Creating a bootable rescue disk

[Melita-s]

I visited your page headed 'How to Create a Bootable Rescue CD at:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/crea...-rescue-cd.htm

At the end of the write up there are 6 links to web pages. The links number 2,3 and 6 are taking you to a different web site.

Could you please explain the following before I venture in to this:

1. Link No. 4 gives an enormously long list of what they call 'The live CD list'. What could these be?

2. Link No. 5 (sourceforge) offers direct download of 'Ultimate boot CD'. If I burn this image to a DVD instead of a CD, will it function the same?

3. In the 'Table of contents' on the left navigation pane of the main page, there is the option to purchase this CD from third party vendors which I am not very keen to do. Are there any trustworthy dealers elsewhere for this purpose?

4. The text of your above article speaks about using an Ubuntu CD. Can an Ubuntu CD boot a computer already with a Windows OS?

[For Ubuntu CD or the UBCD4Win (which also seems a good idea), we need to find the proper links for numbers 2,3 and 6 mentioned above]

Thank you

[Joe A.TT]

Melita, I'm going to try to answer your questions. If I make a boo-boo and someone more knowledgeable comes along please correct me.

You are right. The links for UBCD4Win (i.e. links 2 and 3) lead to a domain which appears to be for sale. I don't understand what's going on there but I did a search and found the home site for UBCD4Win is now here: http://ubcd4win.org/ Maybe someone with the authority will read this and change the link.

You are right about the link for Knoppix too. Although it is also listed in the Live CD List the home page for Knoppix itself is http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html Once again, I hope someone will change it after reading this.

As for your numbered questions, here goes:

1. As far as I'm aware, Live CD's are variants of the Linux operating system. You would normally download an ISO and burn it to a CD. You can then boot the CD into a "Live" instance of that Linux OS. Among other uses, Live CD's can come in handy when Windows cannot boot.
2. I don't see any "Direct" download for UBCD in the Sourceforge link. I do see (a) a Magnet link that can be use if you are using BitTorrent, (b) Links to Mirror sites where you can download it, and (c) Links to older versions. On the whole, if you really want to download this software I'd recommend you get it here from Softpedia (which is a known and trustworthy site). And Yes, it should function the same whether you burn it to a CD or DVD. It's just that DVD's are a bit more expensive and could hold more (i.e. 4.36 GB compared to 700 MB for a CD). Why use a DVD if it can fit on a CD?
3. On the Table of Contents of the UBCD (Sourceforge) page there's an entry for "Getting a Physical Copy". Is that what you are referring to? I don't know of any trustworthy dealers but why buy a CD or flashdrive when you can download the ISO and make one yourself? That's what I would do.
4. I don't see any reference in the article about using an Ubuntu CD. All the same, you could download an ISO of Ubuntu, burn it to a CD, and boot it just like a Live CD.

Lastly, the subject of recovery tools (which this is all about) can be a bit challenging. I myself know very little about them. It's not that it's not a good thing to learn about nor am I trying to discourage you. I'm just letting you know what to be prepared for.

[torres-no-tan-magnifico]

The links for 2, 3 and 6 have now been corrected.

[Joe A.TT]

Thank you Torres.

[Anupam]

Joe has already replied to the queries nicely. I will just add a few stuff.

Originally Posted by Melita-s

1. Link No. 4 gives an enormously long list of what they call 'The live CD list'. What could these be?

A Live CD/DVD is one which will boot your computer directly from the CD/DVD, without requiring to be installed on the hard drive.

More explanation here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_CD

Linux (a free operating system) are quite famous for offering their OS on live CDs, and therefore, the term has generally become associated with them, but a live CD is considered when an operating system is contained on the optical disc, and can run entirely from the CD/DVD and does not need to be installed to the hard drive.

Windows too can be available as a live CD using tools like BartPE, or Windows PE Builder. UBCD4Win uses the same tools.

Other examples of live CDs are the antivirus rescue CDs, which are quite useful in removing malware from severely infected computers.

Since a live CD is an operating system in itself, and does not require installation on hard drive, a completely different OS can be booted on the computer containing other OS. Therefore, to answer your later question, yes, a live CD containing Ubuntu, or any other Linux OS, can be used to boot the computer containing Windows on its hard drive.

Live CDs can have the option to make changes to your hard drive though. For example, the Linux distributions have the option to install the OS on the hard drive, if you like the distribution.

