How to Clone USB Drives in Linux with dd

Hello gentlemen, a quick little guide for you today. I recently made a really cool Ventoy stick with a custom GRUB theme that I wanted to make copies of. Luckily, cloning a USB drive in Linux using the dd command is a straightforward process.

Step 1: Identify the USB Drive

Begin by listing connected storage devices using:

sudo fdisk -l

Typically, your USB drive will be identified as something like /dev/sda, /dev/sdb, etc.

You can also do the same/similar with:

lsblk

Step 2: Clone the USB Drive

Here’s how you start the clone:

sudo dd if=/dev/sdb of=/dev/sdc bs=4M status=progress

• if=/dev/sdb: Sets sdb as the input drive (what you are cloning).
• of=/dev/sdc: Sets sdc as the output drive (where you are writing to).
• bs=4M: Sets the block size of the transfer. (Optional, but this speeds things up.)
• status=progress: Displays progress, providing an estimate of the process duration.

A Warning

Exercise caution as dd is commonly nicknamed “disk destroyer” due to its potential for irreversible damage with a simple typo. Verify that ‘if‘ and ‘of‘ point to the correct devices before proceeding. For interns, an extra level of scrutiny is advisable.

Happy cloning!