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<!-- retain these comments for translator revision tracking -->
<!-- $Id$ -->
<sect1 condition="bootable-usb" id="boot-usb-files">
<title>Preparing Files for USB Memory Stick Booting</title>
<para>
To prepare the USB stick, we recommend to use a system where GNU/Linux is
already running and where USB is supported. With current GNU/Linux systems
the USB stick should be automatically recognized when you insert it. If
it is not you should check that the usb-storage kernel module is loaded.
When the USB stick is inserted, it will be mapped to a device named
<filename>/dev/sdX</filename>, where the <quote>X</quote> is a letter
in the range a-z. You should be able to see to which device the USB
stick was mapped by running the command <command>lsblk</command> before
and after inserting it. (The output of <command>dmesg</command> (as root) is
another possible method for that.)
To write to your stick, you may have to turn off its write
protection switch.
</para><warning><para>
The procedures described in this section will destroy anything already
on the device! Make very sure that you use the correct device name for
your USB stick. If you use the wrong device the result could be that all
information on, for example, a hard disk is lost.
</para></warning>
<sect2 id="usb-copy-isohybrid" condition="isohybrid-supported">
<title>Preparing a USB stick using a hybrid CD/DVD image</title>
<para>
Debian installation images for this architecture are created using the
<command>isohybrid</command> technology;
that means they can be written directly to a USB stick,
which is a very easy way to make an installation media. Simply choose
an image (such as the netinst, CD or DVD-1) that will fit
on your USB stick. See
<xref linkend="official-cdrom"/> to get an installation image.
</para><para>
Alternatively,
for very small USB sticks, only a few megabytes in size, you can download
the &netboot-mini-iso; image from the <filename>netboot</filename>
directory (at the location mentioned in <xref linkend="where-files"/>).
</para><para>
The installation image you choose should be written directly to the USB stick,
overwriting its current contents. For example, when using an existing
GNU/Linux system, the image file can be written to a USB stick
as follows, after having made sure that the stick is unmounted:
<informalexample><screen>
<prompt>#</prompt> <userinput>cp <replaceable>debian.iso</replaceable> /dev/<replaceable>sdX</replaceable></userinput>
<prompt>#</prompt> <userinput>sync</userinput>
</screen></informalexample>
Information about how to do this on other operating systems can be found in
the <ulink url="&url-debian-cd-faq-write-usb;">Debian CD FAQ</ulink>.
</para><important><para>
The image must be written to the whole-disk device and not a
partition, e.g. /dev/sdb and not /dev/sdb1.
Do not use tools like <command>unetbootin</command> which alter the image.
</para></important><important><para>
Simply writing the installation image to USB like this should work fine
for most users. The other options below are more complex, mainly for
people with specialised needs.
</para></important>
<para>
The hybrid image on the stick does not occupy all the storage space, so
it may be worth considering using the free space to hold firmware files
or packages or any other files of your choice. This could be useful if
you have only one stick or just want to keep everything you need on one
device.
</para><para>
To do so, use cfdisk or any other partitioning tool to create an additional
partition on the stick. Then create a (FAT) filesystem on the partition,
mount it and copy or unpack the firmware onto it, for example with:
<informalexample><screen>
# mkdosfs -n FIRMWARE /dev/sdX3
# mount /dev/<replaceable>sdX3</replaceable> /mnt
# cd /mnt
# tar zxvf <replaceable>/path/to/</replaceable>firmware.tar.gz
# cd /
# umount /mnt
</screen></informalexample>
Take care that you use the correct device name for your USB stick. The
<command>mkdosfs</command> command is contained in the
<classname>dosfstools</classname> &debian; package.
</para><note><para arch="not-s390">
If you have chosen the <filename>mini.iso</filename> to be written to the USB
stick, the second partition doesn't have to be created, as -
very nicely - it will already be present. Unplugging and replugging the
USB stick should make the two partitions visible.
</para></note>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usb-copy-easy" condition="manual-usb-prep-supported">
<title>Manually copying files to the USB stick</title>
<para>
Prior to isohybrid technology being used for &debian; installation images, the
methods documented in the chapters below were used to prepare media for
booting from USB devices.
These have been superseded by the technique in <xref linkend="usb-copy-isohybrid"/>,
but have been left here for educational and historical purposes and in case they
are useful to some user.
</para><para>
An alternative to the method described in
<xref linkend="usb-copy-isohybrid"/> is to manually copy
the installer files, and also an installation image to the stick.
Note that the USB stick should be at least 1 GB in size (smaller
setups are possible using the files from netboot, following
<xref linkend="usb-copy-flexible"/>).
</para><para>
There is an all-in-one file &hdmedia-boot-img;
which contains all the installer files (including the
kernel)<phrase arch="x86"> as well as <classname>syslinux</classname> and its
configuration file</phrase><phrase arch="powerpc"> as well as
<classname>yaboot</classname> and its
configuration file</phrase>.
</para><note><para>
Note that, although convenient, this method does have one major
disadvantage: the logical size of the device will be limited to 1 GB,
even if the capacity of the USB stick is larger. You will need to
repartition the USB stick and create new file systems to get its full
capacity back if you ever want to use it for some different purpose.
</para></note><para arch="x86">
Simply extract this image directly to your USB stick:
<informalexample><screen>
# zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/<replaceable>sdX</replaceable>
</screen></informalexample>
</para><para arch="powerpc">
Create a partition of type "Apple_Bootstrap" on your USB stick using
<command>mac-fdisk</command>'s <userinput>C</userinput> command and
extract the image directly to that:
<informalexample><screen>
# zcat boot.img.gz > /dev/<replaceable>sdX2</replaceable>
</screen></informalexample>
</para><para>
After that, mount the USB memory stick
<phrase arch="x86">(<userinput>mount
/dev/<replaceable>sdX</replaceable> /mnt</userinput>),</phrase>
<phrase arch="powerpc">(<userinput>mount
/dev/<replaceable>sdX2</replaceable> /mnt</userinput>),</phrase>
which will now have
<phrase arch="x86">a FAT filesystem</phrase>
<phrase arch="powerpc">an HFS filesystem</phrase>
on it, and copy a &debian; ISO image (netinst or full CD; see
<xref linkend="official-cdrom"/>) to it.
Unmount the stick (<userinput>umount /mnt</userinput>) and you are done.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="usb-copy-flexible" condition="manual-usb-prep-supported">
<title>Manually copying files to the USB stick — the flexible way</title>
<para>
If you like more flexibility or just want to know what's going on, you
should use the following method to put the files on your stick. One
advantage of using this method is that — if the capacity of your
USB stick is large enough — you have the option of copying any
ISO image, even a DVD image, to it.
</para>
&usb-setup-x86.xml;
&usb-setup-powerpc.xml;
</sect2>
</sect1>
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