# Distribute ready to run image to M2 SSD x86 platforms
**URL:** https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948
**Category:** General Discussion
**Created:** [13 January 2024 18:14 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948 "2024-01-13T18:14:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DrCWO](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/DrCWO)
#### Post date: [13 January 2024 18:14 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/1 "2024-01-13T18:14:32Z")
I like to realize this USE Case:
1. Build up a DietPi system with some of my custom software on a X86 device with M2 SSD
2. Get an image from the M2 SSD
3. Copy this image to other X86 devices
Topic 1:
Is alreday done.
Topic 2:
I know and already used dietpi-imager on a Pi4 but would expect the SSD to be connected to another system. Probably this might be emulated by booting the X86 device with a DietPi on a USB stick.
**Question: How to build a DietPi Live System on a USB stick?**
Topic 3:
In the past I used Balena Etcher to write to SD-Cards. I can’t use it to write to the M2 SSD. Maybe the mentioned DietPi on a USB stick might be also a solution here?
**Question: How to write the previously saved image to a M2 SSD?**
Did anybody but me also encounter this Use Case and maybe has some hints for me.
I would appreciate that a lot.
Best DrCWO
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### Author:  [@Jappe](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Jappe)
#### Post date: [13 January 2024 20:53 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/2 "2024-01-13T20:53:39Z")
In theory you can just make an image and flash it to any storage medium.
For writing an image to a USB stick etc you can [use `dd`](https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/unix-linux-dd-create-make-disk-image-commands/) command, or use clonezilla, if you want a more interactive user experience.
To make an image you can use a live linux distro on a machine, connect the drive and run the DietPi imager script, like you already mentioned.
However, CloneZilla provides also an iso image to boot directly into clonezilla.
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### Author:  [@StephanStS](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/StephanStS)
#### Post date: [13 January 2024 21:15 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/3 "2024-01-13T21:15:22Z")
If I understand it right, you have a soecial running DietPi system which you want to duplicate.
This could be done similar to dietpi-imager by minimizing the DietPi partition (see also [Moving a running DietPi system to a USB stick/disk or an onboard eMMC – DietPi Blog](https://dietpi.com/blog/?p=1236#step-2-shrink-filesystem-size) for some ideas). Then generate an image by dd the disk contents, but dd only the needed size and not the whole disk to get a small image. Details for this could be retreived from dietpi-imager.
Possibly dietpi-imager can help without any change…
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### Author:  [@DrCWO](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/DrCWO)
#### Post date: [14 January 2024 14:44 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/4 "2024-01-14T14:44:30Z")
Thanks’ a lot for your answers. This makes the thing clearer to me.
What I learned:
1. I need a live Linux with DietPi inserted in my x86 to boot from
2. With this I access the M2 SSD and make the backup with dietpi-imager
3. With the same live Linux I boot the destination x86 device and copy the image to its M2 SSD
**Question: How to best prepare a USB stick with a X86 Live DietPi?**
Best DrCWO
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### Author:  [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)
#### Post date: [14 January 2024 15:07 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/5 "2024-01-14T15:07:37Z")
Simply flash a DietPi image to USB and boot from USB device
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### Author:  [@StephanStS](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/StephanStS)
#### Post date: [14 January 2024 15:18 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/6 "2024-01-14T15:18:55Z")
You can read it there in the DietPi documentation: [How to install DietPi - DietPi.com Docs](https://dietpi.com/docs/install/)
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### Author:  [@DrCWO](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/DrCWO)
#### Post date: [18 January 2024 07:20 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/7 "2024-01-18T07:20:47Z")
> [@Joulinar](#):
>
> Simply flash a DietPi image to USB and boot from USB device
Thank you, this is really simple. I followed the installation procedure for x86 until now but that installs to the m2 SSD.
For booting from stick with x86 PC can I flash the iso with BalenaEtcher as I already did for my Raspberry Pi?
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### Author:  [@Joulinar](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/Joulinar)
#### Post date: [18 January 2024 20:12 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/8 "2024-01-18T20:12:55Z")
Theoretically you could flash the Bios image (not the installer) to USB stick.
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### Author:  [@WarHawk](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/WarHawk)
#### Post date: [19 January 2024 03:59 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/9 "2024-01-19T03:59:14Z")
I prefer to use Ventoy 😉 [but yes…burning the img to a USB device is the right method]
> **[Ventoy](https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html)**
>
> Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.
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### Author:  [@system](https://dietpi.com/forum/u/system)
#### Post date: [17 July 2024 03:59 UTC](https://dietpi.com/forum/t/distribute-ready-to-run-image-to-m2-ssd-x86-platforms/18948/10 "2024-07-17T03:59:50Z")
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