Linux system rescue distribution

[Charles Steinkuehler]

Kyle Sexton wrote:
> Just picked up a 1G USB Flash drive and am trying to decide which
> system rescue distro to put on it.  Anyone have any experience with
> these or other live rescue systems?
> 
> Recovery is Possible (RIP) Linux,
> http://www.tux.org/pub/people/kent-robotti/looplinux/rip/
> SystemRescueCD, http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page
> INSERT, http://www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html

Of these, I've only used SystemRescueCD, which I morphed into a bootable
DVD to do 'bare metal' restore of Windows XP systems.

SystemRescueCD was very flexible and easy to configure to my needs.  I
patched it to boot off an external USB CD, and even installed it to a
HDD (also external USB) to use as a mastering system for creating new XP
recovery DVDs.  There are several places to 'hook' customizations, so
it's easy to use as a general-purpose recovery platform or morph into a
more focused utility.

While I'm sure there's some stuff you can't do with SystemRescueCD, I
can heartily recommend it as a good place to start.  As a bonus, it's
not all that big (unless it's really gotten bloated since I was playing
with it).

-- 
Charles Steinkuehler
charles at steinkuehler.net