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In Linux Mint, unlike in Ubuntu, I see two separate launchers to handle USB sticks, one only for formatting, the other for writing image files to the USB stick.

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In the task manager I see in fact that they are both running mintstick.py with supplementary parameters for handling the iso.

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Is this related to usb-creator-gtk (Startup Disk Creator) from Ubuntu?

Can it be used in other Linux systems?

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It's Mint's alternative to usb creator. It is a graphical application to write .img and .iso files to USB keys. It can also format USB Key from a contextual menu in Cinammon and KDE desktops. It can be used in other linux systems, at least in Ubuntu for sure.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tsvetko.tsvetkov/trusty-backports
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mintstick

UPDATE: that ppa is not updated and will not work in latest Ubuntu 18.04

For Ubuntu 18.04, until a newer version is launched along with a Ubuntu 18.04-based Linux Mint, download latest version 1.3.8 from here.

Open a terminal at the location of the download and do

sudo dpkg -i mintstick_1.3.8_all.deb

Install the missing dependencies.

If needed do

sudo apt --fix-broken install

then do again sudo dpkg -i mintstick_1.3.8_all.deb.

Actually mintstick is an improved version of USB-ImageWriter, which is based on dd utility and came from OpenSUSE and can work with any distro image. But Startup Disk Creator (usb-creator) is made for ubuntu and ubuntu-based systems only. It also has optional persistence option (all changes made to the system are saved, unlike a Live CD) which minstick doesn't have.

Installing mintstick, you will then have both the Image Writer and the USB Formatter.

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  • what program is that exactly and is it different from the Ubuntu default one, or just a different GUI of the same program? and how to install it?
    – user32012
    Commented Dec 10, 2014 at 7:30
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    it's different. You can find sources to compile on github or if you're using ubuntu you can add mint repo: sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ olivia main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list' sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install linuxmint-keyring sudo apt-get install mintstick
    – kirill-a
    Commented Dec 10, 2014 at 7:34
  • I have found more about what it is in fact here and can be installed from a separate PPA as indicated there. It's the DD Tool. - The Ubuntu one is different then. What is it then? Elaborate a bit your answer is far too short.
    – user32012
    Commented Dec 10, 2014 at 7:40
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    Actually mintstick is an improved version of USB-ImageWriter, which is based on dd utility and came from OpenSUSE and can work with any distro image. But Startup Disk Creator (usb-creator) is made for ubuntu and ubuntu-based systems only. It also has optional persistence option (all changes made to the system are saved, unlike a Live CD) which minstick doesn't have.
    – kirill-a
    Commented Dec 10, 2014 at 8:21
  • added what you said and what i found into your answer to set it definitive, hope the edit is accepted
    – user32012
    Commented Dec 10, 2014 at 8:44

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