Five Best System Rescue Discs
When your computer starts behaving strangely, won't boot, or you start
getting strange errors that you can't pin down, a great way to
troubleshoot the problem is to boot to a rescue disc and see if you can
isolate the problem. It might be your operating system, it could be
hardware, but you'll never know until you boot to some other media to
take a look. That said, there are tons of great system rescue discs to
check out if you want a tool to save your ailing system. This week we're
looking at five of the best, nominated by you, our readers.
Earlier in the week, we asked you to nominate the best system rescue disc for our roundup. You rolled in with tons of great suggestions, and now we're back to look at the top five.
The Trinity Rescue Kit
The Trinity
Rescue Kit is a customized Linux distribution that's designed
specifically for troubleshooting and reviving ailing systems, whether
you're running Windows or Linux. It fits nicely on a CD (or a USB stick
if you prefer) and once booted gives you tools to reset lost Windows
passwords, scan hard drives for viruses and malware, clone drives,
recover lost partitions, even open up the drives as network shares so
you can get files off of them and to other computers on your network.
It's completely free, although a donation to the developer behind it is
always appreciated and keeps the project alive.
Hiren's BootCD
Hiren's BootCD
is pretty legendary, and anyone who's ever worked in support or systems
administration has probably used it at least once (or has several
version of it lying around still.) The rescue disc is aimed squarely at
repairing Windows systems, and includes a wealth of tools to that
effect, including antivirus tools to scan your hard drive, anti-malware
utilities to clean out spyware and adware, even rootkit detection tools.
Hiren's BootCD can also help you repair, adjust, or re-flash your
system's BIOS or wipe your CMOS, clean out temporary files and folders,
securely erase files, back up your data to another hard drive or to the
network, update and back up hardware drivers, scan your system for
hardware failures, repair lost or damaged partitions, and much much
more. We're only scratching the surface here. It's completely free and
always has been. Even if there are other tools in your toolkit, Hiren's
BootCD should be among them.
The Ultimate Boot CD
The
Ultimate Boot CD is another tool you'll probably find in most
technician's disc binder. The Ultimate Boot CD is designed to
troubleshoot Windows and Linux systems, and comes with a wealth of
hardware testing, hard drive management, and partition troubleshooting
and repair tools. The UBCD packs memory testing, CPU testing, and drive
testing tools all onto the same disc, and even includes some BIOS
management tools as well. If you're having serious PC problems, the CD
also includes a number of drive cloning and data recovery tools to help
you get your files off of a problematic hard drive and somewhere safe.
If you're looking for a specifically Windows-targeted version of the
Ultimate Boot CD, there's always the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows,
a rebuild of the disc that uses BartPE to create a pretty fully
functional version of Windows XP once booted—and is also packed with
many of the same troubleshooting tools. Both are free, but donations to
the creators are always welcome.
Knoppix
Knoppix is a
bootable Linux live CD that gives you a fully functional operating
system once booted. You can use Knoppix to get familiar with linux
(although it is highly customized) or just to boot to media other than
your hard drive for troubleshooting, but in either case Knoppix is a
whole OS—not just a customized interface to give you access to
diagnostic and repair tools. It comes packed with a web browser
(Firefox), Open Office, GIMP, and more, just in case you want to use it
to get things done. Knoppix's greatest benefit is its flexibility, and
it can be customized to suit almost any need—you can download it and
build your own installation with the troubleshooting tools you use most
often, package it up, and then burn it to a CD or DVD yourself. If
you're a developer, the DVD version of Knoppix has even more extras for
you. If you do need to use Knoppix for troubleshooting, there are data
recovery and cloning tools built-in to make it easy. It's free, and you
can donate to the cause if you want, but since it's completely open
source, the developer notes that your time, code, and input is a more
ideal way to contribute.
System Rescue CD
The aptly
named System Rescue CD is a linux-based rescue disk designed to
troubleshoot Linux and Windows systems and servers. The disk is packed
with tools to help you manage or repair partitions, back up your data or
clone your drives in case of a failure, and supports a wealth of file
systems (even network file systems like NFS) so you can work with just
about any file on any drive anywhere. The disc also comes with
replacement bootloaders, system file editors, network troubleshooting
and diagnostic tools, and disc burning tools so you can burn while you
use the disc. There are also antivirus, anti-malware, and rootkit
detection and removal tools. It's completely free.
Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the winner.
Honorable mentions this week go out to Parted Magic, which a number of you nominated to handle those tricky MBR and partition problems in Windows and Linux, and to Puppy Linux,
a great distro to get familiar with Linux, but that also has some great
troubleshooting tools to resuscitate your computer if something goes
terribly wrong.
Have
something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for
your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week.
Don't just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred
alternative is—and make your case for it—in the discussions below.
