# Creating a bootable USB UEFI stick

## Identify the drive

Insert your USB stick and tail /var/log/message to find out the device name.
Then set the device name in a variable 


```
DRIVE=/dev/sdc
```


## Initial formatting of the USB stick

This is a one-time operation. When updating the USB stick 
this step can be skipped. 


Formatting:
* gpt partition table
* primary partition of type ext2 
* primary partition of type EFI (EF)
* label /dev/sdc1 as RESCUE 

```
parted ${DRIVE}
```

Create partitions in parted: 
```
mktable gpt 
mkpart primary ext2 1 512MB
mkpart primary fat32 512MB 1024MB 
set 2 boot on
```


Format the partitions: 
```
mkfs.ext2 ${DRIVE}1           # this will contain the images. 
mkfs.vfat ${DRIVE}2           # this will contain the UEFI bootloader and grub.cfg
e2label ${DRIVE}1 RESCUE      # label the partition
```

## Synchronize files to the USB stick


Sync images: 
```
mount ${DRIVE}1 /mnt/tmp
mkdir -p /mnt/tmp/images
rsync -av images/ /mnt/tmp/images/
umount /mnt/tmp
```

Sync the grub configuration: 
```
mount ${DRIVE}2 /mnt/tmp
mkdir -p /mnt/tmp/EFI
rsync -av EFI/ /mnt/tmp/EFI/
umount /mnt/tmp 
```