The Ultimate Diagnostic Boot CD

Martin Brinkmann
Aug 6, 2006
Updated • May 10, 2013
Software
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It is very handy to have a Linux live CD at hand when your system crashes and your operating system of choice does not boot anymore. This usually means that either the software or the hardware failed to load the operating system. A live CD provides you with access to tools that you can use to analyze what went wrong and repair the system so that you can run it again. While it won't fix hardware issues, it can point you into the right direction so that you know that it was indeed a hardware issue and not something else.

Note that newer versions of Windows come with system repair tools that you can make use of as well even though it may not provide you with as many tools to check the computer's hardware.

The ultimate boot CD offers you all the tools you need to analyze system hardware, find errors and correct them if possible.  Tools are sorted in categories like hard disk management, boot managers, file tools, CPU and memory tests and bios tools.

Most categories offer several tools for diagnosis and repair, the hard disk categories for instance offer tools from various hard disk manufacturers like Seagate and Maxtor that you can use to scan your drives for errors and issues.

You find anti-virus tools on the disk that can be used to check the system safely for malware. A great feature of the ultimate boot CD is that the CD is not only available as a Linux distribution but that instructions exist that tell you how you can create a Windows live CD and use it instead. Many Windows-only users may prefer to work in a Windows environment instead of a Linux environment.

The website offers customization instructions and even CDR labels for the disk. They have a extensive help section as well, if you get stuck visit the website again and read the common questions and answers as well as the bugs and workaround section.

The Ultimate Boot CD homepage has a list of included programs, which may be a good start to check out to make sure the tools that you need are included.

The latest version of the Ultimate Boot CD fits on a CD or DVD with its 501 Megabytes. It is recommended to download the ISO image via P2P. Once downloaded, burn it to CD or follow the instructions found on the homepage to create a Windows-based disc out of it instead.

The overview page on the website lists all tools that are currently integrated on the disc. This includes a variety of boot managers, tools to test the system's memory, a Registry editor and tools that allow you to clone or wipe hard drives easily.

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Comments

  1. Stonecold said on September 15, 2012 at 7:57 pm
    Reply

    I prefer Hiren’s Boot CD. Version 15 restored of course!

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