16GB OR LARGER USB FLASH DRIVE
Ventoy (www.ventoy.net) and a selection of rescue media in ISO file format.
ONE RESCUE DISK TO RULE THEM ALL. That’s the stated aim of this tutorial, and thanks to a free tool called Ventoy, that goal is not just reachable, it’s simple to achieve, too. All you need is a suitably large USB flash drive—16GB or larger—and after installing Ventoy on it, you can simply copy across all kinds of bootable media as ISO files directly to the drive, then choose which one to boot from when you restart your PC.
Whether you need to restore your last drive image to bring Windows back to life, perform surgery on a non-booting Windows install, clear malware, or recover data from a corrupt drive before wiping it and starting again, your one-size-fits-all rescue disk will have you covered.
In this tutoial, we’ll step you through the trickiest part of the process: installing Ventoy to your flash drive before configuring your Secure Boot-enabled PC to allow you to boot from it, then reveal some of the rescue media out there you need to ensure you’ve covered all your bases. While you’re at it, why not chuck on some Linux live distros, too? Whatever your bootable media needs, Ventoy truly has you covered. –NICK PEERS
