Computers on the market no longer include the classic optical drive. While this allows manufacturers to make thinner designs, it also means users lose some flexibility when installing new operating systems. The logical solution is to place those operating system copies on a USB drive or an SD card, and for that we have Etcher, which reduces the whole process to a couple of clicks.
Reinstalling an operating system is a task every user must do sooner or later. Even if you get help, you'll need to grasp some basic concepts, starting with the fact that USB drives and memory cards have become primary installation sources. Of course, anyone can buy an external optical drive and install from there (assuming it's detected correctly), but USB drives and cards are much more available and cheaper (a 32-gigabyte USB drive costs six euros). The first barrier is that "burning" an ISO image to a USB drive isn't intuitive and generally requires external tools. One of them is Etcher
Etcher: A Simple Alternative to Rufus
Etcher's goal is to reduce writing ISO images to USB drives and cards to essential steps, three to be precise. After downloading and installing the appropriate version (its official page offers builds for Windows, Linux, and OS X), Etcher will first ask for the location of the ISO image, then for the USB drive or card itself, and finally, a little patience. The delay depends on the USB drive's speed and the ISO image's size, but it shouldn't take more than a few minutes.
Etcher is an open source application, and although it's not the most optimized we've found so far (its Windows installers take up an average of 124 megabytes), it works very well and offers a simple interface, suitable for users of any level. If for some strange reason Etcher doesn't detect your USB drive or memory card (it can happen; not all USB drives like the idea), you may need to resort to more advanced tools, such as Rufus or YUMI.
