From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 14 17:20:29 2014 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) (using TLSv1 with cipher ADH-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id C9A2B1B7 for ; Sun, 14 Sep 2014 17:20:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (wonkity.com [67.158.26.137]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (Client CN "wonkity.com", Issuer "wonkity.com" (not verified)) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 74543DCB for ; Sun, 14 Sep 2014 17:20:28 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wonkity.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9) with ESMTP id s8EHKIsD029694 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 bits=256 verify=NO); Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:20:18 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Received: from localhost (wblock@localhost) by wonkity.com (8.14.9/8.14.9/Submit) with ESMTP id s8EHKDhQ029630; Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:20:13 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wblock@wonkity.com) Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:20:13 -0600 (MDT) From: Warren Block To: atar Subject: Re: Using the ISO releases on USB sticks. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: References: <4D32ABC9-D0D0-48D2-98D3-FF1D72A4261E@gmail.com> <6.0.0.22.2.20140910111010.052bfb38@mail.computinginnovations.com> User-Agent: Alpine 2.11 (BSF 23 2013-08-11) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-4.4.3 (wonkity.com [127.0.0.1]); Sun, 14 Sep 2014 11:20:18 -0600 (MDT) Cc: "freebsd-questions@freebsd.org" , Derek Ragona X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18-1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 17:20:29 -0000 On Sun, 14 Sep 2014, atar wrote: > Just wanted to know please why does the command 'dd > if=FreeBSD-i386-disc1.iso of=myUSB-stick' doesn't make the USB stick > bootable like it would does for CDROMs or DVDs? What's the difference > between CDROM and an USB? [top-posting deleted, please don't do that] dd just copies bytes from one place to another. An ISO image file is not bootable from a hard disk or USB stick, which require a different format and bootcode. Some Linux systems use install files that are dual-purpose and can work from CD or USB. FreeBSD does not do that. Some writing utilities can take apart an ISO image and convert it to a bootable USB stick. I don't know if any of those work for FreeBSD ISO images any more.