Multiple images from one boot drive

Almost every tech savvy-user, whether using macOS, Linux-based systems or Microsoft Windows has ran into the issue of having to run dedicated software before the system boots up.

Traditionally, people would prepare individual drives per instance of software they were willing to run, or as a measure for installing an operating system.

For instance - the overclockers remember the importance of running a memory test after adjusting parameters of RAM. Similarly, people dealing with servers may recall the names of 'Veeam', 'Clonezilla' or general purpose live CDs used for recovery and system repairs.

One can purchase multiple pendrives with tailored storage capacities and (somewhat still wastefully) allocate them to individual images for that specific purpose.

However, this still comes at a substantial cost of:

• possibly losing some of the drives to the entropic nature of the universe,
• having to label the drives to differentiate between them.

The old times are past. People buy into Bored Ape NFTs, use flying self-driving cars and finally - they boot up all images from one media drive.
~ Stanisław Lem
(not really)

The solution to the problem is called Ventoy.

Installing Ventoy

In order to install Ventoy, one must have an appropriate USB memory stick. The recommended size would range from 8GB to 64GB, depending on the individual's needs, such as the number of images stored on the pendrive.

Ventoy is a bootable software that emulates ISOs (and other formats) as if they were physical disks in a disk drive. Once Ventoy is downloaded as either a compressed package of source/binary files or an ISO file, the installation process may begin.

Installing Ventoy may be carried out in a couple of different ways, using:

• Ventoy2Disk.sh
• VentoyGUI.x86_64 (and other architectures)
• VentoyPlugson.sh
• VentoVink.sh
• VentoyWeb.sh
• Ventoy ISO image

The scripts and binaries may vary slightly depending on the selected OS. This article will focus on just a couple of the simplest methods for Linux-based OS.

Once the code package is downloaded, the extracted content includes a README file that provides detailed information on supported installation methods.

VentoyGUI.x86_64

The executable uses a GTK/QT interface that closely resembles the web version.
This is perhaps the easiest method for installing Ventoy as it allows simple lookup of the drives (which are limited by default to USB devices) and installation options.

Ventoy2Disk.sh

The script accepts the target disk and copies over the program automatically.

sudo bash Ventoy2Disk.sh <mode> <options> /dev/sdX

The script accepts runtime modes, such as:

• installation (-i),
• force installation (-I),
• update (-u).

The options specify:

• size,
• safe boot support,
• partition type (GPT or MBR).

VentoyWeb.sh

This script runs a server on the localhost, providing a simple, platform-agnostic interface for disk selection and subsequent software installation.

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Using Ventoy

One of the selling points behind Ventoy is that it's incredibly simple to use.

Once it's installed, the media drive will have been formatted and appear as empty.
The drive becomes split into 2 partitions and one of them serves as the exFAT data storage.

A mounted drive will have one folder where all the files go into.

Ventoy supports a List and TreeView mode of listing out files from the directory. These modes can be switched within the software.

The operator can create sub-folders for different types of images. Everything within the main folder or its sub-folders will be available as selectable boot options when Ventoy is booted on a device.

The supported formats are:

• ISO
• WIM
• IMG
• VHD(x)
• EFI

References

Section 1 - Multiple images from one boot drive

• https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy
• https://opencollective.com/ventoy

Section 2 - Installing Ventoy

• https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_grub2boot.html
• https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_linux_webui.html
• https://www.goodram.com/en/brand/
• https://www.goodram.com/en/blog-en/the-expansion-of-the-only-computer-memory-factory-in-europe-is-underway/

Section 3 - Using Ventoy

• https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_treeview.html
• https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html