[Sheflug] Useful Tools

[Richard Ibbotson <richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

We would normally cover this kind of thing at monthly meetings but in 
recent weeks there have been some new releases of helpful tools that 
can be used to rescue your data or help to fix some ailing hardware.  
These are widely used all over the world in places like NASA or IBM or 
other places.  Examples follow....

If the Knoppix CD isn't good enough for you then try one or some of 
these....

RescueCD...

http://www.sysresccd.org/Main_Page

" SystemRescueCd is a Linux system rescue disk available as a bootable 
CD-ROM or USB stick for administrating or repairing your system and 
data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin 
tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the hard disk 
partitions. It comes with a lot of linux software such as system tools 
(parted, partimage, fstools, ...) and basic tools (editors, midnight 
commander, network tools). It requires no installation. It can be used 
on linux servers, linux desktops or windows boxes. The kernel supports 
the important file systems (ext2/ext3/ext4, reiserfs, reiser4, btrfs, 
xfs, jfs, vfat, ntfs, iso9660), as well as network filesystems (samba 
and nfs). "

Trinity Rescue CD....

http://trinityhome.org/Home/index.php?wpid=1

" Trinity Rescue Kit or TRK is a free live Linux distribution that 
aims specifically at recovery and repair operations on Windows 
machines, but is equally usable for Linux recovery issues. Since 
version 3.4 it has an easy to use scrollable text menu that allows 
anyone who masters a keyboard and some English to perform maintenance 
and repair on a computer, ranging from password resetting over disk 
cleanup to virus scanning"

Sometimes you can find that the Rescue CD doesn't load kernel modules 
if you are trying to rescue an Ubuntu system.  If you run into one of 
these you can try this....

http://www.ubuntu-rescue-remix.org/

" Ubuntu-Rescue-Remix features a full command-line environment with 
up-to-date versions of the most powerful free/libre open-source data 
recovery software including GNU ddrescue, Photorec, The Sleuth Kit and 
Gnu-fdisk. "

Parted Magic can be good for some things.  Works in a snap ! ...

http://partedmagic.com/

"  The Parted Magic OS employs core programs of GParted and Parted to 
handle partitioning tasks with ease, while featuring other useful 
programs (e.g. Clonezilla, Partimage, TestDisk, Truecrypt, G4L, 
SuperGrubDisk, ddrescue, etc...) and an excellent set of documentation 
to benefit the user. An extensive collection of file system tools are 
also included, as Parted Magic supports the following: ext2, ext3, 
ext4, fat16, fat32, hfs, hfs+, jfs, linux-swap, ntfs, reiserfs, 
reiser4, and xfs.  "

Clonezilla as mentioned above...

http://clonezilla.org/

" You're probably familiar with the popular proprietary commercial 
package Norton Ghost®. The problem with these kind of software 
packages is that it takes a lot of time to massively clone systems to 
many computers. You've probably also heard of Symantec's solution to 
this problem, Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition® with multicasting. 
Well, now there is an OpenSource clone system (OCS) solution called 
Clonezilla with unicasting and multicasting! "


There are others out there but this should get you started on the road 
to recovery and much fun with GNU/Linux if anything has gone wrong.
Next week I'll give you the easy guide to nailing on a new leg when 
the home made Sun Microsystems server you keep in your garage fell on 
you.

Bye for now !

-- 
Richard
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