Peppermint Live CD/DVD/USB - Create for Emergency Backup

Create Live Peppermint CD/DVD/USB to Backup Data when Windows 7 Will Not Boot​

   Information

In some instances, Windows 7 installations can become non-bootable if serious corruption of the system files have taken place, for example through the action of malware. If these corruptions are extremely severe, the installation cannot be repaired and the only course of action left is often to wipe (format) the hard disk and reinstall Windows 7 from scratch. Before you do that, however, you may wish to copy any user data (photo's, music etc.) files from the faulty installation to a backup drive.

This tutorial will show you how to do this in just a few easy steps by creating a free Live PepperMint5 Linux distribution on a bootable USB flash drive or CD.

   Note

There are many free Linux distributions that can accomplish this task, but I have specifically chosen PepperMint5 because:

• it is a small, lightweight distribution

• it has a look & feel that will be familiar to Windows-only users

• it does not require any knowledge of Linux jargon (e.g. sda1, sda2)

• it is easy for novice users to understand

*** Update ***
I've decided to replace the use of the Lili USB creator originally referenced in this tutorial, with the Rufus USB creator, after some reports of problems with Lili. Special thanks to jumanji who brought this to my attention, and also suggested Rufus as an alternative.

The screen capture images are taken from PepperMint3 -- the distro available at the time of writing this tutorial -- but they are the same for later versions such as PepperMint4 or PepperMint5.

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:note: Requirements:
In order to perform an emergency backup, you will need the following :

Hardware:-

• External USB drive (to store your backed-up data)

• 1Gb or larger USB thumb/flash drive (to hold your bootable PepperMint5 installation)

Software:-

• Rufus USB Creator (to create the PepperMint5 installation)

• 32-bit edition of PepperMint5

You will need to know how to boot the troublesome computer from either a CD/DVD or USB drive. The way you do this depends largely on the make of BIOS of your computer. If you aren't sure, just ask.

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Step A - Creating the Live Peppermint5 USB/CD/DVD

On a working computer download Rufus and the PepperMint5 ISO from the links above. Now run Rufus by double-clicking the Rufus executable.

Replicate the settings shown in the Rufus panel below. Use the CD icon to browse to the location of the PepperMint5 ISO, and confirm that correct ISO is selected as shown at the very bottom of the panel.


Click Start, and then OK on the warning pop-up to write the ISO and make the USB flash drive bootable. Once complete, a confirmation message is displayed, as shown below.

You can now close Rufus and unplug the USB flash drive. You have now created the Live PepperMint5 Linux USB.

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Step B - Booting from the Live Peppermint5 USB/CD/DVD

Insert the USB flash drive into a USB2 port (or insert the CD/DVD into the DVD drive) on the problem computer and boot with either device.

After a few seconds, the PepperMint5 boot screen will appear. Select Live Mode as shown below. and hit enter.

PepperMint3 will now boot to the screen shown below.

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Step C - Copying user data to the external USB drive

Click Menu and then click File Manager as shown below.

Click on the File Manger that opens, and then type CTRL+N to open a duplicate File Manger Window and arrange them side-by-side.

Use the left-hand file manager window to browse for and locate the files you want to copy. Select your external USB drive in the right-hand side file manager window. Now simple click & drag the files you want to copy from the left-hand window to the one on the right. In the example shown below, I am copying my Music folder to the external USB drive.

When you are done copying, close the file manger windows, and then select the Logout option from the Menu button. Now select Shutdown as shown below.

That's it - your data files are now safely copied to your external USB drive.

Regards,
Golden

Related Tutorials

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• How to Copy & Paste in Recovery Console on Windows 7 or Vista
• How to Create and Use a Linux Mint Mate USB Flash Drive to Recover your Files

 

[koolkat77]

Beautiful tutorial! Extremely neat and well done!

 

[Dave76]

Nice tutorial, this will be useful to many, bookmarked.