You can also copy stuff from hard drive to other drives, or copy/move stuff between hard drives using a live CD, and therefore, they are quite useful as rescue CDs, when your computer is unable to boot, or, the hard drive is having problems, and you have to rescue your data from the hard drive.

Some live CDs, like UBCD, or UBCD4Win contain a whole lot of stuff to recover the OS, or perform rescue operations. That's why these have been covered here in particular. These will be easy to use, and pretty much self-explanatory.

Originally Posted by Melita-s

2. Link No. 5 (sourceforge) offers direct download of 'Ultimate boot CD'. If I burn this image to a DVD instead of a CD, will it function the same?

Joe, direct download for Ultimate Boot CD is available on the download page, here:

http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/download.html

The section below P2P for Mirror Sites offers direct download for the ISO image, via HTTP/ftp.

Melita, as Joe says, rather than ordering the DVD, it's better to just download the ISO image, and burn it straight to a CD/DVD. And for UBCD, you don't even have to follow any building process, like in case of UBCD4Win, and therefore, the downloaded ISO image can be simply burned to a CD/DVD, and will be ready for use. So, that answers your third query.

Yes, the image will function the same whether you write it to a DVD or CD. Only thing is, since the image size is small enough to fit on a CD, if you write it to a DVD, the left over space will be totally wasted. But, if that does not matter to you, you can write it on a DVD.

Originally Posted by Melita-s

4. The text of your above article speaks about using an Ubuntu CD. Can an Ubuntu CD boot a computer already with a Windows OS?

As Joe says, cannot find any reference to Ubuntu CD in the article. Will you be particular as to what you are referring to?

Ubuntu is a popular Linux distribution, but very different from UBCD or UBCD4Win.

Have already answered this query of yours in my first reply. Since a live CD does not require to be installed to the hard drive, so, any live CD can boot your computer irrespective of what is stored on the hard drive, whether a Windows OS, or something else.

[Anupam]

If you want to go for UBCD4Win, mind you that you will have to go through the building process to create the disc. It's covered here:

http://ubcd4win.org/howto.htm

If you can follow that process, then good, otherwise just go for UBCD.

You can order the CD too, but I don't think it's working anymore. I went to the ordering page, and you have to order from a different site, which did not open for me. Also, it seems that the CD is not in development anymore, which would also explain the ordering situation.

[garth]

my tuppence worth.......Linux Mint is a nice introduction to the whole live/portable OS thingy. I tried it and it worked straight out of the box, so to speak.
http://www.linuxmint.com/index.php

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by garth

my tuppence worth.......Linux Mint is a nice introduction to the whole live/portable OS thingy. I tried it and it worked straight out of the box, so to speak.
http://www.linuxmint.com/index.php

I would second this, especially since the acquisition of more modern hardware has eliminated all of the issues I previously had with Mint. I would agree with our contributor Dedoimedo though and say the Cinnamon version of Mint is way better than the others. There is even a Win7 lookalike theme.

[Joe A.TT]

Originally Posted by Anupam

Joe, direct download for Ultimate Boot CD is available on the download page, here:

http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/download.html

The section below P2P for Mirror Sites offers direct download for the ISO image, via HTTP/ftp.

Ahh... I see it now. Thanks.

[Melita-s]

This whole page is a virtual tutorial. 'Virtual' as meant in the English language and not in Computer language! This is most appreciated.

Yes Anupam, as Joe says it makes sense to burn the ISO image to a disk than to buy one. I asked about the DVD because I have about 40 of them that I got very cheap and I rarely use them. The reference to Ubuntu CD is in the penultimate paragraph of the write up, as follows:

"If files that big sound too daunting then try one of the many Linux based rescue disks [4]. Many are smaller and simpler to set up; just download the ISO file and burn it to a CD. The popular Ultimate Boot CD [5] for example is an 87 MB download. Usage though can be a little daunting for those not used to the Linux environment but there's an excellent Linux rescue disk guide for Windows users here [6]"

As you recommend, I have decided to get the UBCD because it is much simpler than the building process.

I was under the impression that UBCD is Windows based (as you also probably thought) but the above paragraph indicates that the UBCD is Linux based. Please refer to the bold letters. You say in your post "Ubuntu is a popular Linux distribution, but very different from UBCD or UBCD4Win. Am I missing something here?
The quoted paragraph also says "The popular Ultimate Boot CD [5] for example is an 87 MB download" But the website at link No.5 says it is a 597 MB. How come?

Many thanks again for excellent support to all of you.

Kind regards