Newbie question! Noobs or etcher?

[Cartwheel1984]

hey just got my first pi 4! Not set it up yet but was wondering do you use noobs for setup or etcher to burn image?

What is the difference between them?

Any help appreciated

[fruitoftheloom]

hey just got my first pi 4! Not set it up yet but was wondering do you use noobs for setup or etcher to burn image?

What is the difference between them?

Any help appreciated

There is an Official Web Site which answers all your questions and more besides...


https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/pro ... setting-up


https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... /README.md



Please can you not use huge Emojis, this is not Social Messaging !!!

[DougieLawson]

Use Etcher unless you need NOOBS multiboot (and complete system trashing) features.

If you need stuff from NOOBS use PINN. There's even a version of PINN that can be written to an SDCard with Etcher.

[topguy]

Noobs has a "recovery" mode where you can reinstall Raspbian ( and other OS ) without removing the SD-card from the Pi. You can also have multiple OS installed for testing. Keyboard/mouse/Screen obligatory ( IMO )

Using etcher you can burn ONE operatiing system to the SD card. Reinstalling means removing the card from the Pi and doing it again.
Preferred method for headless (no screen) installations and for OS images not supported by Noobs.

Why not test both to see which one you prefer..

[LTolledo]

when I was new with RPi, I used NOOBS for a while
then migrated to using Etcher later....

NOOBS takes too much time to install
Image install using Etcher is faster (and more "compact")

am with topguy on this... try each first.... to see which matches your preferences...
then tell us what you selected in the end.

[Burngate]

It's a question of History.

In the beginning, it was thought rather difficult for a beginner to use Windows tools to load an SD card, so Noobs was invented as an easy and economical method to have more than one OS. Think quil pen v. hammer and chisel.

But the cards rapidly grew to a size that meant they were by default formated as exfat that the Pi couldn't use, so an extra step became necessary, reducing the ease. And the price of an SD card isn't generally worth saving (though climbing trees to swap cards is thought by my daughter to be too dangerous for me, as is kayaking on the Atlantic)

Then Etcher was invented to make life easier for the hammer and chisel guys (think pneumatic drill)

So, it's your choice, but I use Etcher (and climb trees)

[Imperf3kt]

NOOBS has disadvantages such as

- difficulty in updating (especially when a new Pi is released)

- SD cards sold in kits that contain NOOBS is usually outdated and doesn't work with the Pi it's sold with, leading to a lot of angry first time customers.

- wasted storage space (it stores a copy of the OS/OS's as well as a recovery partition.)

- extra steps required to install on larger cards (not necessary with other methods)

And a huge range of other issues you'll see absolute boatloads of complaints / misunderstandings about littering the forum.

[Cartwheel1984]

Cheers everyone thanks for replying! I installed noobs in the end as it was already on the sd card but as you all say play about with both! Just wasnt sure what the difference was!

Thanks!

[procount]

NOOBS has disadvantages such as

- difficulty in updating (especially when a new Pi is released)

- SD cards sold in kits that contain NOOBS is usually outdated and doesn't work with the Pi it's sold with, leading to a lot of angry first time customers.

- wasted storage space (it stores a copy of the OS/OS's as well as a recovery partition.)

- extra steps required to install on larger cards (not necessary with other methods)

And a huge range of other issues you'll see absolute boatloads of complaints / misunderstandings about littering the forum.

PINN fixes these disadvantages:

- PINN will self-update to account for new RPi models and new PINN features.

- PINN-LITE (like NOOBS-LITE) does not store the OS installation files on the SD card, but they can be installed from the internet or from a USB memory stick. The latest version only requires 128MB of SD card space.

- There is a PINN-lite image that can be flashed with Etcher, so it is no more difficult than installing an OS directly, avoiding the exFAT/FAT32 issues with larger cards.

- Many other NOOBS issues are fixed in PINN.

PINN also supports backup/restore/replace of most OSes, download of OS from internet to USB stick, password recovery, disk checking, remote or headless control (SSH/VNC), recovery shell, CEC control, more wifi dongles, etc. So PINN is a lot more advanced than NOOBS and can be used as a very useful OS administration/recovery tool.