Which System Tools and Filesystems Does SystemRescue Include?

SystemRescue is a Linux rescue toolkit that boots from a CD/DVD or USB stick and bundles disk, filesystem, archiving, and networking utilities for repairing a system or its data after a crash. Its kernel supports ext4, xfs, btrfs, vfat, and ntfs, plus network filesystems such as Samba and NFS, so the same medium can work on Linux and Windows machines, desktops and servers. No installation is required to boot it, though it can also be installed to a hard disk if you prefer.

Disk and partition tools

The toolkit centers on partitioning and filesystem work:

• GNU Parted — creates, resizes, moves, and copies partitions and filesystems.
• GParted — the graphical front end built on the GNU Parted library, useful when you want to see the layout before changing it.
• FSArchiver — a flexible archiver for filesystem-level backup and restore.
• Filesystem tools — the standard utilities for checking and working with the supported filesystems.

These are the tools to reach for when the task is creating or editing hard disk partitions, which the project describes as a core purpose of the rescue medium.

Basic and network tools

Beyond partitioning, the image includes everyday utilities so you can work inside the live environment:

• Editors and Midnight Commander for browsing and editing files.
• Network tools for configuration and transfers.
• Support for mounting an NTFS partition with full read-write access, and guides for backing up data from an unbootable Windows computer or transferring it with rsync.

Supported filesystems

The kernel covers "all important file systems," per the project, which is why the same stick can handle both Linux and Windows disks.

Deciding whether it fits your task

Choose SystemRescue when you need to boot a machine that won't start and then partition, repair, back up, or transfer data — the included GParted, GNU Parted, FSArchiver, and filesystem tools cover those jobs without installing anything. If your work is limited to a filesystem type outside the list above, or you need software not bundled in the image, note that additional packages can be installed with pacman, and configuration can be extended with YAML files or a backing-store that keeps your changes between boots. For first use, the project's Quick Start Guide covers downloading, burning, USB installation, and boot options.