In this guide, we are going to compare two of the greatest bootable USB creator software. The first one is Rufus and the other one is Etcher. Both of these softwares are easy to use and very reliable ones. But they do have great differences. So let’s get down with the comparison. Etcher is an application that helps you create a bootable live USB flash drives for adding live CD versions of Clonezilla, DRBL, GParted or Tux2live. The project is a modified Unetbootin one and it is cross-platform.
You can download and install this program on Windows 10 PCs but also without a hitch on Windows 7 and Windows 8. And it is absolutely free. The compatibility with this USB booter software may vary, but will generally run smoothly under Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP on either a 32-bit or 64-bit setup. A separate x64 version of Etcher may be available from Etcher official website.
Etcher program works as an alternative to burning a DVD or CD. The interface of Etcher is very basic which includes a couple of options including the ability to make a bootable Clonezilla drive. When compared to the features it offers, Etcher is a little ahead than Rufus. It also created live versions of Clonezilla, DRBL, GParted or Tux2live on the USB drive. Use the package to get access to cloning package Clonezilla to take a disk image of your system for backup and recovery protection. GParted Live can also be used to build new partitions on Windows or Linux systems.
The most updated version of the Etcher program can be installed on the live CD which can be pulled in and installed on the USB flash drive.
The Etcher application auto-updates to the latest version. Easy to learn and deploy. It creates bootable memory sticks on the fly. Rufus also has a built-in auto-update feature that downloads the most recent version when it is available.
All that is required to create the bootable drive is an OS image such as a Live Linux distro. It can be in either 7Z or ISO format. The drive type can be defined as either USB Drive or Hard Drive.
In the end, a useful tool for installing Linux from a USB device instead of wasting physical CDs and DVDs.
Here are some additional Features: