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Fortunately, those of us who use Linux have a wide variety of troubleshooting tools. Many distros put these tools together in a single package that we can take anywhere and they have the advantage of being Live CDs, with which we can run them without installing themHere we will only mention a few of the many excellent Linux distros out there to use as rescue systems. When Windows dies, Linux comes to the rescue! |
SystemRescueCd
SystemRescueCd is a Gnu / linux system bootable from cdrom that is used to repair your system and recover your data after a failure. It also tries to provide an easy way to perform administrative tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing partitions on the hard drive. It contains many system utilities (parted, partimage, fstools, ...) and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). The goal is to make it very easy to use: just boot from cdrom and you can do everything. The system kernel supports the most important file systems (ext2 / ext3, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs, iso9660), and network files (samba and nfs).
These are the main tools of the system:
- GNU Part is the best tool for editing your hard drive partitions in Linux.
- GParted it is a clone of Partition Magic for Linux.
- part image it's a Ghost / Drive-image clone for Linux
- Filesystem tools (e2fsprogs, reiserfsprogs, reiser4progs, xfsprogs, jfsutils, ntfsprogs, dosfstools): allow you to format, resize, debug an existing partition on your hard drive.
- Sfdisk allows you to backup and restore your partition table
You can look at the tools page for more details.
SystemRescueCd is also available for the blind. Now, the linux speakup version 1.5 screen reader is working fine, and the speakup keyboard reader is installed. This function was tested by Gregory Nowak.
It is possible to make versions custom disc. For example, you can add your own scripts to perform an automatic system recovery. It is also possible burn a DVD customized with the SystemRescueCd and 4.2 GB for your data (backup, for example). Read the manual for more details.
Too easy install SystemRescueCd on a USB stick. This is very handy in case you can't boot from the CD. You just have to copy several files to the pendrive and run syslinux. The installation process can be done from Linux or Windows. Follow the instructions manual for more details.
More information | SystemRescueCd
Redo Backup and Recovery
Redo Backup and Recovery is a Linux distribution focused on making backup copies of the hard disk and other maintenance and recovery tasks.
Redo Backup and Recovery stands out for its small size, less than 70MB, the possibility of using it from a liveCD or USB memory without installing anything on your computer, and a simple and practical user environment.
Redo Backup and Recovery will allow you to access your Linux or Windows partitions, edit them and extract content, browse the Internet or talk via instant messaging, among other things. But the main tool of Redo Backup and Recovery is its backup function. In a few steps you will be able to make an exact copy of your disk and thus restore it in case you have a mishap with your computer, be it Windows or Linux.
Among the tools that it incorporates we have programs to see the status of our hard drives,PhotoRec, to recover files deleted from the recycle bin or backup tools that allow us to synchronize two folders and perform an incremental copy. To all these we also have to add Firefox, a text editor and a terminal to be able to execute orders from the console.
In addition, we have the alternative of create a hard drive or partition image quickly, which gives us the possibility of having our system recovered quickly. If what we want is to recover a file or folder from our hard drive due to a system failure, it will be enough to use the file browser that it incorporates to reach our hard drives and copy said folder to an external hard drive.
More information | Redo Backup and Recovery
Ubuntu Rescue Remix
This is another of the many Ubuntu derived distributions, focused in this case on providing the appropriate tools to be able to recover our data in case of failure of the operating system or a partition. The good thing is that all Ubuntu users will not have major problems in its use, shortening the learning curve quite a bit since it is also handled through the console, therefore if we are used to using this mode in Ubuntu many commands we already know how to use them .
Another interesting thing about this distribution are the case studies, which give us practical examples of data recovery in certain cases that can be of great help to us. As in the two previous cases, it includes several tools for managing files and partitions, as well as for recovering deleted data from our bins.
More information | Ubuntu Rescue Remix
Trinity Rescue Disk
Trinity Rescue Kit (TRK) is a free Linux distribution created specifically to recover and repair Windows computers. Some of its most important characteristics are the following:
- 5 different antivirus programs that run with the same command and are updated via the Internet: ClamAV (clam), F-prot (fprot), Grisoft AVG (avg), Bitdefender (bde), Vexira (va).
- Easy removal of Windows passwords.
- Cloning NTFS file systems over the network.
- Utilities and procedures for recovering deleted files.
- Recovery of lost partitions.
- Multicast cloning utility of any file system.
- 2 RootKits detection utilities.
More information | Trinity Rescue Disk
CDLinux
CDlinux (Compact Distro Linux) is a GNU / Linux mini-distribution that runs from CD and is suitable for computers with little memory. It uses XFCE, light and functional, and incorporates tools to play multimedia files, edit documents, surf the Internet, chat and edit photos.
CDlinux is very manageable. We can boot it from CD, DoC, Flash, ATA, SATA or SCSI hard drive, USB, or IEEE1394 bus, and install it on ext2, ext3, jfs, reiserfs, xfs, isofs and udf partitions, also reading hfs, hfsplus, fat or ntfs .
CDlinux supports a large number of hardware and network devices, so it can be used as an alternative for older computers or for networks and maintenance or recovery tasks.
More information | CDLinux
riplinux
RIPLinux is a bootable CD or USB that allows us to recover, make backups, boot and maintain systems. RIPLinux supports all kinds of disk drives and partition formats, including Windows. It has several advantages: it allows to recover damaged system boots, supports different file systems, support for various kinds of disks and networks. It has 2 "cons" to consider: it requires too high a level of knowledge and everything is done through the terminal.
Comes with:
- Fetchmail, curl, wget, ssh / sshd, mutt, links, msmtp, tmsnc, slrn, lftp, epic and Firedox support SSL
- Includes cdrwtool, mkudffs, and pktsetup packages to allow writing to optical media.
- fsck.reiserfs and 'fsck.reiser4 to check and repair reiserfs and reiser4 filesystem.
- xfs_repair to repair a Linux xfs filesystem.
- jfs_fsck to check and repair a Linux jfs filesystem.
- e2fsck to check and repair a Linux ext2 or ext3 filesystem.
- ntfsresize to resize Windows NTFS systems without data loss.
- ntfs-3g to be able to write to Windows NTFS systems.
- chntpw allows you to view user information and passwords on Windows systems.
- cmospwd allows you to recover password from CMOS / BIOS.
More information | RipLinux
Extra sources: Engadget