SDB:Create a Live USB stick using Mac OS x

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This page explains how to create a bootable USB stick from a LiveDVD image file using Max OSx.

There is a dedicated article about how to Create a Live USB stick using Linux

Version: 12.2+This applies to openSUSE 12.2 and above.

Warning The instructions on this page will destroy all data currently on the USB stick being used. Please be certain it does not contain important information.

Find Block Device

Plug-in your USB stick and find what "/dev/diskN" it is mapped to by opening Terminal (where "N" stands for "disk0", "disk1", "disk2" etc). To do so, please execute:

# diskutil list

This will print out the list of currently mapped devices/partitions. Find the USB using "NAME" column. Then note the corresponding /dev/diskN, where "N" is for index of your disk. For example:

/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE        NAME                    SIZE   IDENTIFIER
   0:                       FAT32                               2.0 GB   disk0
   1:                                   USB2                    2.0 GB   disk0s1

In this case "/dev/disk2" is the one we want.

Unmount USB Stick

Unmount the USB stick

# diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN

Where /dev/diskN is the one you have found in previous step as per our example it would be "/dev/disk2".

Write ISO to USB

Write the content of the ISO file:

# sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m

/dev/rdiskN is the same disk you have found previously, with an r in front. r is for raw disk, as writing to /dev/rdisk2 is much faster than writing to /dev/disk2. You will be prompted for the administrator's password.