Modern computers are built to last, and you’ll hardly ever encounter a problem that renders your computer useless. While hardware issues require a degree of skill to troubleshoot, most software issues can be dealt with tools you can keep handy on a rescue USB.
What Is a Rescue USB?
As mentioned before, catastrophic system failures are rare, but they can cause a lot of issues when they happen. For starters, troubleshooting a PC that won’t even start is quite difficult. You will also have issues recovering any data that may be on the damaged PC.
This is where a rescue USB comes in handy. These rescue USBs, formerly called rescue CDs, usually have a tool like SystemRescue that boots the system into another environment and lets you carry out repairs, troubleshoot issues, or recover your data.
Now, there are plenty of tools out there that can save you in a pinch. I prefer using SystemRescue—a Linux system rescue toolkit that operates as its own bootable environment. It comes with a bunch of system utilities like Test-disk (to test your storage drives), Memtest (to test your computer memory), and GParted (to manage your storage drives) that you can use to carry out administrative or repair tasks. You’ll also find network tools like Samba, NFS, ping, nslookup, and other basic tools like editors and support for all major file formats like EXT4 and NTFS.
It can be used for x86 and x64 systems, regardless of whether the OS installed is Windows or Linux. It’s also easy to make custom versions of the toolkit, including your script to automate tasks. That’s a handy feature for IT admins working on multiple PCs simultaneously.
Why You Should Have a SystemRescue USB Handy
Being able to repair your PC yourself is a valuable skill every avid PC user should have. SystemRescue makes this even easier as you can create a SystemRescue USB once and keep it with you to access or repair systems when needed. Having a recovery USB can be handy, but reinstalling the OS isn’t always an option.
Other than rescuing your PC, there are several other reasons you’d want a rescue USB handy. It allows you to play around with administrative and other IT tools you don’t necessarily need to use daily and build firsthand knowledge of how your computer works.
Since most of these toolkits, including SystemRescue, are Linux-based, playing around with a rescue USB also gives you the chance to learn about Linux at the same time if you haven’t already. Most of my knowledge about computers, especially Linux, comes from trying to solve issues on my own and playing around with new OSes or programs every chance I get.
How to Create the SystemRescue USB
The process of creating a SystemRescue USB is simple. You just need to download the latest version of SystemRescue, get your hands on Rufus, grab a USB stick with at least 8 GB of storage, and make yourself a bootable SystemRescue USB in no time. The process is identical to creating a bootable USB drive from an ISO.
If you’re on Linux, SystemRescue offers its own SystemRescue USB Writer, which works on most, if not all, Linux distros. Here’s how you can quickly make one if you’re on Windows:
- Download and Install Rufus.
- Under Boot selection, click the SELECT button to select your SystemRescue ISO file.
- Under Partition scheme, select MBR from the dropdown.
- Under Target system, select BIOS or UEFI.
- Check the Volume label field next, it should read RESCUEXXXX. The Xs represent the version number of the ISO file you downloaded.
- Set the File system to FAT32. You can leave the Cluster size setting to its default value.
- Click the Start button to create the bootable drive.
From this point onwards, you’re free to boot your PC using the newly made bootable drive. You can start playing around with it right away; your PC doesn’t have to break for you to run SystemRescue. You can boot into the toolkit to try the tools, see what works, or install your own tools or scripts.
Alternatives to SystemRescue
SystemRescue is a free tool with everything you need to get a PC back up and running. However, if you want to use something else, try Clonezilla-SysRescCD, Rescatux, or GParted Live. They’re all Linux-based system rescue bootables that can save both Windows and Linux systems.
PCs don’t fail every day, but it can be quite a problem when they do, and having a rescue USB handy can save you serious time and effort getting your hardware back online.
