Creating an SD card – Green Digit

Used equipment

Any raspberry pi (preferably >= Pi 2 or a Pi Zero)
Raspberry pi power supply
Micro SD card
(Micro) SD card reader for PC/laptop

Introduction to the Raspbian OS

Raspbian is the official OS created for all models of the Raspberry PI from 1 through 4,
it often comes preinstalled on an SD with the purchase for an additional fee.
However for those who do not have a preinstalled card we will walk you through how
to install Raspbian and set up your PI for its first use.

There are 2 way’s to installing Raspbian on an SD card.
When you want a clean install Jump to the ISO installation.

Installing Raspbian using Noobs

Noobs is the Automatic multi-OS installer designed to provide a simple and easy method for new users to install Raspbian OS on their device, there is no distinct benefit to using Noobs over a direct install apart from circumstances in which 2 distros are being installed, however for those users who wish to use this method the below will detail the exact steps to follow to guarantee a successful Raspbian Installation.

To install Raspbian using Noobs you first must have a micro SD card of 8Gb to 32Gb, this will need to be formatted to FAT(32).

To do this insert the micro SD card into a PC, locate the card then right-click and Format.

Ensure to change the options to FAT, with Default allocation Size, you may also take this opportunity to rename your OS

Once the Format is complete and you have prepped your SD card download the Noobs zip file from https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/noobs/

Once downloaded unzip the contents, it is recommended to use the free 7zip software to minimize corruption. When the contents are unzipped copy them and paste them onto your recently formatted SD Card.

Your Micro SD is now ready to continue the setup plug the card back into your Pi and connect all peripherals a screen and monitor

When Noobs has loaded check the box next to RASPBIAN then click install, a confirmation box will pop up with a warning, simply click yes to continue.

A successful install will end with the above image. Congratulations you’ve installed Raspbian OS

Installing Raspbian Through the ISO

Very much the same result as above but different ways suit different people.
There are multiple programs to do exactly the same, burning the iso to the SD card.
We like to spend some time on 2 different programs. one of them only can online after the release of the RPi 4.
This new program (listed last, click here) is designed by the Raspberry Pi foundation. Now lets start:

Balena Etcher

To kick it off you need to download belenaEtcher (https://www.balena.io/etcher/), this is then followed by downloading the Raspbian.img or .zip (https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_latest).
Once this is complete we can begin prepping the SD Card.

When you have belenaEtcher installed, run it then click the select image option, this will allow you to use the Raspbian.img/.zip you downloaded previously.

Next use “select target” to select your SD Card for the Raspbian install.

Now you’re good to go…… Hit FLASH!

Flashing takes a couple of minutes but when you see the following screen you’re golden…..

You’re good to go pop the SD card in your Pi and power it up

Raspberry Pi Imager

Unlike the Balena Etcher, you don’t need an ISO when using the imager from the RPi foundation.
The program is able to download the latest ISO directly from one of there mirrors.
You can download the RPI Imager here.

Once started you will find it is easy to use. You can use it without a network, in that case you do require a local copy of the ISO you like to burn to the SD-card.

First things first, lets begin with choosing our operating system.
Once you clicked Chose OS you will get the opportunity to not only chose for Raspbian, but also a local copy of any ISO, Ubuntu and LibreElec.
This will not say you have to be limited with these OS’s, you can download any OS from the internet (that is compatible with the PI) and burn it with this program.

Next we select the SD card. Be careful when you chose, as you can see my RAID 1 drive was also detected as a possebility (i have 2 more physical drives that are not recognized as a possible host).

Now that we have both selected the OS and the SD card all there is to do is press Write.
This will start the ‘Burning’ proces, after writing it will also do a verification.