Bootable Utility Drives - Opinions?

[Galant]

It's been years now since Hirens and other such bootable utilities were a revelation. Since then the use of bootable USB sticks seems to have gone in two directions (broadly speaking) - either you've got bigger, more loaded swiss-army knife type solutions, or, at least professionally, they're often shunned, and seen as potential security risks.

I've worked in environments where both of these attitudes were on full display.

Myself, I've not had to maintain a utility kit USB for a long time, but recently a junior tech came along to ask my opinion on the matter. As an enthusiast he always maintained a linux stick and loves them, but moving into a junior professional role he came up against resistance to using his own toolkit. I find that I don't have the time to keep up on latest versions of things like that and wouldn't trust anything I didn't know 100%. I find there are plenty of official tools that work well enough to get basic jobs done and a Windows reset doesn't take all that long either. So I don't bother.

I was wondering what you guys thought. Paranoia vs pragmatism?

The latest example I came across was this one - https://anhdvboot.com/en/features/

Lots of software loaded on there, and you download your own ISO's for Windows or whatever, to know you've got it from a legit source. But I tend to be wary of at least Chinese freeware (and AOIMEI and EaseUS are listed on there).

What do you reckon? And would you lean towards junior professionals having kits like that to make life easier, and learning to maintain them, or prefer to instill a wariness of this sort of thing?

Cheers!

[DanceswithUnix]

I always have a bootable Linux image handy. Currently that's Fedora Live.

Plugging random downloads on a USB stick into a PC is far from best practice, but a live install is an easily controlled and md5sum checked thing, as well as a CV worthy useful skill if you can make good use of it.

[AGTDenton]

Likewise I've not used one for ages.
It's now so quick to reinstall Windows that I can't always be bothered trying to find the issue any more, life's too short.
If it's your own system and you have used an image backup program it's a lot easier to go back in time.
From another Windows perspective, after XP, things generally became more reliable and easier to fix without boot discs. Also I'd taken to a new stance of resolving things, instead of running scans & removal that took longer and longer as disks got larger, I would simply backup the data they wanted, check on another system for viruses and re-install Windows.

I've actually bought both EaseUS & Aomei over the years and in those two specific examples I've never had a reason of doubt but understand where you're coming from.
Good communities of boot discs would most likely not stand for dodgy stuff.

I used to use the Ultimate Boot CD. Very good back in the day! Plenty of hardware related tools for disk, RAM etc...
It was customisable so you could add your own software but I never needed to.
https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

Looks like updates have slowed a little over time and the Forums a little quiet, but I reckon still worth a shot depending on what you want out of a boot disc.

But in a business environment, boot discs are generally a no go as DWU says. Personally in that environment I would look to rebuild as a first port of call, it would solve most issues. Then if problems persist use a trustable RAM test or a disk checker from the manufacturer only. Beyond that we would replace at that point and keep the old as spares or eBay it without storage.

[Saracen999]

I do keep a coupe of boot drives around. I tend to make a recovery image periodically, and keep a few basic tools on a stick, just enough if I hit a problem. But, I doon't do 'technician' stuff these days so don't ned an all-n-sundry toolkit. Just a few basics. And a few critical security-type files, like some 2FA key files.

[Galant]

Thanks guys.

Following on from this, are there any absolute go-to tools or utilities that you count on and use and trust?
And if you had to really verify the trustworthiness of something, what would do to achieve that?

[AGTDenton]

Overall I'm happy with WD & Seagate's bootable media for disk diagnosis.
For RAM, memtest86+ is excellent. Sadly the original memtest86 has been bought by a company and no longer open source so I stick with 86+, they finally brought it up to date for UEFI support.
For disk wiping I recommend Active Killdisk, and recommend having the paid version if you use in a business scenario as you can generate certificates and offer various methods of wiping algorithms and options to the customer/company your working for based on data type stored on there.
Otherwise I'm largely happy with the tools on a Windows disk these days. I'm sure Linux users would say the same, the OS comes with enough tools for day to day.
It all really depends what problems you're facing on a regular basis, what I faced 15 years ago is largely a thing of the past as overall software and hardware has become so much more reliable. 10 years ago I'd be at customer sites on an almost weekly basis, now it's unlicky if it's more than two call outs a year.

[Galant]

Have you guys ever used DART?

Apparently it's an effort to set up but decent once set - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/mi...pack/dart-v10/

[DanceswithUnix]

For disk wiping I recommend Active Killdisk, and recommend having the paid version if you use in a business scenario as you can generate certificates and offer various methods of wiping algorithms and options to the customer/company your working for based on data type stored on there.

These days, the utilities that come with an SSD always seem to have a wipe function and tbh with an SSD that is the only thing I would trust to get the job done.

Modern storage is all encrypted. If you throw away the key, which should be very fast for the utility to replace it with something randomly generated, then all the data is gone. If you write over the data, then the sectors are likely moved to a ready to recycle queue or something, you just can't know.

[Saracen999]

The encryption thing is a mixed beg, IMHO. On the one hand, yes, it increases security of the data. But, at the same time, it puts an onus on ME to come up with a key that is, yes, secure if the data gets compromised, but not SO secure thaat I can't get back into my own stuff. A lot depends on which devices, and how/when/where I use them.

e.g.

- NAS permanently connected to my LAN which, via the router, is connected to the internet. Yes, I have a decent router and yes (I think) both it and the NAS are configured to not accept unsolicited incoming connections, period. And unnecessary services are manually turned OFF. Including from me. I don't use it other than from here, at home. Besides, typically, if I'm out, NAS is powered down. But, I'm no NAS expert, network engineer or security consultant. I *think* I'm locked down, but could be wrong and if I am, then risk is from hackers.

- external backup hard drives. They permanently reside here, and other than when doing manual backups, are not physically connected at all. Short of a burglar getting them, risk surface is near zero, so encryption more of a pain-the-the-rear to me than a benefit.

- A couple of drives do sometimes go out with me, with data as opposed to backups. These are Samsung T7 Touch drives and yes, encryption is on, secured by fingerprint, and a lengthy backup key. Inputting that without access to my password manager is a bitc... I mean, bit hard. Password manager password is a real doozy.

i.e, horses for courses applies, big-time.