Parted Magic: Lightweight Linux-based OS for Disk Partitioning & Data Rescue
A fast and portable operating system for partitioning drives, recovering deleted files, testing hardware, and more, running entirely from RAM.
What is Parted Magic?
Parted Magic is a lightweight Linux distribution that focuses on disk partitioning and data rescue operations. It boots from removable media like CDs or USB drives and loads entirely into RAM, allowing it to operate quickly without accessing the slow mechanical hard disk.
Some of the key features of Parted Magic include:
- GParted - Popular open-source disk partitioning tool for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, and copying disk partitions.
- TestDisk - Powerful data recovery utility designed to recover lost partitions or unerase deleted files.
- Photorec - Companion to TestDisk focused on recovering lost photos, videos, documents and other files.
- ClamAV - Leading open source antivirus engine for detecting Trojans, viruses, malware and other threats.
- Systemback - Tool for creating full system backups that can be used to restore the OS in case of system failure or data loss.
- Browsers - Updated versions of Firefox and Chromium browser for web access and troubleshooting.
- Admin tools - Set of administration apps like GNOME, rsync, ddrescue, Syslinux and more to manage, image, rescue, or configure systems.
- Hardware tools - Utilities for testing memory, hard drives (S.M.A.R.T.), CPU temperature, network status and other hardware.
In addition to open source data recovery tools, Parted Magic includes support for a wide array of file systems like NTFS, FAT, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, and HFS+. It can be a useful tool for both home users and IT professionals for data recovery, diagnostics, partitioning, and backups.