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document updated 15 years ago, on Oct 3, 2008

		100gb 2.5" HDD	8gb thumb	2gb thumb (super tiny)	1gb thumb (super slow)	All-in-one DVD
MS-DOS v7.1, ghost.exe, ..	8mb	X	X	X	X	X
Knoppix	4.7gb, or 700mb	X
Some easily customizable Linux (Ubuntu, Slax, Knoppix unionfs)	700mb	X
Backtrack linux	700mb	X		X		X
Damn Small Linux	50mb				X
BartPE		X
Hiren's	100mb	X	X	X		X
lots of floppy images	115mb	X				X
Ghost images		X	X
Truecrypt BLOB

TODO

TODO: glue two credit cards together, and dremel a precise hole in it with 2 or 3 "friction tabs" that can hold the 2GB thumb in the middle (so I can keep the thing in my wallet)

Boot Configuration

DVD
- top-level: grub4dos's no-emulation loader
  - DOS — two-stage, using eltorito.sys to load the second stage
  - Linux — easy with grub
2.5" HDD
- top-level: MS-DOS, config.sys menu
  - DOS — already there
  - floppies — config.sys → grub.exe → floppy.img via grub4dos's version of MEMDISK
  - Linux — config.sys → grub.exe

DOS apps

Most DOS apps are small (small enough to keep on a boot floppy), so it's easy to keep the same set of programs on all of your boot media. These are mine:

Ghost (Norton) — versions 8 and 11, maybe other versions.
Grub4Dos — while optimally it should be installed in config.sys, it can often be run manually after bootup as well. IMHO, it's the most feature-full of the GRUB v1 variants.
PC Check (Eurosoft) — good for laptop manufacturing testing
MBRWizard — recommended by GRUB4DOS