balenaEtcher

balenaEtcher is a free, open-source desktop tool for writing operating-system images to SD cards and USB drives. It suits Raspberry Pi and other single-board-computer users, developers preparing installation media, and anyone who needs a straightforward image-to-drive workflow.

Main features

• Select an image, select a target drive, and flash it through a graphical workflow.
• Validate written data after flashing to help detect unsuccessful writes.
• Hide system drives by default and show safeguards against selecting the wrong disk.
• Write suitable bootable images to removable media without manually formatting first.
• Flash supported Raspberry Pi devices through USB device boot mode.
• Use native desktop builds for macOS, Windows and Linux.

Install and use

Install the Mac application with brew install --cask balenaetcher, or download the official Intel or Apple Silicon DMG and move the app into Applications. Obtain the operating-system image from its trusted publisher, connect a suitable SD card or USB drive, select the image, and carefully identify the destination by name and capacity before flashing. The target must be large enough for the image. Disk writing can request administrator authentication.

Flashing replaces the target drive's data and partition layout. Back up anything you need before proceeding, and never choose a disk containing data you want to retain. Default system-drive hiding is a safeguard, not a substitute for checking the target. Let writing and validation finish before removing the device. A validated copy does not establish that the image is trusted or compatible with the target computer.

Image compatibility

Etcher copies images byte-for-byte; it does not perform special transformations to make every ISO bootable. In particular, Windows installation images generally need a different tool or publisher-specific preparation. An image must already be suitable for the target's boot process. The official user documentation also states that configuring persistent storage for Linux live USBs is not supported. This is a raw image writer, not a general Windows installer builder, live-USB persistence manager or backup manager.

Requirements, dependencies and platforms

The tagged 2.1.7 README lists Windows 10+ Intel 64, most Linux distributions on Intel 64, and macOS 10.13+ on Intel/Apple Silicon. However, its package.json pins Electron 37.2.4, and Electron's official runtime documentation requires macOS 11+ for Electron 33 and later. Thus macOS 11 Big Sur or newer is the conservative runtime baseline inferred for this build; the older README/website minimums conflict and should not be treated as verified support for current 2.1.7 on 10.10/10.13. Both Intel and native Apple Silicon Mac assets are provided.

Linux runtime requirements vary with distribution and package; a desktop authentication agent can be needed for privilege elevation. Official 2.1.4 notes stopped producing the broken AppImage, so do not assume historical AppImage instructions apply to every current release. The Mac cask declares no additional formula dependency or explicit cask conflict, but flashing still requires a supported writable device, adequate capacity and permission to access it. Node.js and Electron development tools are not separate end-user requirements for the packaged Mac app.

The official 2.1.7 ARM64 DMG is 154,704,595 bytes according to GitHub release asset metadata, matching the production package. Download size is not installed space. No universal RAM or installed-space minimum was confirmed. A local image can be flashed without a cloud account; downloading images, using URLs and obtaining updates requires connectivity.

Accounts, pricing and license

Etcher is free software under Apache License 2.0. A balenaCloud subscription is not required to use the desktop image writer. balenaCloud device-management services are a separate offering with their own accounts and pricing.

The screenshot is an official historical Etcher 1.0.0 macOS interface example from the release-tagged repository, showing image selection, drive selection and flashing. It is not the current 2.1.7 interface.

Sources: Tagged README, Official user documentation, Official site, Current release, Runtime manifest, Electron macOS runtime changes, License.