How to use BartPe boot cd

[NewBartUser]

Hi;

I'm a brand new (enthusiastic) user of BartPE boot cd, which is somewhat the NTFS equivalent of some Linux Boot CD's, with the advantage for XP users that BartPE not only reads NTFS but also is able to write/delete on it.

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#plugins

I can't get the cd to recognize my usb stick, though. I'm sure it can be done, perhaps by adding some plug in, but I can't get my hands on it nor the appropriate procedure.

Any help or link?

Thanks in advance,
Cheers

[Mrkvonic]

Hi,
You should try the more ehnaced version of Bart, called Ultimate Boot CD for windows.
http://www.ubcd4win.com/
Download their plugin and drivers, extract them over the original (save backups of course), burn a new iso and try this new disk. You will notice that the basic image is only 156Mb, this is one is about 350Mb.
You will also gain a wealth of programs.
Hope this helps,
Mrk

[NewBartUser]

Hi, thanks for the tip.

I'll try that.

Rgds

[NewBartUser]

BTW, I wonder why this type of tools isn't more widely talked about on security forums. That's one of the best tools I can think off!

[Mrkvonic]

Hi,
Because security experts are like surgeons! They like to open and cut and dig and dig. BartPe is boring, in comparison.
Mrk

P.S. You can start a thread, see how it evolves.
I tried once, it died pretty quickly :()

[NewBartUser]

Hi...
Amazing that not more people would be interested in such a tool. I find it as revolutionary and precious as imaging programs when they appeared, say Drive Image or Norton Ghost!

Now I'm using it, I could not do without it anymore.

Cheers

[thebigdintx]

I have seen a lot of references to this "BartPe" plugin. What is it, and what exactly can you do with it?

[Green Giant]

I tried using BartPE Builder with the DELL Reinstallation CD, but this failed, possibly because it wanted i386 files which seem to be only on an MS Windows XP CD.

Contacting DELL for a Windows XP CD, which they never supplied with my two year old Dimension, has resulted in silence.

[Mrkvonic]

-{ Quote: "I tried using BartPE Builder with the DELL Reinstallation CD, but this failed, possibly because it wanted i386 files which seem to be only on an MS Windows XP CD.

Contacting DELL for a Windows XP CD, which they never supplied with my two year old Dimension, has resulted in silence." }-

Hi,
Well, this is a problem on behalf of Dell... However, if you had access to any regular windows xp, you could have made yourself a nice disk.
@thebigdin, Bart PE is a bootable live windows cd, allowing you to work from a mounted drive in a windows environment, just like knoppix cd. You can build the Bart disks using the PE builder (need links ask me). Furthermore, you can download extra plugins and drivers for more hardware, to make what is called the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows.
This disk will boot on any computer, hopefully recognize 99% of hardware, and will allow you to surf using firefox, burn cds, make diagnostics like checkdisk, defragment, delete and restore partitions, use vnc for remote connection, mail client, pdf software and more more more. Furthermore still, the newest version includes a number of anti-spyware and anti-virus tools, including a number of anti-virii, ad-aware, spybot, stinger, etr, cws shredder, hijack this. Altogether, about a 100 applications.
This tool is a mustfor system administrators, technicians, or just anyone who wants to be able to boot into his comp, even if his system fails, and retrieve his personal files if case they did not do that before a catastrophe.
It's a nice utility really.
Mrk

[starfish_001]

BART PE isa a great tool - as others have said Knoppix is also very useful.

Green Giant - you might be able to make a disk if you have the i386 folder or more easily can find a windows disk.

BART PE does have a problem with Disk overlays like Goback - it won't mount the disk. Knoppix on the other hand always seems to work

[NewBartUser]

-{ Quote: "BART PE isa a great tool - as others have said Knoppix is also very useful." }-
Knoppix and other (great) Linux products barely can read on NTFS, and not write at all. BartPE, built on WXP SP1 or SP2, accesses NTFS drives easily, for write or read.

[NewBartUser]

One doesn't need the Windows CDrom if one builds BartPE from a WXP sp1 or higher system, the files are present on the system in that case.

One has three possivbilities as far as BartPE is concerned:
1. build the BARTPE CD as it ios, and use it.

2. Build UBCD4W (Ultimate Bot CD for Windows) using BartPE building technologiy;

3. (What I personnally do) is buold a BartPE cd and using the options "add folder" to add some softs of my choice. For example, I built my cd adding Opera 8.50 and many more apps I like and use on a regular basis.

See the link I referred in the first post of this thread for more infos on BartPE

Please report on your experiences here, don't be afraid to try tour hand and burn a few personal cd's to get used to the procedure, until you get the cd which suits your own personal needs best.

Try it, you won't be able to do without it.

Cheers

[Green Giant]

Thanks to everyone who offered advice about the absence of a Windows XP CD with my DELL Dimension PC - only the DELL Reinstallation CD supplied. I was trying to make a CD which started with Bart PE, and to which rescue tools from www.superwin.com could be added. Alas there appears to be no i386 folder in my Windows XP Home, and I have been told that this is only on the Windows CD.

Next time I buy a PC, I shall look first to see if there are the original Microsoft CDs, not just the manufacturer's version!

[heston59]

The thing I don't like about these bootable cds is once you create the cd it is practically outdated already. You need to get new AV updates almost daily to make that worth anything. Same goes for Spybot, Adaware and some other programs. You have to recreate the cd almost constantly to keep it up to date.

It would be better if you could update it right on the cd without having to recreate the whole thing everytime. I have found a program that can make a cd-rw like a floppy, where you don't have to recreate the entire cd everytime you want to add something (update), or remove something (delete), but I'm not sure it would work with the bootable cds.

[YesAndNo]

-{ Quote: "The thing I don't like about these bootable cds is once you create the cd it is practically outdated already. You need to get new AV updates almost daily to make that worth anything. Same goes for Spybot, Adaware and some other programs. You have to recreate the cd almost constantly to keep it up to date." }-
Hi
It's not only the AV's which are useful, but also all the other features, such as accessing, editing, copying, burning files to cd's, erasing some folders if needed, booting and accessing the hard drive when it wouldn't want to boot by itself, accessing keys in the hd registry, accessing the net from the live cd (!) which solves your problem about updates, and so on.

[Mrkvonic]

-{ Quote: "The thing I don't like about these bootable cds is once you create the cd it is practically outdated already. You need to get new AV updates almost daily to make that worth anything. Same goes for Spybot, Adaware and some other programs. You have to recreate the cd almost constantly to keep it up to date.

It would be better if you could update it right on the cd without having to recreate the whole thing everytime. I have found a program that can make a cd-rw like a floppy, where you don't have to recreate the entire cd everytime you want to add something (update), or remove something (delete), but I'm not sure it would work with the bootable cds." }-

Hi,
First, Bart cd is not ONLY security. It is more than that. If your OS fails, you can boot in and save your personal data, regardless of anti-virus and anti-spyware programs. About 90% of utilities on the disk do not require any updates, plus ubcd4win release updates to their plugin frequently. Plus, you can update ad-aware and spybot definitions using the boot cd.
Mrk