Etcher (software)
| Etcher | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Balena |
| Stable release | 2.1.4[1]  (29 July 2025) [±] |
| Repository | |
| Written in | Electron (JavaScript, HTML, Node.js) |
| Operating system | Cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Linux) |
| Platform | Electron / Node.js |
| Size | >400 MiB |
| License | Apache License 2.0 |
| Website | etcher |
balenaEtcher (commonly referred to and formerly known as Etcher) is a free and open-source utility for writing image files such as .iso and .img files, as well as zipped folders onto storage media to create live SD cards and USB flash drives. It is developed by Balena[2] and licensed under Apache License 2.0.[3] Etcher allows users to write images to portable storage media such as USB flash drives and SD cards. Etcher was developed using the Electron framework and supports Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems.[4][5][6][7][8][9] balenaEtcher was originally called Etcher, but its name was changed on October 29, 2018, when Resin.io changed its name to Balena.[10]
Features
[edit] | This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2025) |
Etcher is primarily used through a graphical user interface, but there is also a command-line interface available for download on GitHub.[11]
- Automatic detection of USB storage media and SD memory cards.
- Protection against hard-disk selection. This prevents accidental destruction of data on a hard disk.
- Allows preparing a bootable USB drive with a Windows 10 image larger than the capacity of a DVD.
- Allows installing Raspbian for Raspberry Pi on a microSD memory card.[12]
- When the recording is complete, Etcher offers to record a new medium with the same image or a new one. This is convenient for teachers who want to record the same image on the SD memory cards of all the Raspberry Pi computers in their school.
Future planned features include support for persistent storage allowing live SD card or USB flash drive to be used as a hard drive, as well as support for flashing multiple boot partitions to a single SD card or USB flash drive.
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ "Release 2.1.4". 29 July 2025. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
- ^ "BalenaEtcher". balenaEcher.dev. Archived from the original on 2023-02-28. Retrieved 2022-01-30.
- ^ "balena-io/etcher". GitHub. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
- ^ "Burn SD cards with Etcher". Rasberrypi.org (Magpi).
- ^ Sneddon, Joey (13 May 2017). "How to Install Etcher, the open-source USB writer tool, on Ubuntu". Omgubuntu.
- ^ Klosowski, Thorin (6 January 2017). "Etcher Is the Easiest Way to Make a Raspberry Pi SD Card". Lifehacker.
- ^ Kili, Aaron (17 May 2016). "Etcher – A Modern USB and SD Card Image Writer Tool for Linux". Fossmint.
- ^ "How to Write an .img to SD Card on Mac the Easy Way with Etcher". OSxdaily. 11 January 2018.
- ^ "Design of a Security System Based on Raspberry Pi with Motion Detection". Digital Technologies and Applications.
- ^ "Resin.io changes name to balena, releases open source edition". balena.io. 2018-10-29. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
- ^ balena-io/balena-cli, balena, 2024-05-03, retrieved 2024-05-03.
- ^ "Configuring Raspberry Pi, MicroPython Pyboard, and Jetson Nano for Python". Python Programming Recipes for IoT Applications.