Bootable ISOs: SystemRescue Toolkit

SystemRescue (SystemRescue Toolkit)

Live Boot Disk & Partition Tools Data Recovery

Overview

SystemRescue is a bootable Linux environment for troubleshooting, data recovery, partitioning, account unlocks, password resets, and system repair. It runs entirely from USB without installing anything to your computer.

Start the GUI (Graphical User Interface):
After boot completes to a terminal, type: startx and press Enter. You’ll see a familiar desktop with a menu and tools.



Use Cases

Expand a scenario to view step-by-step instructions.

📀 Disk Imaging & Cloning (ddrescue) — best for failing drives
  1. Boot SystemRescue. At the prompt, type startx and press Enter to open the GUI. Open a Terminal.
  2. Connect a large external USB drive (destination) and identify disks: lsblk (note the source, e.g., /dev/sda, and destination, e.g., /dev/sdb or a mounted path like /mnt/usb/disk.img).
  3. Create a mount point for your external drive if saving an image file: mkdir -p /mnt/usb → mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb (adjust device).
  4. First pass (quick, non-scraping):
    ddrescue -f -n /dev/sda /mnt/usb/disk.img /mnt/usb/recovery.log
  5. Second pass (retry bad sectors):
    ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sda /mnt/usb/disk.img /mnt/usb/recovery.log
    Increase -r retries if needed. You can also clone disk-to-disk by replacing /mnt/usb/disk.img with the destination block device (e.g., /dev/sdb).
  6. When finished, safely unmount the external drive: sync → umount /mnt/usb.
⚠️ Important: Double-check source/destination paths before running ddrescue. Imaging a failing drive first is safer than working on it directly.
🧩 Partition & File-System Repair (GParted + fsck/ntfsfix)
  1. Boot SystemRescue, run startx, then launch GParted from the menu.
  2. Locate the target disk/partition. Use Right-click → Information to review file system type (NTFS, ext4, etc.).
  3. Run checks/repairs:
    • NTFS (Windows): In a Terminal: ntfsfix /dev/sdXN
    • ext4/ext3 (Linux): fsck -f -y /dev/sdXN
    • FAT32/exFAT: Use fsck.vfat / fsck.exfat as applicable.
  4. (Optional) Set partition flags (e.g., boot, esp) via GParted if needed for bootability.
  5. Reboot and test. If issues persist, image the disk with ddrescue first and attempt recovery on the image.
Notes:
  • Use smartctl -a /dev/sdX to check disk health (SMART) before heavy repairs.
  • BitLocker-encrypted NTFS volumes require the recovery key to access contents; file-system repair is limited without unlocking.
⚙️ Reinstall GRUB Bootloader (UEFI & Legacy)
  1. Boot SystemRescue, run startx, open a Terminal. Identify Linux root partition and (if present) separate /boot and EFI partitions: lsblk -f
  2. Mount your Linux system to /mnt:
    mount /dev/sdXn /mnt
    (If you have a separate /boot: mount /dev/sdXb /mnt/boot)
  3. For UEFI, also mount the EFI System Partition (FAT32):
    mount /dev/sdXe /mnt/boot/efi
  4. Bind essential pseudo-filesystems and chroot:
    mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
    mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
    mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
    chroot /mnt
  5. Install GRUB to the correct target:
    • UEFI: grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
    • Legacy BIOS: grub-install /dev/sdX (disk, not a partition)
  6. Regenerate config:
    update-grub (or grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg)
  7. Exit and unmount:
    exit
    umount -R /mnt
    reboot
Notes:
  • If your root is encrypted (LUKS), unlock first with cryptsetup luksOpen and mount the mapper device.
  • On multi-boot systems, update-grub will usually detect other OSes automatically.
🔐 Change a Linux User Password (chroot method)
  1. Boot SystemRescue, run startx, open a Terminal. Identify your Linux root partition: lsblk -f
  2. If the root is LUKS encrypted:
    cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdXn cryptroot
    mount /dev/mapper/cryptroot /mnt
    (If unencrypted: mount /dev/sdXn /mnt)
  3. Bind and chroot:
    mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
    mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
    mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
    chroot /mnt
  4. Change the password for user alice (replace with your username):
    passwd alice
    * to reset password for root account run: passwd root
  5. Exit and cleanly unmount:
    exit
    umount -R /mnt
    reboot
⚠️ Authorized use only: Change passwords only on systems you own or have explicit permission to service.

Additional Resources

Available on These USB Drives

Tip: For Windows-specific boot repairs or local password resets, use your Windows-based repair USB (WinPE). SystemRescue excels at disk imaging, partitioning, and file-system recovery.