Another word for LiveCD is LiveDistro. LiveDistro is a generic term for an operating system distribution that is executed upon boot, without installation on a hard drive. Typically, it is stored on bootable media such as a CD-ROM (Live CD), DVD (Live DVD), USB flash drive (Live USB), among others.
The term “live” derives from the fact that these distributions are a complete, runnable, i.e. “live” instance of the operating system residing on the distribution media, rather than the typical case of a collection of packages that must first be installed on the target machine prior to using the OS. A LiveDistro does not alter the current operating system or files unless the user specifically requests it. The system returns to its previous state when the LiveDistro is ejected and the computer is rebooted. It does this by placing the files that typically would be stored on a hard drive into temporary memory, such as a ram disk. In fact, a hard drive is not needed at all. LiveDistros are a good way to demo or preview an operating system without having to install it to a hard drive.
Do you know that there are currently 315 types of LiveCD/DVDs?
My favorite LiveCD I always carry around with me is BackTrack. To me, it’s the best and most complete security testing live distro. Last month, BackTrack has been updated to version 2. Simply download the ISO image, and burn it on a CD. Place the CD into your drive and boot from it.
There are few category of LiveCD/DVDs to cater for different purposes. The most widely used LiveCD is desktops. I know a friend who can still use Windows even though his computer doesn’t have a hard drive. He can’t do much, but he can still surf the internet, type letters, listen to music and etc…
1. Desktops: provides a working GUI desktop environment with a collection of desktop programs, such as browsers and text editors. Many also include utilities for other purposes, such as home entertainment, but are only listed here because the additional functions are not their primary focus.
2. OS Replacement: provides an option to transfer the cd to the hard drive, or to install an OS in a different form
3. Education: provides a collection of educational programs, or was created to be used in the educational field
4. Rescue: provides tools needed for data recovery
5. Clustering: provides tools for making clusters
6. Security: contains network security tools
7. Home Entertainment: geared towards playing video and audio
8. Gaming: video games!
9. Medical: contains medical programs
10. Diagnostics: contains utilities for testing hardware
11. Firewalls: distributions created to be used as firewalls
12. Forensics: distributions containing forensic tools
13. Servers: distributions used for various server functions
If you’re a computer technician, a rescue livecd is very helpful to you. If your customer’s Windows is unbootable, you can use a rescue livecd to boot up Windows, then copy all the important files to another computer on a network or you can also plug in your USB flash drive and back it up there.
For security administrators, security livecd is useful to you. You’re able to determine weakness in the network or system with hundreds of security tools in the livecd.
Generally, if you want to learn how to use linux or get a feel of it, a desktop livecd or replacement OS is most suitable since you don’t need to repartition your hard drive and risk loosing all your data. Visit The LiveCD List link below to find out all 315 LiveCD/LiveDVD.