What this is

This is a 64 GB USB stick set up as a Ventoy multiboot drive carrying SystemRescue and a curated set of open live tools for repairing, imaging, and sanitizing storage. Ventoy lets you drop additional ISO/IMG files onto the data partition without reflashing, so the stick grows with your needs.

SystemRescue 13.01 is an Arch-based live environment on Linux 6.18 LTS with more than 300 utilities: `ddrescue` and `testdisk`/`photorec` for recovery, `partclone`/`fsarchiver`/`gparted` for imaging and partitioning, and `nwipe`/`shred`/`wipe`/`hdparm`/`nvme-cli` for sanitization.

Honest positioning

This product is a convenience bundle. Every component is free, open-source upstream software you can download and assemble yourself in an afternoon. What you pay for is a verified, ready-to-boot assembly, not an exclusive or proprietary capability.

It is a recovery and maintenance tool, not a privacy or anonymity tool. It is not Tails and does not route traffic over Tor. Its sanitization features have real, well-documented limits on modern flash storage (see the limits section), and it offers nothing against an adversary with physical control of a running machine or a forensic lab capable of chip-off extraction. Treat it as a competent technician's toolkit, framed for lawful data recovery and lawful secure disposal of media you own.

Usage guide

Before you start

This stick ships pre-assembled, but you should verify it and understand what each tool does before trusting it with real data. Everything below uses upstream open-source software documented by its maintainers.

Verify integrity

1. Boot the stick or mount its data partition on a trusted machine.
2. For any ISO on the Ventoy partition, confirm its SHA-256 against the publisher. SystemRescue publishes checksums on its Download page; Ventoy publishes them on its checksum doc and GitHub releases.
3. On Linux: `sha256sum systemrescue-13.01-amd64.iso` and compare. A mismatch means do not boot it.

Booting

1. Insert the stick and enter your firmware boot menu (often F12/F9/Esc at power-on).
2. Select the USB device. Ventoy shows a menu of every ISO/IMG present; pick SystemRescue or another live image.
3. SystemRescue supports Secure Boot via shim, so you usually do not need to disable Secure Boot. If a custom ISO fails under Secure Boot, that ISO is unsigned, not the stick.

Daily use

Recover data

• Failing drive, image first: Always copy a dying disk before touching it. Use GNU ddrescue: `ddrescue -d -r3 /dev/sdX rescue.img rescue.map`. The map file lets you resume and retry bad sectors.
• Lost partitions / deleted files: `testdisk` rebuilds partition tables; `photorec` carves files by signature when the filesystem is gone. See the upstream TestDisk/PhotoRec wiki.
• Backups and clones: `partclone`, `fsarchiver`, or `rsync` for filesystem-aware copies.

Securely erase media you own

Read this carefully — the right method depends on the medium:

• Spinning hard disks (HDD): Overwriting works. `nwipe` (TUI, selectable passes) or `shred -v -n 1 /dev/sdX`. A single pass is sufficient on modern HDDs; multiple passes mostly cost time. See the SystemRescue secure-deletion manual.
• SSDs and USB flash: Overwriting is NOT reliable. Wear-leveling and over-provisioning leave copies in cells the OS cannot reach. Use the drive's built-in command instead: SATA SSDs via `hdparm` ATA Secure Erase, NVMe via `nvme format --ses=1` or `nvme sanitize`. Follow NIST SP 800-88 Purge guidance. If the command is unsupported or unverifiable, physical destruction is the only compliant option.

Hardening and good practice

• Work read-only when investigating. For forensic or evidentiary work, set the source disk read-only (`blockdev --setro /dev/sdX`) or use a hardware write-blocker before imaging.
• Verify your wipe. After erasing, sample the device (`hexdump -C /dev/sdX | head`) or re-read with `nwipe` verification to confirm. Do not assume success.
• Keep ISOs current. Re-download and re-verify SystemRescue and any other images periodically; old kernels miss newer hardware and bcachefs/btrfs fixes.
• One stick, one purpose. Do not store sensitive recovered data on the Ventoy data partition long-term; copy it to encrypted storage and wipe the working copy.

Common pitfalls

• Trusting overwrite on SSDs. The single biggest mistake. See the SSD note above.
• Tails on Ventoy. Tails can boot from Ventoy but its persistence/encrypted storage is its own system and does not use Ventoy persistence; for Tails, follow the official Tails install on a dedicated stick rather than this multiboot drive.
• Imaging onto the same disk. Never write a recovery image back to the failing drive; use a separate target.
• Assuming anonymity. This stick provides none. For anonymous browsing use Tails.