On Fri, Mar 06, 2026 at 11:37:49AM +0100, Thomas Schmitt wrote: > Hi, > > i wrote: > > > Pete Batard, the author of Rufus, writes in > > > > > > https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/FAQ#user-content-Why_doesnt_Rufus_recommend_DD_mode_over_ISO_mode_for_ISOHybrid_images_Surely_DD_is_better > > [email protected] wrote: > > Ah, thanks for doing the reading for me. > > I assure you that the Rufus FAQ is not poisonous. :)) > > If you ever are interested to get an impression what a large user base > on MS-Windows does to the hobby life of a good willing developer of > free software, then skim over it. > I as developer of xorriso can afford to be mercilessly friendly to the > few users who contact me. He needs a pitch fork to keep them off his > neck.
I don't envy them. I only took issue with the idea that any tool can have "magical powers" beyond dd, since dd is just the last, dumb, bit-for-bit copy to the media, which has to be done anyway. Surely the only magic has to be then in the content copied? Unless, that is, that magical tool has a way to change the stick's embedded controller's firmware (I know, that has been done, but...). > > As I assume "dd" here is just > > a strawman: rufus has some magic extra bootloader thingy which checks > > fingerprints of chosen files at boot. > > The quoted section of the FAQ is about Rufus "ISO" mode versus its > "DD" mode. Ah, OK, something to watch out for: if anyone spells "dd" as "DD", all in capitals, they are talking about "Rufu's DD mode", which might -- or might not -- have anything to do with dd. [...] > Yep, the Rufus man dislikes the concept of isohybrid. > > We isohybrid producers like it because it delivers a single blob which > has the sole purpose to boot on nearly every x86 machine. Beauty and > usability of the USB stick as storage device are not the main goal. > (Technical background of isohybrid can be found in > https://sources.debian.org/src/libisofs/1.5.6.pl01-1.1/doc/boot_sectors.txt > Debian's ISO isohybrid layout much like the one in > SYSLINUX isohybrid for MBR, UEFI and x86-Mac > which of course refers to previous sections about x86 boot lures.) > > Both concepts cannot cover every use case. > Rufus needs to know internals about the boot related files in the ISO. > isohybrid might not work on some ideosyncratic x86 firmware for which > Rufus could apply specific workarounds. Thanks. So in a nutshell, the magic is in the content, and Rufus produces a somewhat different magic than isohybrid. Good ol' dd is not to blame, just up to that confusing name "DD mode" chosen for that Rufus option... Cheers -- t
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