b5f36e84d1
Without configuring the block size a default of 512 bytes is used, which can slow down the transfer speed massively. In a test I've done with a semi-decent USB stick, I only get a transfer speed of around 180 KB/sec when not specifying the block size but see 27 MB/sec when setting the block size to 1 MB. This makes the transfer of the minimal installation ISO take half a minute instead of an hour.
35 lines
1.4 KiB
XML
35 lines
1.4 KiB
XML
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:id="sec-booting-from-usb">
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<title>Booting from a USB Drive</title>
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<para>
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For systems without CD drive, the NixOS live CD can be booted from a
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USB stick. You can use the <literal>dd</literal> utility to write
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the image: <literal>dd if=path-to-image of=/dev/sdX</literal>. Be
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careful about specifying the correct drive; you can use the
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<literal>lsblk</literal> command to get a list of block devices.
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</para>
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<note>
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<title>On macOS</title>
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<programlisting>
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$ diskutil list
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[..]
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/dev/diskN (external, physical):
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#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
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[..]
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$ diskutil unmountDisk diskN
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Unmount of all volumes on diskN was successful
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$ sudo dd if=nix.iso of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1M
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</programlisting>
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<para>
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Using the 'raw' <literal>rdiskN</literal> device instead of
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<literal>diskN</literal> completes in minutes instead of hours.
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After <literal>dd</literal> completes, a GUI dialog "The disk
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you inserted was not readable by this computer" will pop up,
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which can be ignored.
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</para>
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</note>
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<para>
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The <literal>dd</literal> utility will write the image verbatim to
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the drive, making it the recommended option for both UEFI and
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non-UEFI installations.
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</para>
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</section>
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