Live CDs

[[DRuG]NikT]

Over the last few weeks as a geek pursuit, I have been googling for reviews of different live CDs - operating systems that run completely from a bootable CD... they give you an opportunity to work on your system independent of any of the regular file locking, while also allowing you to experience a stack of different operating systems.

I felt it would be good to share some of the ones I like a lot, while also getting the experience of others in here, too.

http://www.elivecd.org/
This one is Debian Linux running the Enlightenment desktop - with your choice of e16 and e17... Written by an Australian, Rastaman was quickly employed by Redhat when knowledge of his desktop became a household name in the linux world - a true success story & beautiful operating environment.

http://www.sabayonlinux.org/
Sabayon linux uses ATI catalyst and a stack of libraries to produce a desktop that is totally 3d accelerated.. the windows wobble and distort like rubber curtains when you move them - switching desktops causes the entire screen, mapped on a cube, to rotate to the next face to present desktop 2... impressive effects - and with true transparency support of the entire interface.. meaning, when windows overlap, you see the ones behind according to the level of transparency you have set. It worked well straight out of the box with my network card, which is always a bonus, but not a guarantee, with live CDs. This one would be good for gaming and even played net videos well.

http://www.knoppix.org/
If you plan to actually install linux to your hard disk from the live environment (a lot of people prefer this to braving the default linux installers), Knoppix is universally agreed to be the most thorough install. It has just about everything you'd ever need, pre-installed... possibly, if anything, too much - this is why I have switched to using the Debian Etch default installer... both it, and Knoppix, when transferred to hard disk, produce the same, Debian based environment. The difference with the Debian Etch installer? It seems to allow you to reduce the system to a very basic environment quickly and easily, where Knoppix, overall, had a lot of stuff installed that I couldn't easily remove. A very full functioned, KDE & Gnome available, Debian linux based environment... with a lot of polishing.

miniPE²-XT v2k5.06.06 (the most complete bartCD) (google for a torrent)

Here's a little project I've been working on that I call miniPE, a namesake taken from PEBuilder & BartPE (do a Google search to learn more about those), and inspired by Michael K.H. Au-Yeung's series of awesome bootCDs (Super WinPE, ERDC, PQRE 2003 All-In-One CD and Super WinPE Plus 2004 Multi-Bootable All-In-One CD). I call mine miniPE, because I have set the criteria that, all the apps must fit on a miniCD (8cm). I use 210MB Memorex CDRWs and they have served me well. I have found this to be a valuable tool in my arsenal of toolkit utilities - I think you may like it too.

Accessories

* Hash Calculator 2.0
* Calculator
* Free-Cal 1.3
* Dead Pixel Buddy
* keyboard layout (change foreign language layout on--the-fly)

Document Viewers

* PDF Reader
* Atlantis Word Processor
* Spread32
* Editor² Text Editor
* Wordpad

System Tools

* Avast! ScanDisk
* Dependency Walker 2.1
* Resource Hacker 3.4.0.79
* PE Resource Explorer
* AIDA32 3.93
* Password Renew 1.0 RC2
* Keyfinder PE
* SAMInside v2.3.0.0
* CPU Clock
* Trout 2.0 (Trace Route)
* DiskWipe
* Unstoppable Copier
* Check Disk
* Disk Copy (floppy)

Registry Editors

* Avast! RegEdit
* X-setup Pro 6.6
* RegEditPE
* Registry File Viewer
* Registry Restore Wizard

Avast! Tools

* Avast! AntiVirus 2.0
* Avast! Registry Editor
* Avast! Registry Cleaner
* Avast! Scan Disk
* Avast! Junk File Remover
* Avast! Data Shredder
* Avast! Event Viewer
* Avast! Services/Drivers

Hard Drive Tools

* Partition Magic 8
* Treesize Pro
* DiskData
* DiskTective
* DirectorySnoopFAT32
* DirectorySnoopNTFS
* Drive Investigator
* Fix MBR
* WD Diagnostic
* DriveLook 1.0
* SectorSpyXP
* DiskScann
* PartitionInfo
* PartitonEdit
* HD Tune
* HardDriveSpeed
* PE Mount
* RAID Recontructor 2.31
* DiskExplorer-FAT 2.31
* DiskExplorer-NTFS 2.31
* GetDataBack-FAT 2.31
* GetDataBack-NTFS 2.31

Paragon HD Tools

* Paragon Hard Disk Mgr 6 (tech-RAMDrive)
* Paragon HD Manager (Pro-CD)

