Safer ways to write an ISO onto USB stick [was Re: Repair partition after dd]

From	"Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Safer ways to write an ISO onto USB stick [was Re: Repair partition after dd]
Date	2021-07-14 12:50 +0200
Message-ID	<CAKCJ-6JS-3@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<CAK02-6st-11@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization	linux.* mail to news gateway

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Hi,

Brian wrote:
> It would be nice to avoid having to have root privileges in order
> to do 'cp <ISO> /dev/sdX' with a USB stick. A udev rule under
> /etc/udev/rules.d/ could be a solution:
>
>   SUBSYSTEM=="block", ATTRS{removable}=="1", GROUP="floppy"

This could have prevented the mishap, indeed, provided that /dev/sda is
an internal SATA disk.

But i think that the criterion of being "removable" does not sufficiently
characterize a valid target for dd-ing an installation ISO, although
being an internal disk is a strong indication for being not the right one.

It is rather about the current content of the USB stick or memory card
which should be considered.
Best is to make an unambiguous relation between the physical stick in the
user's hand and the target device file.

My proposal for a mitigation of the currently dangerous situation is to
see on
  https://wiki.debian.org/XorrisoDdTarget

Have a nice day :)

Thomas

Thread

Repair partition after dd Andrea Neroni <bignero_86@yahoo.it> - 2021-07-14 00:40 +0200
  Re: Repair partition after dd songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2021-07-14 04:50 +0200
    Re: Repair partition after dd <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-07-14 09:00 +0200
      Re: Repair partition after dd "Alexander V. Makartsev" <avbetev@gmail.com> - 2021-07-14 09:30 +0200
        Re: Repair partition after dd <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-07-14 09:40 +0200
          Re: Repair partition after dd "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2021-07-14 10:10 +0200
            Re: Repair partition after dd <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-07-14 11:10 +0200
            Re: Repair partition after dd "neroni_andrea@yahoo.it" <neroni_andrea@yahoo.it> - 2021-07-14 13:00 +0200
              Re: Repair partition after dd <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2021-07-14 13:40 +0200
                Re: Repair partition after dd songbird <songbird@anthive.com> - 2021-07-14 14:50 +0200
  Re: Repair partition after dd "Alexander V. Makartsev" <avbetev@gmail.com> - 2021-07-14 05:50 +0200
  Re: Repair partition after dd Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2021-07-14 12:10 +0200
    Safer ways to write an ISO onto USB stick [was Re: Repair partition after dd] "Thomas Schmitt" <scdbackup@gmx.net> - 2021-07-14 12:50 +0200
      Re: Safer ways to write an ISO onto USB stick [was Re: Repair  partition after dd] David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com> - 2021-07-15 02:30 +0200

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