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

    From Chris Green@[email protected] to comp.sys.raspberry-pi on Mon Mar 9 16:51:00 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

    Does a bootable USB stick for a Pi 4B have the same format as a
    bootable SD card? I.e. can I just use dd to copy one to the other
    (not on the Pi itself) and expect it to work?
    --
    Chris Green
    ·
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  • From JJenssen@[email protected] to comp.sys.raspberry-pi on Mon Mar 9 18:54:52 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

    Am 09.03.26 um 17:51 schrieb Chris Green:
    Does a bootable USB stick for a Pi 4B have the same format as a
    bootable SD card? I.e. can I just use dd to copy one to the other
    (not on the Pi itself) and expect it to work?


    My experience is that you can.
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  • From Chris Green@[email protected] to comp.sys.raspberry-pi on Mon Mar 9 18:28:07 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

    JJenssen <[email protected]> wrote:
    Am 09.03.26 um 17:51 schrieb Chris Green:
    Does a bootable USB stick for a Pi 4B have the same format as a
    bootable SD card? I.e. can I just use dd to copy one to the other
    (not on the Pi itself) and expect it to work?


    My experience is that you can.

    OK, thanks.
    --
    Chris Green
    ·
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  • From paul lee@[email protected] to comp.sys.raspberry-pi on Tue Mar 10 14:00:02 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

    Does a bootable USB stick for a Pi 4B have the same format as a
    bootable SD card? I.e. can I just use dd to copy one to the other
    (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.........

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  • From druck@[email protected] to comp.sys.raspberry-pi on Tue Mar 10 19:52:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

    On 10/03/2026 21:00, paul lee wrote:
    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

    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
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  • From Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?=@[email protected] to comp.sys.raspberry-pi on Wed Mar 11 00:48:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

    On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:52:49 +0000, druck wrote:

    Use lsblk to list the available drives and make sure you don't write
    to anything that is mounted.

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

    sudo unmount /dev/xxx

    s/unmount/umount/
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  • From John R Walliker@[email protected] to comp.sys.raspberry-pi on Wed Mar 11 09:08:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.raspberry-pi

    On 11/03/2026 00:48, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
    On Tue, 10 Mar 2026 19:52:49 +0000, druck wrote:

    Use lsblk to list the available drives and make sure you don't write
    to anything that is mounted.

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

    sudo unmount /dev/xxx

    s/unmount/umount/

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

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