Rufus is a free and open source portable application that allows you to format and create bootable USB flash drives for operating system installation. Rufus was developed by Pete Bathard and the source code is available on GitHub. Many experienced users prefer Rufus because it does exactly what is written on tin paper.
From February 2020, however, Rufus will only be available to Windows users. This forces users to look for other options for platforms such as MacOS. In this article we give you an overview of the 5 best Rufus alternatives for Windows, Linux and MacOS.
Hard disk Win32
The Win32 Disk Imager is the same functionality as the Rufus Disk Imager. It is one of the oldest programs for low-level firmware such as Raspbian and ARM operating systems, SD cards and USB drives. It is a very powerful software with a clean user interface. But if you’re a beginner, it can be a bit difficult to get started if you’re not so familiar with low level blinking.
Eraser
Unlike the Win32 disk simager, Etcher is a newly introduced software. Etcher has an open source version and a paid version. The paid version offers more possibilities. Etcher’s intuitive user interface makes it very easy to use. It is designed to store disk image files such as .iso and .img archives and
to create live USB flash drives. To create a bootable device with Etcher, simply select the system image, connect a USB stick and press the flash button. It’s as simple as that.
Another advantage of Etcher is that it is available on all major platforms such as MacOS, Linux and Ubuntu. Compared to Rufus USB, Etcher is slightly slower when creating bootable USB sticks. Unlike most other programs, it has an amazing, easy-to-use graphical interface and allows you to create a USB installation program with just a few clicks without using the terminal or commands. In addition, Etcher supports Windows 7 up to the latest version of Windows 10 and is compatible with the old BIOS, the MBR partition and the latest UEFI mode. We think ether is the best alternative to Rufus, because it has everything in it.
UNetboat
UNetbootin is a very popular alternative to Rufus for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions. Many Linux users use UNetbootin to build USB devices because of the performance under Linux. Compared to the other programs we are discussing, UNetbootin is an incredibly lightweight software that is compatible with many Linux distributions. UNetbootin is also available for Windows.
However, the performance of UNetbootin is not so good in a Windows environment. It also offers a quick double charge function. This allows you to start Windows and Linux later on the same computer.
PowerISO
PowerISO is not only a bootable software for creating USB sticks. It also allows you to create, decompress, encrypt, modify and convert ISO/BIN image files and mount them on virtual media. In addition, PowerISO can create images of compressed discs in its own format (.daaa). The only limitation of PowerISO is that it is only for Windows. But if you’re a MacOS user, you can use Boot Camp and install Windows to use PowerISO, but it’s too much work.
Microsoft Media Authoring Tool
The latest software on our list is the media creation tool. This is a proprietary Microsoft utility that allows you to create boot images of Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 operating systems without using the product key directly from your company’s server. The functionality of Microsoft’s media creation tool is very limited. Because it is not possible to change the settings manually.
Depending on the architecture of your PC, Microsoft’s media creation tool automatically detects a compatible configuration and downloads the latest Windows 10 ISO image. This property makes her look like Rufus in some ways. With its simplicity and honesty, the media creation tool is ideal for beginners.
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