“not enough space on disk” error
You created an image file from a 8GB SD card and when you try and write it to a new 8GB SD card you get this message. Yep, SD cards are not always identical in size and Win32 Disk Imager currently has no way to solve this.
For example:
Image file: 15564800 sectors x 512 bytes per sector = 7,969,177,600 bytes
SD card: 15523840 sectors x 512 bytes per sector = 7,948,206,080 bytes
So we need to limit the space used on the card to fit within the number of sectors available. If you want pick a smaller size to give you an bit of unused space for possibly smaller future cards.
Then follow the guide here.
Creating your first bootable usb drive
- In order to be able to create a bootable drive, you’re first going to need to download the ISO image of the file you want to transfer to the USB stick. You can get the image file very easily where on the internet. Depending on which operating system you would like to download, you can perform another quick search on the internet and find the file you’re interested in.
- By default, the Win32 Disk Imager USB file search will only display IMG files. If the file you have downloaded is an ISO file, you will need to adjust the view filter to display all files, in order to find the ISO file you have downloaded.
- You will need to have your USB drive plugged in before starting the transfer. Generally, a good practice is to ensure only the drive you will be using for this purpose is plugged into your machine. Having multiple USB drives plugged into the machine at the time can easily make you lose track of which drive is which. This can ultimately end with you formatting the wrong drive and losing valuable data you may have had on it.
- At this time, you may be prompted to format your USB drive before proceeding. However, you can feel free to ignore this prompt. Cloning your image file to the USB stick will overwrite any data on it regardless, so formatting isn’t really necessary. You can still format your drive before you begin, but just know that it isn’t mandatory at all.
- The interface of Win32 Disk Imager is very intuitive and very little work goes into setting up the file transfer. All you need to do is select the directory which contains the image file you would like to clone and the directory of the USB flash drive you would like to clone it to. Double-check to make sure you have selected the correct file paths and then click on the ‘Write’ button.
- Another pop-up will display, asking you if you are sure you would like to continue. After selecting ‘Yes’, the window will introduce the progress bar, along with the transfer speed, so that you can monitor the progress until completion. After the transfer is complete, a pop-up message will display to inform you that the write has been successful. All you have left to do after this would be to safely remove your USB drive and use it as you please from there on out.
Example instructions to email to someone
Here’s the instructions to install your SD card ready for the Raspberry Pi.
Writing your own custom sd card setup to a file
Run Win32DiskImager.exe
Ensure the Device drop down box has the drive your card is inserted into.
Press the folder button and select the folder and filename you want to use to write your image file to.
Press the Read button.
