Alternatives to Win32 Disk Imager

A Windows tool for writing raw disk images to USB drives and SD cards, or backing them up. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as Win32 Disk Imager.

  • USBImager

    A minimal cross-platform app that writes compressed disk images to USB drives.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    USBImager is open source like Win32 Disk Imager but also runs on Linux and macOS and writes compressed images without unpacking them first.

  • balenaEtcher

    Writes an OS image to a USB stick or SD card, verifies every byte, and refuses to target your hard drive.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    balenaEtcher runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and verifies writes by reading them back, but it does not back up a card to an image file.

  • Raspberry Pi Imager

    The official tool for writing Raspberry Pi OS and other images to SD cards and USB drives.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinux

    Raspberry Pi Imager is the official cross-platform tool for writing Raspberry Pi OS and other images to SD cards and USB drives, focused on Raspberry Pi use.

  • Rufus

    Writes a bootable USB drive from an ISO, and can strip the Windows 11 install requirements while doing it.

    FreeOpen sourceWindows

    Rufus stays on Windows and adds bootable BIOS or UEFI drive creation, filesystem formatting and image checksums, while writing one image per drive.

  • ImageUSB

    A free PassMark utility that writes an image to many USB flash drives at the same time.

    FreeProprietaryWindows

    ImageUSB is closed-source PassMark freeware for Windows that writes one image to many USB drives at once and can zero drives.

  • Popsicle

    A Linux utility from System76 that writes a disk image to several USB drives at once.

    FreeOpen sourceLinuxCommand line

    Popsicle runs only on Linux and flashes several USB drives in parallel, with GTK and command-line interfaces.

  • Impression

    A simple GNOME app for writing disk images to USB drives to make them bootable.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    Impression is a minimal GNOME app for writing images to USB drives, so moving to it means switching to Linux.

  • GNOME Disks

    A graphical disk utility for GNOME that partitions, formats, benchmarks and images drives on Linux.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    GNOME Disks moves the job to Linux, combining image writing with partitioning, formatting, SMART health data and a basic benchmark in one window.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.