-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Thu, Dec 31, 2015 at 11:55:08AM -0500, Steve Matzura wrote: > Fascinating stuff. The one thing I forgot is cp and dd are not the > same.
Well... if you cp the image to the _device file_ it amounts practically to dd (but in dd you can set the block size and block count; I once experimented with block size dd'ing to an USB stick and seem to remember that there was a (speed-wise) "sweet spot" around 16K, but don't ask me whether this was inherent in the USB stick or depended on whatever other system parameters and planet alignments out there). Cat is also good. Again, to the device file. Make sure the "USB stick is not mounted" (in all three cases). Sometimes, overly helpful systems will mount the thing as soon as you insert it [2]. Unmount it before. Now when you cp the image file to the "mounted USB stick" [1] the result will be much different and most probably not the desired one. [1] Yeah, I know I'm fuzzing it. Precisely that would mean "cp the image file to a mounted file system which resides in the USB stick (phew)" [2] As long as there is a recognizable file system on it (see [1]). Otherwise the helpful system might react somewhat confused. Regards - -- tomás -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) iEYEARECAAYFAlaFY54ACgkQBcgs9XrR2kbi7ACffp8Fcq2U9NSCZMpFtu2xoJyK PuMAnRFJrma+law/vRJfy5Rv3a++0P7p =W/DA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----