What Live CDs Do You Carry Around?

TPC asks: "I recently acquired a small CD case that fits 12 CDs. I figured that it would be useful to always carry around a few CDs to use when helping others with computer issues, or in case something goes wrong with my own computer. However, I'm having a hard time deciding what CDs to pick, and there are probably many hidden gems out there. I'm sure I'm not the first person with this idea, so I ask you: What 12 live (and otherwise) CDs would you carry around?"

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, Damnsmalllinux, UBCD

[From A Far Away Land]

My favourites are Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, Damnsmalllinux.org, and the Ultimate Boot CD [which my Dad loves for the hard disk utilities].

I plan on ordering Ubuntu discs from ShipIt, and handing them out at the Vista launch event on January 9th.

List

[ObiWanStevobi]

1. Knoppix

   Never know when you need to pull files from a disk with a FUBAR boot sector

2. AV Disc

   Need your disk with AVAST, Ad-Aware, and other virus removal tools

3. Windows XP

   Sometimes a re-install is just easier

4. Fedora

   Just in case you have an open-minded subject prone to viruses, you can get them using Linux. (Of course, this takes multiple disc spaces.)

5. MS Office

   To fix those pesky Office corruptions

6. Open Office

   Once again, for those open-minded folks who wouldn't really know the difference anyway.

7. Misc software

   Adobe, Quicktime, Firefox, Opera, J2RE, etc. Those pretty much handle any random computer problems most people have.

Re:Mix of Linux and Windows tools

[Barny]

You do know that memtest86 is on knoppix cds? just type memtest at the boot prompt ^_^

But nice selection, I have a custom built windows XP home edition OEM slipstream too, it loads most major MOBO drivers, has ability to load nvidia and ati offerings too, as well as firefox, spybot, adaware (used with permission), java vm, dotnetfx, about 80 windows updates since sp2 and videolan player. It also has a few 3dmarks, some game demos and sp2 saved in a (not copied at install time) directory. Fits on a 4.2G dvd fine :)

"ultimate boot cd" (has bartPE, offline pw editor and memtest on one disk) and knoppix v4 (some low end vid cards from nvidia and ati have refresh rate problems with 5) and v5 round out the basic stuff, have seagate tools and disc wizard handy too in case I need to get physical with a HDD.

Re:Live?

[davecarlotub]

I prefer "The Song Remains the Same". I throw a Gentoo LiveCD into the same case.

I work in a Windows shop and I use the Gentoo install-x86-minimal-2006.1 [gentoo.org] CD regularly to pull files from old crashed Win2k hard drives. It's nice, for me.

Knoppix, UBCD, Ubuntu

[yppiz]

I carry around Knoppix and the Ultimate Boot CD on USB thumb drives.

I most recently booted a multi-terabyte server off the Knoppix thumb drive to run memtest overnight in an attempt to track down some hardware flakiness.

UBCD is a lifesaver for borked Windows machines.

Ubuntu is the best end-user live CD I've seen. It works well on my laptop, even getting wireless right.

--Pat

I don't

[Sycraft-fu]

Rather than try to build a be-all, end all pack I take what's needed for the job. We have a big rack of CDs at work with all our various recovery and maintenance tools, there's at least 30 CDs in that category. However for a given problem it's unlikely to need more than a couple. So I bring what I'll probably need. Just ask the person first. Same deal when I consult. For example last night I got a call for a system that couldn't run Office and AOL at the same time and was performing poorly. That tells me I need anti-spyware tools, Windows system examination tools (like the Sysinternals utilities) and Office service packs. I'm not going to need any live CDs, clearly the system is operational. In the end, Process Explorer was the only tool needed (a program was leaking memory and the system has little of it).

Do your homework first, and you don't need to bring so much with you.

For problems serious enough that I'd want to boot form a live CD, I generally don't do service on site. I take the computer with me where I can hook it up and have access to any and all tools I might need, including a working computer with Internet access. Major reason is that quite often the problem is disk failure. Well in that case I need the data backed up and fast. You do not want ot be trying that off a live CD on a potentially faulty machine. You want that disk in a computer you know is good, with good cooling on it, so you can quickly do a local copy of the important stuff (and the whole disk, if that works).

