System Rescue ISOs

[Amelith Nargothrond]

Because we expect it to work as advertised.

They mean well, most of them. Their major fault is booting or bundled apps that won't load on some PCs. But that's why we can tweak them if it's that important, or we have more of them, different ones with different boot loaders and apps. I currently stick to 5 usb flash drives with rescue environments, all different ones, in case one fails, some other will surely load and i can do my job with them...

I personally couldn't do my job as fast and as accurate without them. I even have some of them named, my favourite is named after a hungarian warrior lol It has seen many fallen comrades

 

[509322]

Because we expect it to work as advertised.

Test it and leave nothing to chance. Assumptions that one can take things at face value lead to disappointment.

 

[shmu26]

Test it and leave nothing to chance. Assumptions that one can take things at face value lead to disappointment.

How would you go about testing a rescue disk?
If you just destroy the boot sector, that's something that all the disks know how to fix. Even Windows rescue disk can fix that, as far as I know.
It's the freakier events that you want to test, and they are hard to reproduce.

 

[Deleted member 178]

Since WinXP , i used a "illegal" one so i won't mention its name...
However, i alternatively use a LInux Live CD , when i want recover files.

 

[shmu26]

Someone should please tell us which popular rescue CDs are illegal, so we can stop using them. A lot of people don't know they are illegal.

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

Someone should please tell us which popular rescue CDs are illegal, so we can stop using them. A lot of people don't know they are illegal.

Difficult to say. Some of them are advertised as legal, though they contain software which are questionable. You have to go through each software one by one and read the EULAs. They change the bundled software with each version... Some are notoriously illegal, like older versions of Hiren's, but that is fixed now (although they stopped releasing new ones).

 

[Deleted member 178]

Someone should please tell us which popular rescue CDs are illegal, so we can stop using them. A lot of people don't know they are illegal.

Against the rules, so you won't find them mentioned here and any mentions will be deleted, the members warned or banned.

 

[shmu26]

How would you go about testing a rescue disk?
If you just destroy the boot sector, that's something that all the disks know how to fix. Even Windows rescue disk can fix that, as far as I know.
It's the freakier events that you want to test, and they are hard to reproduce.

Now I understand @Lockdown's point. People are talking here about the swiss-army-knife type of rescue CD, with lots of programs on it. So yeah, it sure would make a lot of sense to check that the most important ones can run, before your computer's life depends on it.

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

Now I understand @Lockdown's point. People are talking here about the swiss-army-knife type of rescue CD, with lots of programs on it. So yeah, it sure would make a lot of sense to check that the most important ones can run, before your computer's life depends on it.

I assumed, once somebody is using a rescue disk (that was the question - which one(s)), already knows what that is, knows what works and what doesn't (since he/she's using it), already knows if it's clean or not...

I think anybody using a rescue disk already knows that risks (including possible bundled malware) are involved and had mixed experiences with them, sorted them out, because a rescue disk of this type are custom made by who knows who. That is why it's interesting who's using what, and also the reason i didn't ask for a risk assessment while using such ISOs - you're on your own, you take responsibility if you are using them.

 

[SHvFl]

Since WinXP , i used a "illegal" one so i won't mention its name...
However, i alternatively use a LInux Live CD , when i want recover files.

I assume we use the same one. Has a million stuff added to it though mainly for troubleshooting the pc.

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

I assume we use the same one. Has a million stuff added to it though mainly for troubleshooting the pc.

I also have one which is advertised as fine, but i have my doubts it's 100% legal, so i'm not mentioning it. But it's freaking awesome

 

[Deleted member 178]

I assume we use the same one. Has a million stuff added to it though mainly for troubleshooting the pc.

Seems to be the same

 

[Quassar]

long time ago i used Hiren, Rollback RX
Now i stay with Parted Magic & Paragon Hard Disk Manager
as alternative i prefer simple MiniTool or other Live Linux rescue cd.

 

[Myriad]

All my life I've been using multiboot rescue disks/usb flashes, but lately options are limited if you are looking for something WinPE based bundled with tools, although linux based rescue disks are plenty.

15 (?) years ago I felt the need for one such rescue environment and I made one for myself, WinXP based, bundled with drivers and freeware, I can still remember one of the tools I used, nlite. It was free back then. And then I found out about Hiren's, looking for Norton Ghost free alternatives. Not particularly legal at the time, but... used it anyway, cause' everybody was using it. They got in trouble later so changed the entire bundled software.

