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If theres a better system repair kit than the Gentoo-based SystemRescueCD Linux distribution, we havent seen it yet.
The new 0.4 version of SystemRescueCd was released on Oct. 4. This new edition focuses on disk partitioning, Vista support, and data rescue tasks. In the past, weve found SystemRescueCD to be the best of the best when it comes to repairing troubled systems. We see every reason to believe that this version will be even better.
This edition is built on top of a customized 32-bit Linux 2.6.22.09 kernel. This kernel is named rescuecd. It also includes built-in support for the Reiser4 file system.
There is also just enough of a 64-bit kernel, rescue64, to use chroot on a 64-bit Linux system. The chroot system call changes the root directory of the current process and all child processes to a given path. For repair purposes, it is used to boot into an unwise unbootable system.
If youre a Windows user, dont let the fact that this is a Linux-based repair tool keep you away. SystemRescueCD has long excelled at repairing Windows systems. With new support for the Vista “Offline NT Password & Registry Editor” and improved support for NTFS drives, SystemRescueCD is better than ever for what ails your Windows PCs.