There are several compelling reasons why I recommend the RIP Linux rescue system. Here are the ones I consider most compelling:
- Ultra-compact design: Because RIP Linux takes up only 33 MB, it can be used on older 64-MB USB key drives and still leave plenty of headroom.
- Flexible format: Unlike CD and DVD discs, USB key drives use a file system format that Windows and Linux can easily recognize and use without additional hardware or software.
- Scalable structure: Vendor-specific and general-purpose recovery utilities can easily be added to the RIP Linux menu using the SYSLINUX boot loader.
- Current applications: RIP uses current applications, and you can include your own as you see fit.
- Quick build time: Creating the USB version of RIP Linux completes within minutes.
- Easily adapted and modified: SYSLINUX permits easy boot-loading capability for a variety of recovery utilities and applications.
While other software choices exist for this task, I consider these solutions overly complicated. For example, Feather and Damn Small Linux (DSL) are two lightweight (50 MB) live-CD distributions. Both distros are designed to fit on small business-card size CDs for promotions and presentations, and they can be easily modified into a respectable rescue system. But they both lack the specialization you'll find in the equally small RIP Linux.
Here are the three distinct advantages to the USB key method:
- Storage space is writable: You can store data from any computer without specialty hardware and software, unlike a read-only CD-ROM image (or writable CD-ROM image without a CD burner!), and with much greater capacity than a typical floppy.
- Smaller, more compact, and less fragile than CD/DVD: A USB key drives storage medium will never scratch, and it is much more rigid than CD/DVD discs. Finally, USB key drives are tiny yet capacious: the smallest are just a tad over two inches long, yet they can store as much as 2 GB of data.
- Easily expanded, updated and modified for custom use: You can resize, reformat and repopulate any applications, drivers or utilities necessary to recover any PC.
To be fair, there are a few drawbacks to the USB approach. Here are three of the worst problems I've spotted:
- Not all USB devices boot.
- Not all BIOSes boot USB devices.
- Not all USB devices that should boot, will boot.
Also, not all USB storage devices—flash or otherwise—are considered the same for rescue and recovery purposes. For example, among the products I tested, neither the Link Depot SD-to-USB adapter with a 1 GB storage card inside, nor the simple Z-Cyber USB 2.0 iDrive worked as a boot device. The Link Depot adapter was unrecognized by the BIOS during boot-up. And the iDrive prevented the BIOS from proceeding through the power-on, self-test (POST) startup sequence. For a system builder seeking to troubleshoot an existing rescue or recovery problem, either device would only complicate matters.
Another issue: Drive labels for USB devices, which are used to distinguish one storage volume from another, vary from one BIOS manufacturer and version to another. Some popular BIOS versions, such as Phoenix Award, identify the first attached USB device as USB-HDD (hard drive). Others see only USB-FDD (floppy drive) or USB-ZIP (ZIP drive) devices.
If the drive label is unclear for a particular BIOS, even with the key plugged in, try setting the boot priority—and first boot device, if applicable—to any available USB device name. Remember, not all BIOSes support bootable USB devices.
That said, the File Allocation Table 16-bit (FAT16) file system format, originally developed for MS-DOS, is used in this Recipe for compatibility with most BIOS makes and models. This will identify either a bootable USB-HDD or USB-FDD device. It is essential for an all-purpose bootable USB recovery solution.
Other Uses For a Bootable USB Key Drive
With a little research and testing, you'll find your transformed key drive can also perform the following tasks:
- Diagnose disk drives, memory modules, and other hardware.
- Obtain detailed hardware reports.
- Identify and benchmark CPUs.
- Copy partitions to local or network-attached disks.
- Reset Windows or CMOS passwords.
- Run specialized rescue disks.
- Run virus and malware scanners.
