SystemRescue (Previously known as "SystemRescueCD")^[3] is a Linux distribution for x86-64 and IA-32 computers.^[4] The primary purpose of SystemRescue is to repair unbootable or otherwise damaged computer systems after a system crash. SystemRescue is not intended to be used as a permanent operating system. It runs from a Live CD, a USB flash drive or any type of hard drive. It was designed by a team led by François Dupoux, and is based on Arch Linux since version 6.0. Starting with version 6.0, it has systemd as its init system.

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (April 2015)

Quick Facts Developer, OS family ...

SystemRescue

SystemRescue v10.00 (2023-03-19), default desktop (XFCE)
Developer	François Dupoux
OS family	Linux (Unix-like)
Working state	Current
Source model	Open source
Latest release	11.00 (x86_64); 9.03 (i686) / 28 January 2024; 2 months ago (2024-01-28) (x86_64); 28 May 2022; 22 months ago (2022-05-28) (i686)[1]
Repository	gitlab.com/systemrescue/systemrescue-sources
Available in	English and French
Kernel type	Monolithic (Linux)
Default user interface	XFCE
License	GPL-3[2]
Official website	system-rescue.org

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SystemRescue is capable of graphics using the Linux framebuffer option for tools such as GParted. It has options such as connecting to the Internet through an ADSL modem or Ethernet and graphical web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox.

SystemRescue features include:

• GNU Parted and GParted to partition disks and resize partitions, including FAT32 and NTFS
• fdisk to edit the disk partition table
• PartImage - disk imaging software which copies only used sectors
• TestDisk - to recover lost partition and PhotoRec to recover lost data
• smartmontools - a S.M.A.R.T. suite for HDD health reporting and data loss prevention
• ddrescue - to extract recoverable data from physically damaged HDD and listing damaged sectors
• FSArchiver - a system tool that allows you to save the contents of a file-system to a compressed archive file
• nwipe - a secure data erasure tool (fork of DBAN) for harddrives to remove data remanence, supports Gutmann method plus other overwriting standard algorithms and patterns.
• A CD and DVD burner - dvd+rw-tools
• Two bootloaders - GRUB and SYSLINUX
• Web browsers - Firefox, ELinks
• File manager - emelFM2
• Archiving and unarchiving abilities
• File system tools - file system create, delete, resize, move
• Support for many file systems, including full NTFS read/write access (via NTFS-3G) as well as FAT32 and Mac OS HFS
• Support for Intel x86 and PowerPC systems, including Macs
• Ability to create a boot disk for operating systems
• Support for Windows Registry editing and password changing from Linux
• Can boot FreeDOS, Memtest86+, hardware diagnostics and other boot disks from a single CD

The CD can also boot from a customized DVD which has almost 4.6 GB of free space for backed-up files. This makes it good for storing all the information that is needed from a hard drive and then formatting it. To burn the DVD, one must burn the image file first and then add all the separate files and folders. This should not affect the general way in which the DVD works. The DVD can then be used to insert those files into the hard drive using Midnight Commander.

• Parted Magic
• List of bootable data recovery software