Unless you are doing work on computers at really remote locations, that's how I'd do it.

If you are just asking what kinds of CDs to have. Well, I dunno, depends on what you have access to, and how much time you are willing to spend. Off the top of my head the recovery CDs that get the most use at work are Windows PE, the Windows XP and 2000 install CDs, Knoppix, Memtest86+, Ghost (few different ones configured for different NICs), Spinrite, the Sysinternals tools, XP SP2/2K SP4/etc, the AV/anti-spyware USB stick (so it can be updated), drivers CDs for various hardware configurations, disk diags for various vendors, and Partition Magic. There's more, I just can't think of them now and those are the ones I probably use the most.

Slax

[eklitzke]

Of course Knoppix is far and away the best Live CD in this area. But it's not great if you want something that can boot from a (reasonably sized) USB drive. Let me explain. I am a "Residential Computing Consultant" at the school I go to, which means that I troubleshoot student's computers, clean up after spyware and viruses, etc. At my job we are issued a 512 MB flash drive. The programs that we are _required_ to have on there (i.e. all the anti spyware, networking diagnostic, and especially Windows patches and hot fixes) take up at least 300 MB. With the remaining space I was able to install Slax and still have ~50 MB left to spare.

I went with Slax rather than something like DSL for a number of reasons. But the main one is that of all the really small live distros, it was the only one I could find with a 2.6 kernel, which translates to better hardware support for all of the weird computers I have to work on (they are mostly one or at most two years old).

We are encouraged to carry Knoppix CDs as well, and they are available in the office, but it's really, really nice to be able to have a live USB drive. Plus only a relatively small amount of the total software on a Knoppix CD is for data recovery and so forth, and all of the essential tools in this area are present in most of the small distros like Slax or DSL.

Re:Kill disk

[bcmm]

Thing about that is that it's pretty obvious that the drive has been wiped. I wonder if anyone has made a DVD which could securely erase a drive and then install an image of a small (by modern standards) OS like Windows 98? You could create an image which looks used, with a few documents, browser history, etc. Maybe even some deleted files for any analysis to turn up. In a short amount of time, you could probably really make it look like the machine had been used as a 98 box for a while. (Plenty of idiots buy much nicer hardware than they need).

Re:List

[thepotoo]

Knoppix

Agreed.

AV Disc

Pick your favorite antivirus (I use antivir because it's idiot proof) and put it on a thumb drive. Make sure to have the Win 98 drivers for said drive (they can be on the drive itself, and you can install them using Knoppix)

Windows XP

Agreed, reluctantly. If you're gonna go this way, though, you'll also need to carry an external hard drive for back-up purposes, and an XP disk is pretty much useless without this. Plus, computers ship with one, so chances are someone else has one.

Fedora

This wouldn't be slashdot if we didn't fight about what distro to carry. I would say the best newbie distro might be Ubuntu, but we could argue about this all day.

MS Office

Why bother? You can fit the installer on a 1 gig thumb drive, but OOO suits everyones needs (I have yet to run across a home user who actually needed Word), without requiring a keygen.

Open Office

Thumb drive.

Misc software: Adobe, Quicktime, Firefox, Opera, J2RE, etc.

Yes. But add in Foxit (loads faster), Flash, XP SP2 standalone installer, the dot net framework 2.0, an XP password recovery tool, 7-zip, winrar, the Community Compiled Codec Pack and VLC.

I've been using this basic set-up for years, and it works amazingly well.

For Windows, spend some money

[BenEnglishAtHome]

I used to carry BartPE [nu2.nu] and I still recommend it to budget-constrained folks. However, spending some money for Winternals [winternals.com] was one of the best things my employer ever did. It boots faster, comes with more and better tools by default, and gives me the easy network awareness that makes it possible for me to do my job better.

On the free side, when trying to revive the virus-infested home computers of friends, I find Chronomium [antesis.org] to be wonderful. You plug in a USB key with a current Clam AV signature file and boot from the disk. It then runs through the drive and deletes all virus-infected files. For a very quick "either fix it or pronounce it fully broken so we can start over" situation, it's without peer.