# Can I use Etcher to CREATE an image like Win32DiskImager does? **URL:** \ **Category:** balenaEtcher\ **Tags:** pendinguserresponse, summary\ **Created:** [June 11, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310 "2018-06-11T01:39:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![benebrady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f9b8f/32.png) [@benebrady](https://forums.balena.io/u/benebrady)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 1:39am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/1 "2018-06-11T01:39:16Z")
Can I use Etcher to CREATE an image like Win32DiskImager does? ---
**Author:** ![jalim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/jalim/32/1021_2.png) [@jalim](https://forums.balena.io/u/jalim)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 7:07am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/2 "2018-06-11T07:07:55Z")
Yes, you can. Etcher is simply a tool to flash disks. You can flash anything you want. ---
**Author:** ![jhermsmeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@jhermsmeier](https://forums.balena.io/u/jhermsmeier)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2018, 6:23pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/3 "2018-06-11T18:23:25Z")
@benebrady if you mean creating a disk image from a storage device; currently the answer is still “no”, but we’re working on it, and it shouldn’t be too long until that feature ships in a release. ---
**Author:** ![danielwoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@danielwoz](https://forums.balena.io/u/danielwoz)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/4 "2019-04-28T19:52:50Z")
Does this exist now? ---
**Author:** ![chrisys](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/chrisys/32/1731_2.png) [@chrisys](https://forums.balena.io/u/chrisys)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/6 "2019-04-29T19:37:00Z")
Welcome to the forums @danielwoz! The feature to create an image from a storage device does not exist in Etcher right now. ---
**Author:** ![fahrizalumarila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f9b8f/32.png) [@fahrizalumarila](https://forums.balena.io/u/fahrizalumarila)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/9 "2019-06-14T17:12:30Z")
very useful application. hope balenaetcher can create image from removable devices someday. ---
**Author:** ![WhatAboutNow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f05b48/32.png) [@WhatAboutNow](https://forums.balena.io/u/WhatAboutNow)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2020, 3:19pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/10 "2020-07-02T15:19:03Z")
Does this feature exist yet? ---
**Author:** ![saintaardvark](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/saintaardvark/32/3390_2.png) [@saintaardvark](https://forums.balena.io/u/saintaardvark)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/11 "2020-07-02T17:12:43Z")
Hi @WhatAboutNow – this ability does not yet exist. I’ve created an issue to track this request at [https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/issues/3232;](https://github.com/balena-io/etcher/issues/3232;) you can follow that issue to add your voice and watch for progress on this request. All the best, Hugh ---
**Author:** ![ObligatoryOnceAYear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/53a042/32.png) [@ObligatoryOnceAYear](https://forums.balena.io/u/ObligatoryOnceAYear)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/15 "2021-07-01T19:58:46Z")
I think I need to continue the tradition of previous posters to ask once a year: Is the feature available yet? Take a look at the number of views of this thread. It is the first hit on Google when searching for “Etcher create image”… It’s about time to start working on it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![danthegoodman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7bcc69/32.png) [@danthegoodman1](https://forums.balena.io/u/danthegoodman1)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/16 "2021-07-02T16:43:24Z")
Hi @obligatoryonceayear, We’ve taken another look at this issue internally and unfortunately we’ve had too many other higher priority issues to tackle this in the past. We’ll triage this issue internally and find a place for it to live on our development roadmap. The project is open source, so I would encourage you to create a pull request if you have the time and are truly blocked by the lack of this feature. ---
**Author:** ![jakubmirejovsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@jakubmirejovsky](https://forums.balena.io/u/jakubmirejovsky)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/18 "2021-10-29T21:07:05Z")
To all folks coming here from google search results: I have successfuly used **dd** on linux to create an image of the drive and **xz** for compressing the .img file. Ether can read .img.xz files, so you can use this method to clone a drive on linux and write it on windows. ---
