The mkCDrec Utilities is a set of tools designed for rescue and recovery purposes, intended to be used alongside the mkCdrec software.
I recently tried out mkCDrec, which offers optional utilities for rescue and recovery purposes. These staticly compiled utilities include parted, memtest, partimage, gpart, and recover, with Memtest86 also available for memory testing. By installing these utilities, you can significantly improve the overall value of your recovery/rescue CD-ROM.
One thing I noticed is that mkCDrec includes links to the /cdrom/utilities part of the CD-ROM, and the man pages of these tools are already available within the main toolset. This means that without installing the utilities, you cannot use them, but you won’t break any other functionality of the mkCDrec tools. You will still be able to perform a full restore and disk cloning, but you won't be able to resize a partition afterwards.
Most of these utilities were compiled as static binaries, which means that you can also use them separately. You can also suggest any useful tools which are not currently included to the developers. Additionally, mkCDrec now uses isolinux instead of syslinux floppy boot emulation, which should work if you use mkCDrec_v0.5.7 or higher.
Some of the notable utilities included are Parted, Memtest, Partition Image, Gpart, Recover, e2salvage, ext2resize, and memtest86. Parted is GNU software's famous Partition Editor, and the user manual is already a part of mkCDrec. Memtest is an excellent tool for thorough memory testing, and Gpart can even recover destroyed partition tables. Recover is an efficient tool for editing an EXT2 file system to recover lost files, and e2salvage is useful when e2fsck does not recover the broken ext2 filesystem.
Ext2resize, ext2prepare, and ext2online are also useful tools, with ext2resize being able to increase or decrease the size of an unmounted ext2 filesystem. To work with Ext3 filesystems, one must apply S. Tweedie's kernel patch (Ext3) and an updated ext2 filesystem e2fprogs-1.20 or higher (which are Ext3 aware).
Overall, I found mkCDrec and its utilities to be highly useful for rescuing and recovering lost data. Installing the utilities is highly recommended, and the comprehensive set of tools available can be a lifesaver in situations where data loss is a major concern.
One thing I noticed is that mkCDrec includes links to the /cdrom/utilities part of the CD-ROM, and the man pages of these tools are already available within the main toolset. This means that without installing the utilities, you cannot use them, but you won’t break any other functionality of the mkCDrec tools. You will still be able to perform a full restore and disk cloning, but you won't be able to resize a partition afterwards.
Most of these utilities were compiled as static binaries, which means that you can also use them separately. You can also suggest any useful tools which are not currently included to the developers. Additionally, mkCDrec now uses isolinux instead of syslinux floppy boot emulation, which should work if you use mkCDrec_v0.5.7 or higher.
Some of the notable utilities included are Parted, Memtest, Partition Image, Gpart, Recover, e2salvage, ext2resize, and memtest86. Parted is GNU software's famous Partition Editor, and the user manual is already a part of mkCDrec. Memtest is an excellent tool for thorough memory testing, and Gpart can even recover destroyed partition tables. Recover is an efficient tool for editing an EXT2 file system to recover lost files, and e2salvage is useful when e2fsck does not recover the broken ext2 filesystem.
Ext2resize, ext2prepare, and ext2online are also useful tools, with ext2resize being able to increase or decrease the size of an unmounted ext2 filesystem. To work with Ext3 filesystems, one must apply S. Tweedie's kernel patch (Ext3) and an updated ext2 filesystem e2fprogs-1.20 or higher (which are Ext3 aware).
Overall, I found mkCDrec and its utilities to be highly useful for rescuing and recovering lost data. Installing the utilities is highly recommended, and the comprehensive set of tools available can be a lifesaver in situations where data loss is a major concern.
What's New
Version 0.7.9: N/A