 

[Golden]

Thanks guys - if anything could be made simpler or easier, let me know.

Regards,
Golden

 

[jumanji]

Hi Golden,

That is a splendid tutorial.

From Nov 2011, I have been directing users who wanted to recover data from unbootable PCs to my thread here http://www.sevenforums.com/software/198909-lucid-puppy-way-recover-files-non-bootable-computer.html

Your tutorial now fills the gap that had long existed in the tutorials section of this forum on this topic and makes my thread redundant and history.

I have now tried Peppermint, but I chose RUFUS Rufus - Create bootable USB drives to create the bootable UFD.

It has a no-install executable that has a familiar Windows GUI look and it is very simple to create a bootable pendrive. Just show it the location of the ISO and click start and the bootable pendrive is ready within minutes.



Well, there are many ways of doing the samething. Just wanted to share my way.

 

[Golden]

Hey, thanks mate!

I did contemplate writing a Wary Puppy or similar, but in the end the PepperMint3 interface just looks so familiar to Windows, and that was one of the over-riding concerns : making it as easy as possible for non-Linux users. I also looked at Rufus briefly, but in the end the colourful, translucent Lili interface swayed me - I'm simple that way! hehehe.

Youre right, there are many ways to skin a cat, the more the merrier.Thanks again

 

[boohbah]

nice work colin, this is indeed handy, ive bookmarked it for future use, though i hope i wont need it.

 

[Golden]

Thanks Chief!

 

[lehnerus2000]

Nice tutorial.
Sorry I'm not allowed to give you any Rep points.

Is it easy to add programs to the USB (i.e. does it work exactly the same as a standard install)?

 

[Golden]

Hey Lehnerus - no worries mate. What do you mean by programs? Do you mean from within the Live Linux once its booted?

 

[Dave76]

I think he means bootable standalone ISOs like memtest86+ and various HDD tests, etc.

 

[Golden]

Thanks Dave. If that is the case, then yes, you can keep adding ISO's supported by Lili to the USB as long as you have space on it.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Extra tools

Hey Lehnerus - no worries mate. What do you mean by programs? Do you mean from within the Live Linux once its booted?

I mean extra tools (e.g. Clam AV) to help repair a broken Windows PC .

I have a Peppermint VM, but I only played around with it for a couple of hours.

 

[Golden]

Yep, I think you can do that without any issues.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Thank Golden

Thanks Dave. If that is the case, then yes, you can keep adding ISO's supported by Lili to the USB as long as you have space on it.

Yep, I think you can do that without any issues.

Thanks for that info.

 

[Maco88]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for this great tutorial. It may well be exactly what i need. I can't seem to boot into my Desktop PC not matter what I have tried, and I need to save a few file.

Then I stumbled onto this tutorial, and thought great, this might do the trick.

However, I am basically stuck in Step 1 - Choose a key.

I want to burn the Peppermint ISO onto a blank CD-RW disc. The disc is in the drive, but when I go to select my disc drive in step 1, it does not exist. From the pulldown menu, I only have the option for "Choose a USB key" or "Hard Drive" both of which when selected come up with the message "No Disc Selected".

I can't seem to work out how to tell it point to my Disc Drive. That's is where I want the ISO to be burn to.

What am I doing wrong??

Cheers

 

[MilesAhead]

Hmm, I didn't notice anything on Peppermint3 site about USB 3.0. But I assume the bootable PM3 supports it? File copy is way faster with USB 3.0. Seems like Linux boot CDs were the first to support USB 3.0 but I thought I'd ask anyway.

 

[MilesAhead]

btw I never heard of TutCity but when I clicked on tutorial to use Peppermint3 to backup data that I found in google search, I got this thread except now my browser has a TutCity toolbar.

 

[BDani]

Will the 32 bit version work on 64 aswell? Or does the 32 bit works only on a 32bit platform, and the 64 only on a 64 one...?

 

[Golden]

32-bit will work on both 32 and 64 bit platforms.