Many gui tools such as rufus use up the entire drive when flashing an iso. I have a 64gb usb and flashing a single linux installer iso less than 4gb feels like a waste of space. Are there any packages/commands that can create dualbootable usbs?
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I typically do a full install and then loopmount with grub multiple ISO. If flash drive smaller I just install grub & create my own grub.cfg to loopmount ISO. But now I have found my external SSD is so much faster than flash drives (I still have many), that I now use SSD most of the time. help.ubuntu.com/community/… & wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Multiboot_USB_drive#GParted_Live & askubuntu.com/questions/1251729/…oldfred– oldfred2023-01-08 19:47:09 +00:00Commented Jan 8, 2023 at 19:47
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1 Answer
Since you seem to have Windows available, you could use YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator.
This a Windows-Exe which lets you format and add ISOs one by one to your selected USB drive, pretty much like Rufus. You can choose from various Linux distros and system tools which are supported, or try "Try Unlisted ISO" from the dropdown if your ISO is missing.
The ISO is then copied into a directory on the USB drive and a GRUB menu entry is automatically added to boot it.
There are three different versions available:
- YUMI exFAT supports exFAT format & 4GB+ files. BIOS and UEFI USB boot.
- YUMI Legacy supports either NTFS or Fat32 format. BIOS USB boot only.
- YUMI UEFI supports Fat32 only. BIOS and UEFI USB booting (Distro dependent).
Most distros and utilities I tried worked out-of-the-box, it's also a good starting point for your own customized multiboot USB stick.
Cons:
- It's a Windows tool
- You can't add persistence to live distros
