Hiren's Boot CD

[xephyr69]

Hiren's Boot CD is a live CD containing various diagnostic programs such as partitioning agents, system performance benchmarks, disk cloning and imaging tools, data recovery tools, MBR tools, BIOS tools, and many others for fixing various computer problems. Many of these tools are warez. As it is a bootable CD, it can be useful even if the primary operating system cannot be booted. Hiren's Boot CD has an extensive list of software. Utilities with similar functionality on the CD are grouped together and seem redundant; however, they present choices through different UI's and options in what they can do.

The ISO Image can no longer be downloaded, due to legal issues concerning the legality of the modified apps. The CD contains mostly freeware, some of which is abandonware, and the rest are actively updated apps, all of which are copyrighted. Here is a link to the page that lists and contains download links for all of the freeware that is normally contained on the disc.

http://www.hiren.info/downloads/freeware-tools/1

[webfork]

The licensing on this is pretty much a joke (its basically piracy) but I've worked for companies that used it anyhow because there was just no replacement.

There are more than adequate alternatives out there and Linux boot cds and tools have come a long way since Hiren's first arrived, so there are some free (and fully legal) alternatives.

[Hydaral]

You know this thread is over 3 years old?

I think every IT tech has a copy of Hiren's CD, even if it is illegal, it's just so useful.

UBCD is legal, but it's not as useful:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

[lautrepay]

According to what I read here and there, and without the intention to be the devil's advocate, it seems that Hiren's is closest to legality than 3 or 4 years ago. At least some Acronis tools and non-free antivirus I'm sure are not included anymore. That's the reason for the proliferation of "remixed" versions that can be found all over the net.

There are more than adequate alternatives out there and Linux boot cds and tools have come a long way since Hiren's first arrived, so there are some free (and fully legal) alternatives.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't need more than what Parted Magic provides.

[Beeber]

It is legal, but a bad rep is hard to shake. The big deal has always been his use of WinPE 1.6 when no one else had it. UBCD4WIN uses Bart's PE, which is good, but a full install of XP...and it is HUGE and SLOW. Mini XP is about 100MBs and flies. To use the payware on Hiren's, you have to have your own key. There are two (Snapshot & Image for Windows) that give you 2 weeks free trial with each new edition. This CD bailed me out more than once...

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/

http://www.ubcd4win.com/

[webfork]

That's the reason for the proliferation of "remixed" versions that can be found all over the net.

Yeah -- that makes sense. I remember when one of my employees hooked me up with the "good" Hiren's CD. And yeah it had Acronis and a lot of other obviously commercial goodies on it.

Edit: Acronis is awesome, by the way. That and TestDisk saved my ass one fine morning.

You know this thread is over 3 years old?

Yes, a few days ago I went through and updated about 15 different old threads, but putting "old thread update" at the top of every post got a little repetitive.

Additionally, I was sort of hoping this would bring up some discussion of alternatives, which I'm happy to see has happened.

[Beeber]

BTW,
Acronis is still there....legal & free...IF you have a Seagate or Maxtor HDD. It is the Disk Wizard in Seatools. It is Acronis 8 and perfect for most user's needs. I have no idea if it works on other drives. I have Acronis, so I never bothered to try it.

[Midas]

Old topic update: Ultimate Boot CD v5.3.0 released (for contents & changes, see http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/).

[webfork]

I'm not sure how many times total it's happened over the years but my 10-year old Hiren's boot CD saved the day yet again the other day. Brought back to life an old but still very capable server-level machine destined for the trash.

Love it.

[juverax]

Webfork said:

"... Hiren's boot CD saved the day .... "

Here too, I keep a copy of Hiren's Boot CD in my toolkit. Highly recommended!

[Mike.S.G.]

I think it was HBCD I created a bootable thumb drive from just to use Macrium v7.3... the environment used Windows 10 PE and worked very well.

[juverax]

I believe HBCD v.15.2 is the most complete version, though I am not 100% sure!

[Mike.S.G.]

I believe HBCD v.15.2 is the most complete version, though I am not 100% sure!

The Old Versions page has v15.2 @ ~600MB, the newer version of HBCD, referred to as PE x64 (v1.0.2) is @ ~3GB.

-> https://www.hirensbootcd.org/old-versions/
-> https://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/

The About page is worth the read for those who are interested -> https://www.hirensbootcd.org/about/

[juverax]

HBCD v.15.2 may NOT be the most recent version, but it has tools that are not included in the subsequent versions (because of copyright restrictions).
I believe that the version to keep in the toolkit is called "HBCD v.15.2 Restored Edition" (it contains commercial utilities omitted in the HBCD official release).