Fedora Media Writer vs UNetbootin

Fedora Media Writer creates bootable USB drives by writing Fedora images to them. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and can download the image before writing. A Live Fedora drive can be booted to try Fedora without making permanent changes to the computer. Getting started requires a 4GB USB flash drive.

Writing uses direct access to the device and replaces its existing contents and partition layout. Fedora Media Writer includes a Restore feature to put the drive back into a standard single-partition layout. Image checks can include comparing the USB device with the downloaded ISO or booting it and running a media check. Fedora also advises verifying downloaded images with a checksum file signed by a Fedora Project OpenPGP certificate. Installation options include Fedora's RPM package, Flathub on Linux, Windows releases, and a macOS DMG. The project identifies the software as GPL-2.0 licensed and directs users with crashes or writing errors to open a GitHub issue. It is free: free.

UNetbootin creates bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions, allowing installation without burning a CD. It can download a supported distribution or use a Linux ISO already on the computer, and the listed targets are a USB drive or hard disk. Built-in downloads include Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch Linux, Linux Mint, and FreeBSD, as well as system utilities such as Parted Magic and SystemRescueCD. The site says most Linux ISO files should work, though some require extra boot options or changes, and some cannot boot from USB as-is. Non-Linux operating system ISOs should not be expected to work because they use a different boot mechanism. UNetbootin is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows, and is free; donations are accepted. The source code is available on GitHub under GNU GPL Version 2 or above. Linux download options include an Ubuntu PPA, 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, packages for several distributions, and source code.