So... what are you using (doesn't matter on what media, cds, dvds, usbs)? Are they bundled with different tools?

Ha !
Looks like you have opened a huge can of worms here buddy .

I'm with you all the way , and I know exactly where you're coming from .
I never leave home without them !

I was going to reply earlier today , when only two members had posted , but I got called out on repair job .
And I took the same tool set that I've been carrying for many, many years , but now I see that some of these may be deemed "illegal ".
Who say's so ? ...... and in what jurisdiction ?
I use my tools on client systems only , and then only ever with their permission .
Am I hacking their systems ? ..... some would say " technically , yes " .

Anyway , here they are :-

On Disks-
Hirens
Ultimate Boot CD
and a bunch of rescue disks for all the major backup utilities ( and yes , they are ALL tested , and I still think Macrium is the best )

On USB sticks -
HD Sentinel
NirSoft ( the complete original uncensored package ) is that illegal ? .... it might take me some time to give a damn
A couple of "Lean and Mean" linux distros

I'm "Old School " and I tend to trust disks over Flash drives .
They never fail , and they can never be written too , no matter how toxic the environment I'm booting into .

As usual , it's just my two kurus worth .

BTW - has anyone been using Bootrepair Disk ?
I'd be keen to hear of any experiences and feedback ( especially if you have been able to get it to boot from a CD/DVD )

 

[Deleted member 178]

And I took the same tool set that I've been carrying for many, many years , but now I see that some of these may be deemed "illegal ".
Who say's so ? ...... and in what jurisdiction ?

When those "rescue" disks integrate paid tools that you didn't pay , it is not legal , right?

 

[Myriad]

When those "rescue" disks integrate paid tools that you didn't pay , it is not legal , right?

I have never come across any sign of that , in any of the tools I use .
There are certainly no cracks , keygens or warez that I have seen .

Could you give us a little more detail on that ?

Thanks

 

[Deleted member 178]

I have never come across any sign of that , in any of the tools I use .
There are certainly no cracks , keygens or warez that I have seen .

Could you give us a little more detail on that ?

Thanks

I cant because against the rule to mention those tools. check my post above Q&A - System Rescue ISOs

But the best rescue CDs have those paid tools integrated. if not those CDs worth nothing. no cracks , just the paid version integrated but since those tools doesn't need online activation they can be put everywhere.
For example some of those CDs use portable-made OSes which obviously wasn't made to be distributed...

 

[Amelith Nargothrond]

Ha !
Looks like you have opened a huge can of worms here buddy .

I'm with you all the way , and I know exactly where you're coming from .
I never leave home without them !

I was going to reply earlier today , when only two members had posted , but I got called out on repair job .
And I took the same tool set that I've been carrying for many, many years , but now I see that some of these may be deemed "illegal ".
Who say's so ? ...... and in what jurisdiction ?
I use my tools on client systems only , and then only ever with their permission .
Am I hacking their systems ? ..... some would say " technically , yes " .

Anyway , here they are :-

On Disks-
Hirens
Ultimate Boot CD
and a bunch of rescue disks for all the major backup utilities ( and yes , they are ALL tested , and I still think Macrium is the best )

On USB sticks -
HD Sentinel
NirSoft ( the complete original uncensored package ) is that illegal ? .... it might take me some time to give a damn
A couple of "Lean and Mean" linux distros

I'm "Old School " and I tend to trust disks over Flash drives .
They never fail , and they can never be written too , no matter how toxic the environment I'm booting into .

As usual , it's just my two kurus worth .

BTW - has anyone been using Bootrepair Disk ?
I'd be keen to hear of any experiences and feedback ( especially if you have been able to get it to boot from a CD/DVD )

Nice to see a passionate fellow rescue stuff user
I also never leave the house without them. I take them even on vacations, it wouldn't be a first to salvage a party pc/laptop for example when half drunk )

Though some of them are incredibly useful, also illegal. This is not the place to talk about illegal ones, forum rules.
NirSoft, yes, i often use their handy little tools.

True, CDs are the real deal, but i got some little handy tricks for USBs as well, like creating dummy files with:

fsutil file createnew filename length

I filled the flash drives to 0 bytes free space, so malware can't write on them. Basic, but it worked for years