Brian Masinick
Some of the product tools discussed MIGHT get the job done, but based on what’s already been discussed, they seem to be quirky, not very consistent in their operation, and prone to be unreliable.
I don’t think that creating a big repository of USB ISO images will be easy unless the process is very well understood. Has anyone been successful using any of the commercial tools? I can’t tell from the discussion, but it seems like “no” is the answer.
If appending an image to the existing device is all it takes, it *might* be easy to write a straightforward script that either runs from root or uses sudo rights to access root privileges. If anyone has the time to do this, one suggestion would be to:
A) have the script accept (and verify) two arguments:
1) The input ISO image location
2) The output USB device
B) the script could then
1) switch to root user access
2) verify the location and format of the input image
3) verify the presence of the output device
4) append the ISO image to the output device
5) optionally verify the creation of the latest image
6) optionally list the available images on the output device
The more of these options included in the script, the greater the potential of doing it wrong, but if written correctly, it would be a useful and reliable tool, and the author would have a solid understanding of the mechanics of the device, organization of the files and the technical details.
If I get any useful time, I may write a tool myself, but I do not currently have a large enough USB device to hold hundreds of images. I may, however, be able to append 3-4 images and again, if time permits, I may give this a try. IFF (if and only if) successful, I will happily share any simple code, with the caveat that anyone using it must take their own responsibility to understand and use it properly; otherwise such a tool could (when not used correctly, ERASE instead of APPEND new images correctly).
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Brian Masinick
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