“Linux rescue disks generally fall into two distinct classes,
each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The first class of
these are rescue disks that are provided with or produced by a
specific Linux distribution and are therefore targeted toward
correcting problems encountered on a machine running that
distribution. These distribution-specific rescue disks may either
be floppies created during the installation process, or may be boot
options that are available from the distribution’s installation CD.
In either case, such distribution-specific rescue disks reflect the
boot loader, filesystems, and tools used by that distribution.“The second class of rescue disks are distribution-independent,
single-floppy or single-CD rescue disks that are designed to help
you recover any Linux system, regardless of the distribution on
which it is based. The fact that these types of rescue disks are
independent of any given distribution makes them a flexible
solution that you can use to repair and recover many different
kinds of Linux systems. At the same time, distribution-independent
rescue disks may not be able to help you if the machine you are
trying to repair uses filesystems or depends on custom software
that is not supported outside of a specific distribution.“Both of these types of rescue disks are like insurance
policies–you hope that you don’t have to use them, but you’ll be
glad that you have them if you need them. This article discusses
the kinds of problems that typically require the use of a rescue
disk, highlights the rescue mechanisms provided with various Linux
distributions, and concludes by comparing and contrasting some of
the more popular and powerful distribution-independent rescue disks
that are freely available on the Web today…”
Related Story:
NewsForge: The little Linux distribution that could:
tomsrtbt(Dec 21, 2001)