What USB Boot disks are people using now

[PC Doctor]

I am just wondering what usb boot disks people are using now for repairs and data recovery?

I have a windows 11 machine that will not boot just going through automatic system repair which it can't complete, every option to rebuild but keep files fails however all customer's data is on the machine which has an M2 SSD for which I don't have an adapter (That's another question).

I have gone into DOS and used robocopy to copy the user's folder to an external device and will then rebuild however a system with a GPU Booted from a pen drive would have been easier so could you point me to what you currently use?

Back to the M2 SSD what adapters are you now using and where from for these onboard drives?

I am UK Based.

 

[Appletax]

For the adapter or enclosure, I myself plan to purchase a high-quality one made by Pluggable. Comes with a 2-year warranty and great customer service that I have contacted before.

Plugable USB 3.1 Gen 2 Tool-free NVMe Enclosure

Plugable's Tool-free NVMe SSD Enclosure makes connecting and swapping NVMe SSDs fast and easy. This enclosure supports NVMe SSDs with data transfer speeds up to 950MBps on USB 3.1 Gen 2 host systems and is small and durable enough to go with you where ever you need.

plugable.com

There are faster ones, but they require Thunderbolt, such as OWC Envoy Express.

 

[SAFCasper]

I've always used PartedMagic for bootable data recovery. It's a Linux OS (Slackware) tailored specifically around disk management and data recovery. Tons of useful tools pre-installed.

It's also hard to argue with the price. I just buy the single purchase version roughly once every year for less than £10

PartedMagic - Partitioning, Cloning, Rescue, and Erasing.

PartedMagic - Inexpensive and easy to use Disk Partitioning, Disk Cloning, Data Rescue & Recovery, Disk Erasing, and Benchmarking software.

partedmagic.com

 

[GTP]

I use Gandalf's PE, Rescuzilla, Parted Magic, Rescatux and Windows iso's stored on an IODD that are all bootable from the IODD.

 

[fincoder]

For M.2 drives I use a USB adapter that supports both M.2 SATA & NVMe drives, so now I don't need to figure out if it's SATA or NVMe.

For USB recovery drives, I'm currently trialling WinToUSB which creates a Windows To Go bootable USB install of Windows. So I can boot a computer with a USB connected SSD into a full Windows 10 OS. I have Fabs and other tools available after boot. Works extremely well so far.

[Official] Best Free Windows To Go Creator Wizard Helps Create Portable Windows 11/10/8/7!

As a Windows To Go Creator Wizard alternative, WinToUSB (also called Windows To USB) allows you to install & run Windows on USB drive or Thunderbolt drive or clone currently running Windows to USB drive or Thunderbolt drive, with it you can easily create a portable Windows 11/10/8/7 on an...

www.easyuefi.com

 

[Appletax]

Nice, didn't know they made adapters that can do both M.2 SATA and NVMe.

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Type-C-Tool-Free-Enclosure-EC-SNVE/dp/B08RVC6F9Y/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3138GOBHTI2VZ&keywords=m.2%2Bsata%2Benclosure&qid=1647474562&sprefix=m.2%2Bsataenclosure%2Caps%2C101&sr=8-4&th=1

This one looks sweet. High quality.

Compatibility: M Key & (B+M) Key 2280/2260/2242 SSD.

 

[frase]

I own one of these -

 

[NviGate Systems]

I have a Windows PE I built years ago using WIN8.1SE Project, I configured it with a few options such as ignoring NTFS permissions so I can delete Pagefile and Hiberfile, enter into users folders without taking ownership, plus a gaggle of tools to read Embedded Keys and deal with WIM files and backup/clone software. I can even nuke the System Volume Information folders.

99% of the time it's my go to for installing Windows as I do everything manually. But I also use it to backup data. Because it's based on Windows 8.1, it supports Secure Boot, so I don't have to disable anything and it's worked on every UEFI machine since 2012. It is big though, it requires 4GB RAM to function because of the extra files. I think the WIM is like 1GB or so.

 

[johnrobert]

I use PartedMagic got adapters from Ali $4 but took 3 months to come will much quicker on Ebay

 

[sapphirescales]

For M.2 drives I use a USB adapter that supports both M.2 SATA & NVMe drives, so now I don't need to figure out if it's SATA or NVMe.

For USB recovery drives, I'm currently trialling WinToUSB which creates a Windows To Go bootable USB install of Windows. So I can boot a computer with a USB connected SSD into a full Windows 10 OS. I have Fabs and other tools available after boot. Works extremely well so far.

[Official] Best Free Windows To Go Creator Wizard Helps Create Portable Windows 11/10/8/7!

As a Windows To Go Creator Wizard alternative, WinToUSB (also called Windows To USB) allows you to install & run Windows on USB drive or Thunderbolt drive or clone currently running Windows to USB drive or Thunderbolt drive, with it you can easily create a portable Windows 11/10/8/7 on an...

www.easyuefi.com

This is the only answer. If you want to be able to recover data from Windows computers newer than 5 years old, you need to boot from a portable Windows environment that supports Bitlocker because the drive is going to be encrypted. Alternatively you can use an NVMe to USB adapter but I use my adapters less and less nowadays unless the drive is failing and I need to replace it anyway.

 

[frase]

Ventoy does just that with a choice of multiple ISO O'S or tools. I have the M.2 > USB adapter that supports SATA & NVME with Ventoy loaded; works well.

 

[John Kennedy]

Put Hiren's BootCD on a USB stick and have tons of tools any time. Rescatux is useful as well, as are other linux-based options, but HBCD is Win10-based the last time I checked, with all the ability to open bitlocker drives. https://www.hirensbootcd.org/

 

[sapphirescales]

Put Hiren's BootCD on a USB stick and have tons of tools any time. Rescatux is useful as well, as are other linux-based options, but HBCD is Win10-based the last time I checked, with all the ability to open bitlocker drives. https://www.hirensbootcd.org/

The problem with PE builds is you're reliant on the guy that made it to keep the software updated. Also, any changes you make aren't saved, so you can't do much within the bootable environment. PE is fine if you're just grabbing data off an old, old computer, but other than that, you're much better served by a real portable install of Windows.

As an example, the last time Hiren's was updated was almost a year ago. That means that CrystalDiskInfo won't be able to properly identify the latest drives, which could lead to inaccurate diagnostics. And that's just one program.

It's not 1995 anymore. Up to date software is essential. A year old build might not sound that old, but software is updated very frequently nowadays, and they don't do it for fun. They do it because it NEEDS to be updated for security or compatibility reasons, or even to fix software-breaking bugs.

 

[frase]

Hey I built a Pentium MMX the other day, running '98 on it - pew pew!