is temporarily mounted under /media/username do a

sudo unmount /dev/xxx

before using the dd command.

---druck

CG> Does a bootable USB stick for a Pi 4B have the same format as a CG> bootable SD card? I.e. can I just use dd to copy one to the other CG> (not on the Pi itself) and expect it to work?

While I don't understand the 'format' bit, yes you can absolutely dd a USB to and SD for a Pi image...

dd if=/dev/xxx of=/dev/xxx

(There are other options you can use that I prefer;)

dd if=/dev/xxx of=/dev/xxx bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync

Find USB/SD devices: lsblk

Verify write after dd: sync

|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o |08.........

It is useful add output of the SIZE, VENDOR and MODEL fields in lsblk, as additional verification that you’re destroying the right volume. ;)

s/unmount/umount/

Then check it again. Then one more time to be sure. John

Yes, anyone that's used dd more than a couple of times has lost at least one disc that way. It does teach the importance of attention to detail and BACKUPS!

---druck

They don't call it 'data destroyer' for nothing.