SystemRescueCd

SystemRescueCd is a Linux distro designed for repairing your system and your data after a crash. It ships with dozens of software packages used to carry out admin tasks on PC, and it’s usable on x86, SPARC, and PowerPC (Mac) architectures.

Origin – Home Page: France – SystemRescueCd

Desktop: Default mode of operation is via the console, but Windowmaker is available as the graphical interface

Price: Free and Open Source

Comments: SystemRescueCd is a comprehensive disaster recovery Linux distro. This is one tool any System Admin needs to keep in his/her tool chest. You can customize a SystemRescueCd image to suit your needs and work environment, then burn it to a CD or DVD or transfer it to a USB stick.

Supports most important file systems (ext2/ext3, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs, iso9660), LVM and network file systems (samba and nfs), and available for 32-bit Intel/AMD architectures, PowerPC (Mac), and SPARC systems. It supports network boot via the PXE feature, and provides read/write access to MS Windows NTFS partitions using Ntfs-3g.

One of the most useful components of SystemRescueCd is TestDisk, which is “primarily designed to help recover lost data storage partitions and/or make non-booting disks bootable again when these symptoms are caused by faulty software, certain types of viruses or human error (such as accidentally erasing a partition table)”.

One advantage that SystemRescueCd has over grml (another system admin distro) is that it can be used to manipulate LVM partitions.

Download/Buy: SystemRescueCd is available for free download, and you may also buy a SystemRescueCd online.

Tutorials/Tips: There is an excellent quick start guide for SystemRescueCd