**Author:** ![AnotherYearPassedBy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@AnotherYearPassedBy](https://forums.balena.io/u/AnotherYearPassedBy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2022, 6:24am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/20 "2022-09-28T06:24:21Z")
…and to keep the tradition alive: **Is this feature available yet?** ---
**Author:** ![johnnyketch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f19dbf/32.png) [@johnnyketch](https://forums.balena.io/u/johnnyketch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 11:57pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/21 "2023-07-10T23:57:34Z")
hahahahahahhahahaah same ---
**Author:** ![tuko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ee59a6/32.png) [@tuko](https://forums.balena.io/u/tuko)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2023, 3:10pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/23 "2023-07-24T15:10:02Z")
Remember the guy who answered yes in 2018 lol ---
**Author:** ![MatthewDylan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6f9a4e/32.png) [@MatthewDylan](https://forums.balena.io/u/MatthewDylan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 8:35am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/24 "2023-07-27T08:35:06Z")
> [@benebrady](#): > > Can I use [momix](https://apkscart.com/momix-mod-apk-4/) Etcher to CREATE an image like Win32DiskImager does? Yes, you can use Etcher to create an image just like Win32DiskImager does. Both Etcher and Win32DiskImager are tools commonly used to write disk images (such as ISO or IMG files) to USB drives or SD cards. However, while Win32DiskImager is primarily designed for Windows, Etcher is a cross-platform tool that works on Windows, macOS, and Linux. ---
**Author:** ![anthonykelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@anthonykelly](https://forums.balena.io/u/anthonykelly)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 6:54am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/25 "2023-10-23T06:54:58Z")
I know it’s getting late in the year, but can Etcher be used to create images like Win32DiskImager yet? ---
**Author:** ![niyofo8159](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5e925/32.png) [@niyofo8159](https://forums.balena.io/u/niyofo8159)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/27 "2024-02-18T20:49:07Z")
Can Etcher create images yet? Nobody had asked in 2024 yet, so at least that’s done now. ---
**Author:** ![jhonleo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/balena/user_avatar/forums.balena.io/jhonleo/32/10008_2.png) [@jhonleo](https://forums.balena.io/u/jhonleo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2024, 6:19am UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/28 "2024-09-26T06:19:50Z")
Yes, you can use Etcher to create an image, but it primarily focuses on flashing OS images to drives rather than creating new ones. Win32DiskImager, on the other hand, is specifically designed for creating and writing disk images. For creating images, Win32DiskImager is more suitable, while Etcher excels in flashing pre-existing images to USB drives or SD cards. ---
**Author:** ![phreed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb9ed0/32.png) [@phreed](https://forums.balena.io/u/phreed)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/29 "2024-10-01T15:24:09Z")
In the meantime could someone post a set of steps such functionality would include? This should mirror what Etcher currently does. For completeness the functionality would relax the distinction between iso and drive. > **[Etcher Architecture | Etcher](https://etcher-docs.balena.io/ARCHITECTURE/)** > > This document aims to serve as a high-level overview of how Etcher works, ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/balena/original/2X/b/baab0e6020cb37921c41292bb06ff42cdbffb099.png) It seems like [Select Drive (drivelist)](https://github.com/balena-io-modules/drivelist) could be extended to include iso files, making iso files a viable target. Similarly, the [Select Image (drivelist)](https://github.com/balena-io-modules/drivelist) need not be limited to just iso files but anything found by drivelist. Of course, it may be that the Gnome Disk utility can do this. ---
**Author:** ![iJustWantToEtch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/aca169/32.png) [@iJustWantToEtch](https://forums.balena.io/u/iJustWantToEtch)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2024, 11:35pm UTC](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310/30 "2024-12-10T23:35:10Z")
Can it create images(iso etc) or does it only clone drives still? [Next page](https://forums.balena.io/t/can-i-use-etcher-to-create-an-image-like-win32diskimager-does/3310.md?page=2)