Windows repair & HD rescue tools

What tools can you recommend for repairing Windows installations, rescuing corrupt harddrives, checking the PC's hardware and the likes?

Currently I know about:

* WinXP installation disc (Repair/Recovery option)
* Linux System Rescue (bootable CD with various tools)
* Sisoft Sandra
* Everest Home edition

I helped a guy out earlier because he kept getting a blue-screen error during his XP boot procedure reporting that the HD is unmountable. It seems as though his HD structure was damaged. None of the restart options helped.
Luckily, the WinXP CD's [R]ecovery option had CHKDSK, FIXMBR, FIXBOOT which aided in curing the fault.

I would really like to put together a collection of great rescue discs to cover worst-case scenarios etc.
Ideally, bootable CD's with independant software which does not rely on a working Windows installation to be present.

So, what I'm after is:
1) Tools for rescuing a Windows installation
2) HD repair/restore tools
3) System hardware scanning tools

Also, what software do PC Techs use when you take your PC in for repair?

Hard-drives - this is the world leader - second to none (seriously) - not sure what it does though:

http://www.grc.com/sr/spinrite.htm

puki, why aren't you in IRC, you slacker!

Puki,
Thats a great harddisk data recovery tool.
The guy wrote it in machine code and it weighs in at only 169K.
Best thing is, it runs from a floppy (or bootable CD) and uses FreeDOS.

keep 'em coming.

BartPE.

Run's windows XP directly from CD, in case your installed copy no longer works. You can then access your harddrives and recover data, or run other recovery tools when your own OS won't boot anymore.

Ultimate Boot CD (DOS / Linux)

Ultimate Boot CD (Win)

The UBCD (Dos/Linux) version is nice. Lots of little tools on there. It uses FreeDOS too so I can use the disc to help others out who have buggered up their installation.

There a tiny (floppy-sized) QNX operating system demo on that disc which, for its small size, is very impressive.
Shame they seem to have stopped developing it. It would make for a great/secure way to browse around the internet without having the risk of Windows being bitten.


I have not looked at this method in-depth because I thought BartPE only creates restoration CD's.
Does it therefore run a 'live cd' version of XP without having to install the O/S?
What are the legallities behind this?
I assume I cannot use such a disc on another persons PC because of the 'hardware checking' XP performs.
I wonder if its 'ok' to use the disc as a means of fixing a PC via a set of extra tools on the CD(?)

Currently I think the best way is to use FreeDOS and as many freeware/commercial DOS apps I can lay my hands on. Then, stick the whole lot on a bootable CD.

Yes.



No problem whatsoever, since you need it to feed your real XP disk first to generate the LiveCD media. It doesn't include any copyrighted microsoft files with the distribution itself. As long as you don't run it on a machine that you don't have a legal XP license for, there is no legal problem.

Ah. Thats what I suspected. Thanks for the lowdown xlsior.

Here's a handy feature worth knowing about:

[a http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307654]Install the Recovery Console in Windows XP[/a]

It installs the [R]ecovery option which is accessible at bootup. You'll be presented with 2 options:

-> Boot Windows XP
-> Recovery Console

I had to use System Restore today, usually, I back-up and reformat, though, my Windows Installer thingy borked right up (Couldnt install or uninstall anything), and it totally papped everything up!

Never again!

Dabz