Whether your machine is a Mac or based on Linux or Windows, when it fails to boot you need a dependable recovery tool. Here are a few Linux tools that may save the day, says Jack Wallen.
I have seen a rash of problems recently, from corrupt partition tables to severely infected machines. All these problems have been sorted out using Linux rescue tools, which come in particularly handy when the host system refuses to boot. Because so many of these tools are available, I decided to pick out some of the better ones.
1. Knoppix
Knoppix is one of the best tools for rescuing data. It is a full-blown live Linux distribution with a strong, user-friendly graphical interface that makes it easy for you to mount a drive and then copy the data — which you can find using the simple file manager — to an external source. Of course, Knoppix comes with the full arsenal of Linux commands, which put almost everything you need at your fingertips.
2. Trinity Rescue Kit
Trinity Rescue Kit may leave you wondering why it isn't being developed faster and on a larger scale. What it offers is amazing.
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Place it on a USB drive, boot your virus-laden machine and scan the mounted drives with an antivirus tool such as ClamAV, AntiVir or BitDefender. Trinity Rescue Kit works through the command line, so you may have to bone up on your commands to exploit it to the full.
3. Avira AntiVir
Avira AntiVir is a command-line antivirus tool that is fast, robust and dependable. There is a graphical user interface tool, but installing it is almost more trouble than it's worth. It requires Java. Installing AntiVir on Linux is not the easiest of tasks, but it's certainly no kernel compilation.
4. GParted Live
GParted Live is a live Linux distribution that lets you manipulate partitions on a drive. It supports numerous file systems, and you can resize, create and delete partitions. You can run GParted Live from a CD or a USB drive, so it is very portable.
5. SystemRescueCd
SystemRescueCd is another live Linux rescue CD that offers numerous tools to handle numerous tasks, including partition manipulation, file recovery, hard-disk testing, FTP and disk formatting.
As with most live Linux distributions, you can place SystemRescueCd on either or CD or USB drive, and it offers an easy-to-use graphical user interface and plenty of tools.
6. Ubuntu Rescue Remix
Ubuntu Rescue Remix is quickly becoming one of my favourite data-recovery tools. Like all good live Linux CD tools, it includes an outstanding interface — it is Ubuntu, after all — that can help you handle tasks other tools can't handle.
You can recover and rescue Mac files and file systems, recover...
Talkback
I'm partial to UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD) which comes with a huge variety of testing and recovery tools which are all open source and/or freeware, all compiled into one CD that I can boot from and do everything I need.
Another great post! I've used the kaspersky Linux based rescue disk, which is free to download.....it's very thorough and usually needs all night......it's worked for me 2 ou of three times.
Dr web is also a great linux based rescue CD with a firefox browser.
How will these Linux tools work for Macs?
Are they compatible with the Mac file system, HFS+ Journaled?
How are these any better than any of the Mac-specific tools?
Sorry, I don't think these work for Macs.
I second UBCD (Ultimate Boot CD) which has a considerable range of tools and a familiar GUI interface. The only thing is that it does have to be constructed from a running Windows system, which takes some time (depending on the hardware) and requires intermediate skills to create.
Of course, it is only for Windows systems. Nevertheless, I found it invaluable to recover a system (not mine) held to ransom by fake security software which only allowed Windows to boot and access the Internet (to pay the ransom). Safe mode was also disabled.