Winternals

* Winternals ERD Commander 2003
* Winternals Disk Commander

File Management

* PowerDesk Pro 5
* xplorer²-lite
* ExplorerXP 1.06
* AB Commander 6.6
* Total Commander 6.03a
* a43 File Management 2.40
* freeCommander 2004.03
* ERD Explorer
* PowerDesk File Finder
* Disk Recon 1.0
* Effective File Search 3.3
* Agent Ransack
* PackIt duplicate file finder
* UltraCompare 1.10

Data Recovery

* O&O Unerase 2.0
* R-Studio 2.0
* Easy Recovery Pro 6.03
* CIA UnErase 1.1
* Active@ Undelete 5.0.015
* GetDataBack-FAT 2.31
* GetDataBack-NTFS 2.31
* RecoverMyFiles 2.93
* Handy Recovery 1.0
* Winternals FileRestore
* RecoverItAllPro 3.2.3264
* FileRecovery 3.0
* Restoration 2.5.14
* EnCase 4.20 Forensics
* WinHex 12.0 SR-14 Forensic Edition

Data Removal

* X-Ways Security
* Eraser 5.7
* DiskWipe
* File Shredder 1.41

File Compression

* WinRAR 3.41
* WinZIP 8.1

AntiVirus & Spyware

* Avast!BARTCD
* AntiVir Personal AntiVirus
* TrendMicro SysClean
* MicroWorld AntiVirus
* NOD32 VirusCleaner
* Norton AntiVirus
* McAfee AntiVirus
* Avast! VirusCleaner
* McAfee Stinger
* SpySweeper
* Ad-Aware Pro SE 1.05
* a² AntiTrojan 1.5

System Backup

* Symantec Ghost 8
* Drive Image 2002
* Paragon Drive Backup
* Drive SnapShot 1.35

ISO Apps

* UltraISO 7.5.2.986 ME
* ISOBuster Pro 1.7
* WinISO 5.3

Hex Editors

* Hex Workshop 4.23
* 010 HexEditor 1.3.2
* WinHex 12.0 SR-14 Forensic Edition
* UltraEdit 11.00
* XVI32 Hex Editor 2.5.1.0
* Tiny Hexer 1.0.1.18

Image Viewers

* XnView v1.74
* IrfanView 3.95

Defraggers

* VoptXP 7.21
* DefragNT 1.9
* Winternals Power Defragger
* DIRMS defragger

Internet

* Opera 7.23
* Firefox 1.01
* Flashget
* FileZilla FTP
* WS_FTP LE
* IP-Tools
* Trace Route 2.0
* Angry IP Scanner 2.21
* PuTTY 0.54 (Telnet-SSH)
* Remote Desktop Connection
* Tight VNC Viewer
* ServiWin 1.1

CD Burning

* Nero 5.5.10.56
* Small CD Writer 1.12
* Deepburner
* Easy DVD Burner
* Sateira CD Burner

Additional Apps

* WinImage 6.10

Network

* Angry IP Scanner 2.21
* Remote Desktop Connection
* Tight VNC Viewer
* PE Network Configurator
* IP Config

Storage

* Auto RAMdisk sizer
* Adaptec ASPI verification

Additional Features

* SATA drive support for many controllers
* NIC support for many cards
* Clear RAM Drive
* Change display resolution & color bit-depth
* Change mouse characteristics
* Change date & time
* Accessibility Options
* Task Manager
* GeoShell Taskbar
* WindowBlinds 4.5

NOTE: miniPE & miniPE²-XT are identical except miniPE contains a few less apps so as to fit on a miniCD. miniPE²-XT is the only one currently available. The newest miniCD version (miniPE) is being developed.

Often, you need to compile drivers before cutting the cd, for your network card to work, if you're on a laptop, in order to have a useful "Bart" or "Windows PE" CD, for use rescuing systems independent of your regular operating system... building these CDs requires a Windows 2003 server CD during to process to get the required files to build this live, Windows XP environment. More information on the BartCD building tool, PEbuilder, is available at http://www.nu2.nu/.

I hope some of this info is useful to you guys - I know liveCDs have become quite the tool for me - especially the bart discs.. it's how I am able to image a system with XP and hand over to clients in under half an hour, not something you can do using the regular installer.

[[DRuG]Mortal]

Knoppix is great for laptops. Ubuntu is the best all around, imo. Especially the Beryl support.

eLive is pretty.

[[DRuG]KillFrenzy]

What a coincidence. I happened to be in need of some live CD's to extract some files from a wrecked WinXP machine before formatting. Thank you Nikt

[[DRuG]Mortal]

All must check out gOS, it's good. Buggy, so dont install yet (if it tickles you enough for that), but check it out. It's pretty neat.

http://www.thinkgos.com