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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.
31 lines
1,007 B
Markdown
31 lines
1,007 B
Markdown
# Booting from a USB Drive {#sec-booting-from-usb}
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For systems without CD drive, the NixOS live CD can be booted from a USB
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stick. You can use the `dd` utility to write the image:
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`dd if=path-to-image of=/dev/sdX`. Be careful about specifying the correct
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drive; you can use the `lsblk` command to get a list of block devices.
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::: {.note}
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::: {.title}
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On macOS
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:::
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```ShellSession
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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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```
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Using the \'raw\' `rdiskN` device instead of `diskN` completes in
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minutes instead of hours. After `dd` completes, a GUI dialog \"The disk
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you inserted was not readable by this computer\" will pop up, which can
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be ignored.
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:::
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The `dd` utility will write the image verbatim to the drive, making it
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the recommended option for both UEFI and non-UEFI installations.
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