partition layout after copying opensuse iso into USB

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hello

After using the below command to copy opensuse leap into a USB I noticed that the USB will be partitioned with sda, sda1 and sda2. Is this normal? I even tried SUSE Studio Image Writer and the partition scheme was the same. If this is normal can someone then tell me what is the purpose of each partition? As well I noticed that I was unable to mount the usb after the iso was copied


# umount /dev/sdX
# dd if=/path/to/downloaded.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress && sync


test@linux7:~>lsblk
NAME                                              MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE  MOUNTPOINT
sda                                                 8:0    1  14.4G  0 disk  
├─sda1                                              8:1    1   3.8M  0 part  
└─sda2                                              8:2    1   3.8G  0 part
2

Yes, this is normal.


sde                    8:64   1   7.5G  0 disk  
├─sde1                 8:65   1   3.8M  0 part  
└─sde2                 8:66   1   3.8G  0 part

If I use “fdisk”, I see:


# fdisk -l /dev/sde
Disk /dev/sde: 7.5 GiB, 8004304896 bytes, 15633408 sectors
Disk model: Cruzer          
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x26ce2674

Device     Boot Start     End Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sde1        2760   10571    7812  3.8M ef EFI (FAT-12/16/32)
/dev/sde2  *    10572 7923711 7913140  3.8G 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS

It’s a somewhat fake partitioning setup, so as to make it look like a single file system when used from a CD, but two file systems when used from a USB. The first partition is the EFI partition, needed for booting on UEFI systems.

3

nrickert

in you computer boot selection, when you get the options to boot from do you select sde (not sde1) to boot from? In my case I boot form sda only because when I do sha256sum of all my sda’s only the sda hash matches the one from the opensuse iso.

4

If I want to boot the USB, then I hit F12 during boot. And the BIOS gives me a choice. I think it identifies the device as a SANDISK USB device. I’m not about to reboot to test my selection. The last time that I booted from a USB drive, it was a SEAGATE, and the BIOS identified it that way. You pretty much have to go by what the BIOS (or UEFI firmware) uses.

5

yeah I know, I don’t know if if just my Asus mobo but in my case in the boot selection it list 3 UEFI so:
UEFI: KingstonDataTaveler 3.0PMAP (14784M)
UEFI: KingstonDataTaveler 3.0PMAP, Partition2 (14784M)
UEFI: KingstonDataTaveler 3.0PMAP, Partition21 (14784M)

and then the non UEFI
KingstonDataTaveler 3.0PMAP (14784M)

This is why I was asking if the partition scheme is normal, because when more than 1 UEFI is listed with the same size, it’s a bit confusing, it would be just my mobo

6

I think that’s weirdness of your BIOS (part of your MOBO).