[MSP]

On a recent business trip I was given a copy of Winternal 2005 and was blown away how useful it was, and how I had never used it! You can boot into a broken install of Windows, crack passwords, transfer files, etc. Good stuff. So it got me to thinking, what other essential tools are out there that I'm missing out on? So list your favorite software and hardware tools here and what you use them for.

Here's an updated list and all of the helpful links moved to the top of the thread for easy access, per the suggestion of our fearless leader Dan. Just let me know if I missed anything or you have more to add!

1) Winternals 2005 and / or other BOOT CD (see links below)
2) Partition Magic
3) A small tool kit - screw drivers, wrenches, wire cutters, pliers, tweezers, etc.
4) A USB IDE / SATA adapter - for data recovery
5) Hard Drive Scanner - a free tool that's great to determining what is taking up disk space
6) Soldering iron
7) Hammer
8) Crossover cable
9) USB thumb drive

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Knoppix Linux Boot CD - KNOPPIX Linux Live CD
USB hard drive cable - Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg
Windows XP "rebuild command" - Langa Letter: XP's Little-Known 'Rebuild' Command - News by InformationWeek
Windows XP SP2 slipstreaming how-to - http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...slipstream.asp
Ultimate Boot CD - Ultimate Boot CD - Overview
Hiren's Boot CD - Hiren's boot CD - Google Search
Hard Drive Scanner - Freeware Section

[XEN]

1. Soldering iron
2. Hammer

[El_Presidente_Pufferfish]

knoppix <3

[MSP]

Originally Posted by El_Presidente_Pufferfish

knoppix <3

So what is it?

[El_Presidente_Pufferfish]

Originally Posted by MSP

So what is it?

linux livecd with a bunch of useful stuff and hardware detection on it
http://www.knoppix.org/

[hans5849]

So uh, MSP how would i get a coppy of that.

[MSP]

Originally Posted by hans5849

So uh, MSP how would i get a coppy of that.

Winternals? I haven't looked on torrent but I'm sure it's out there. That's basically what I want to do - collect a list of essentials and then torrent the shit out of them!

[Electric_Head]

Originally Posted by El_Presidente_Pufferfish

knoppix <3

That's all I need besides what is allready built into winblows itself. A crossover Cat5e cable, a laptop, IDE -> USB adapter.

[c6comp]

Originally Posted by MSP

Winternals? I haven't looked on torrent but I'm sure it's out there. That's basically what I want to do - collect a list of essentials and then torrent the shit out of them!

its out their, i downloaded it a long time ago....

[Jamsan]

Don't forget a usb enclosure that can support laptop drives as well!

also, Bart PE (similar to knoppix)

[MSP]

Originally Posted by Jamsan

Don't forget a usb enclosure that can support laptop drives as well!

also, Bart PE (similar to knoppix)

Yeah, that USB hard drive cable supports laptop drives too. Talk about a cheap way to have an external drive! Check it out...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812156102

[ivanolo]

Knoppix, System Rescue CD.

Also, read this article and memorize it.

[Undertaker989]

-A bootable USB Key Drive with BartPE and toolkits built in.


I lost the link to the webpage containing a guide on where to download it and how to use it.

[MSP]

Originally Posted by Undertaker989

-A bootable USB Key Drive with BartPE and toolkits built in.


I lost the link to the webpage containing a guide on where to download it and how to use it.

Man, I'm getting some great ideas from this thread. Knoppix is downloading now, I've slipstreamed my Windows XP install CD (I've been meaning to do that anyway), and I'll order me a USB key drive shortly. Keep 'em coming guys! What about physical tools? Soldering iron? Yeah, I need to add that too. But I have these I forgot to mention:

6) Cable tester (both patch and in-wall)
7) Refillable air can

[Electric_Head]

Small pliers and tweezers, along with a good seating philipshead.

[msgwtco]

Originally Posted by Undertaker989

-A bootable USB Key Drive with BartPE and toolkits built in.


I lost the link to the webpage containing a guide on where to download it and how to use it.

make sure you make a Bootable CD of it too. not all PCs can boot off of USB devices.

[MSP]

You know, I think this thread deserves to be a sticky. There is some damned good info in here.

[Undertaker989]

Originally Posted by msgwtco

make sure you make a Bootable CD of it too. not all PCs can boot off of USB devices.

yeah, thats a good point. It all depends on if the BIOS supports booting from USB devices or not.

As far as other additions, anything from Sysinternals is a winner IMO. I enjoy their PageDefrag program, TCPview, ProcessExplorer, Rootkit Revealer, and of course, PSTools.

If you want to image machines via a LAN, but you don't want to do a Powercast or Ghost broadcast, you can use UniversalBootDisk that works with allmost any nic and put your ghosting programs on that. It has support for Win32 networked enviornments, so you can join domains, map network drives, and anything else you want via a DOS prompt.

[Axl_Rose]

Can't forget a keyboard and monitor :P

[Devzero]

Hiren's boot CD has everything you will ever need. The Winternals tools are not that impressive. You will need a thumb drive with the newest versions of: hijackthis, rootkit revealer, icesword (if you can find it =P), crap cleaner, winsock fix, and I always like to have a copy of spysweeper and ewido with the latest def files.

Any version of Linux can be very useful for data rescue. Knoppix is a good way to go.