Howto: USB-friendly Linux Mint hybrid ISO

[piratesmack]

Recent versions of isolinux support a hybrid cd-rom/hard disk mode, meaning that the same ISO file can be burned to a CD or written to a USB drive. Unfortunately, the version of isolinux on the Ubuntu and Mint ISO's is too old for this.

The attached script will update isolinux to the latest version and create a hybrid Linux Mint (or Ubuntu) ISO.

How to use:

• 1. Save the attached mkhybridiso.tar.gz somewhere convenient, like your home folder
  2. Open a terminal (Menu>Terminal)
  3. Extract mkhybridiso.tar.gz by typing:

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  tar xvf mkhybridiso.tar.gz
  

  4. Run the script:

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  cd mkhybridiso
  sudo ./mkhybridiso.sh /PATH/TO/ISO
  

  Replace /PATH/TO/ISO with the path to your Linux Mint ISO (eg /home/steven/linuxmint-9-gnome-rc-i386.iso)
  A hybrid ISO will be created in the current directory

Writing the hybrid ISO to a USB drive:

• Note: This will erase all data on the USB drive
  1. Plug in your USB drive (If your desktop automounts it, please unmount it with Right Click>Unmount)
  2. Open a Terminal and type:

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  dmesg | tail
  

  3. You should see something similar to

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  scsi 4:0:0:0: Direct-Access     SanDisk  U3 Cruzer Micro  8.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
  sd 4:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 0
  sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] 7892991 512-byte logical blocks: (4.04 GB/3.76 GiB)
  sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
  sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 45 00 00 08
  sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
  sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
   sdb: sdb1
  sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
  sd 4:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
  

  You can ignore everything except the part in '[ ]' brackets. My USB drive is 'sdb', remember yours
  4. You can write the ISO to your USB drive with one of the following commands (Choose whatever you find easiest to remember):

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  sudo dd if=/home/steven/linuxmint-9-gnome-rc-i386_hybrid.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
  

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  sudo cat /home/steven/linuxmint-9-gnome-rc-i386_hybrid.iso > /dev/sdb
  

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  sudo cp /home/steven/linuxmint-9-gnome-rc-i386_hybrid.iso /dev/sdb
  

And that's it

Note: BIOS must support booting from USB

[somik]

For those who are using windows, you can "write/burn" the linux mint (and a lot more) iso to your pendrive by using the following tool, provided by PendriveLinux:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/

I used it when installing Linux Mint 8 to my laptop. This is much faster then burning the iso to a CD and then trying to do it...


You can also use this special tool to multi-boot several OS from one pendrive. All you need is to copy the ISO image to pendrive:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-multi ... iboot-usb/