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#1 2020-04-01 14:21:27
- AeroCyber
- Member
- Registered: 2017-10-02
- Posts: 8
Bootable USB stick with Utilities (e.g. memtest, gparted, ...)
Hi all,
I would like to know if it is possible to have a bootable USB key where to install various "managing" softwares such as memtest86, gparted, photorec.
Until now, to use these softwares I usually installed each one in a different USB key, which is quite annoying. I wanted to know if there is a way to have a single USB key where to have all this softwares and maybe select which one to use at the boot. It would be wonderful to have a USB key with this kind of software that I can always bring with me, instead of having many of them.
In addition I wanted also to ask you which are, in you opionion, the "must have" softwares to have and why. For now my list is quite short and is:
- Gparted Live [Partitioning and Disks Managing]
- memtest86++ [Ram Testing]
- photorec [File Recovery]
I tought that maybe a solution can be to simply use a Live Linux OS where all these softwares of similar are installed, but I don't know if it is the same.
Thanks in advance!
Last edited by AeroCyber (2020-04-01 14:22:04)
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#2 2020-04-01 15:33:40
- sevendogs
- Member
- From: Texas
- Registered: 2016-01-24
- Posts: 209
Re: Bootable USB stick with Utilities (e.g. memtest, gparted, ...)
Take a look at SystemRescueCD - it is Arch based (used to be Gentoo) and has some tools on it. http://www.system-rescue-cd.org
"Give a man a truth and he will think for a day. Teach a man to reason and he will think for a lifetime"
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#3 2020-04-01 15:46:07
- demaio
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- From: Germany
- Registered: 2012-09-02
- Posts: 102
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Re: Bootable USB stick with Utilities (e.g. memtest, gparted, ...)
By far the easiest way (for me, though) was to just install Arch on an USB key and use it like it was on an internal disk, so I can install the needed programs with pacman. I setup GRUB with both an UEFI and a BIOS boot option and I integrated shim-signed to boot on secure-boot-enabled machines. It worked so far on a few dozen different machines at our company.
For a PXE-based rescue and install system I created a customized ArchISO. Not as easy and flexible as the USB installation though, but a bit more scalable.
As far as I remember, I found all needed information in the Arch Wiki.
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#4 2020-04-01 15:48:40
- seth
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- From: Don't DM me only for attention
- Registered: 2012-09-03
- Posts: 68,329
Re: Bootable USB stick with Utilities (e.g. memtest, gparted, ...)
Also grml, https://grml.org/files/grml64-full_2018 … selections
Like SRCD it comes w/ testdisk rather than photorec, though.
Knoppix is your garden variety "this is linux" live distro, http://www.knoppix.org/
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#5 2020-04-02 10:48:43
- AeroCyber
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- Registered: 2017-10-02
- Posts: 8
Re: Bootable USB stick with Utilities (e.g. memtest, gparted, ...)
Many thanks to everyone for your suggestions!
Maybe the installation of a Linux distro on the USB or using something like SystemRescueCD is the way to go! Maybe the fastest thing is the latter option I suppose.
Sorry, but I don't understand what exactly this is. Is a list of packages to install which include useful system utilities?
And I don't understand also what do you mean with "garden variety".
Cheers!
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#6 2020-04-02 12:24:44
- seth
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- From: Don't DM me only for attention
- Registered: 2012-09-03
- Posts: 68,329
Re: Bootable USB stick with Utilities (e.g. memtest, gparted, ...)
It's a direct link to the list of packages shipped w/ the full grml iso.
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