create_bootable_disk.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import os
import subprocess
import sys
from pathlib import Path

def run_cmd(cmd, capture=False):
    """Run a shell command safely."""
    try:
        if capture:
            return subprocess.check_output(cmd, shell=True, text=True).strip()
        else:
            subprocess.run(cmd, shell=True, check=True)
    except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
        print(f"❌ Command failed: {cmd}")
        print(e)
        sys.exit(1)

def list_disks():
    """List available disks using diskutil."""
    print("📀 Available disks on this Mac:")
    run_cmd("diskutil list")
    print("\n⚠️  Identify your USB drive carefully (usually /dev/disk2 or /dev/disk3).")

def confirm(prompt):
    """Simple yes/no confirmation."""
    choice = input(f"{prompt} [y/N]: ").strip().lower()
    return choice == "y"

def main():
    print("=== Bootable Linux USB Creator for macOS ===\n")

    # Step 1: List disks
    list_disks()
    disk = input("\nEnter your USB disk identifier (e.g. disk4): ").strip()
    if not disk.startswith("disk"):
        print("❌ Invalid disk identifier.")
        sys.exit(1)

    # Step 2: Get ISO file path
    iso_path = input("Enter full path to your Linux ISO file: ").strip()
    iso = Path(iso_path).expanduser()

    if not iso.exists():
        print(f"❌ ISO file not found: {iso}")
        sys.exit(1)

    print(f"\n✅ ISO file: {iso}")
    print(f"✅ Target USB: /dev/{disk}")
    if not confirm("Are you sure you want to erase and write this USB?"):
        print("❎ Operation cancelled.")
        sys.exit(0)

    # Step 3: Unmount disk
    print("\n🔸 Unmounting disk...")
    run_cmd(f"diskutil unmountDisk /dev/{disk}")

    # Step 4: Write ISO using dd
    print("\n⚙️  Writing ISO to USB... this may take several minutes.")
    print("💡 You can press Ctrl+T in Terminal to check progress.\n")

    # Use 'rdisk' for faster writes
    raw_disk = f"r{disk}"
    dd_cmd = f"sudo dd if='{iso}' of=/dev/{raw_disk} bs=1m"
    print(f"Running: {dd_cmd}")
    os.system(dd_cmd)

    # Step 5: Eject disk
    print("\n🔸 Ejecting disk...")
    run_cmd(f"diskutil eject /dev/{disk}")

    print("\n✅ Done! Your bootable USB is ready.")
    print("You can now plug it into your PC and boot from it (UEFI mode recommended).")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()