What Tools Should I Add to My Ventoy-Based USB and Can I Use Rufus First?

A Ventoy USB is super handy, but fitting multiple large ISOs on an 8GB drive could be tricky. Fortunately, most rescue/utility distros aren't too big. I typically keep GParted Live, Clonezilla Live, and SuperGrub2 Disk on mine. For a varied toolkit, check out SystemRescue and Rescuezilla. And if you want an all-in-one solution, PartedMagic is great, though it's a paid option.

Definitely, your Corsair flash drive will work, though it may be a bit slow as it's likely a USB 2.0. Just keep in mind that since Ventoy operates with .ISO files, you'll have limited space for multiple large distros. However, most recovery tools tend to be smaller in size, around 100MB to 200MB. Personally, I use a 64GB drive with BartPE, Macrium Rescue, PE Builder, Clonezilla, and a few Linux distros, and it works great!

Once you set up Ventoy on your USB, it will allow you to boot from any .iso file you drop onto it, including the Linux Mint installer. You can simply copy the files like you would with any other USB drive. Additionally, tools like Clonezilla should work fine too.

A major benefit of Ventoy is that you won't need to keep flashing the USB every time you want to change the OS you're using. After you've set it up once, you can just copy .iso files over and choose which one to boot from. So go ahead and install Ventoy on your Windows machine, and load your USB with it! Unlike Rufus, which limits you to one OS at a time, Ventoy gives you more flexibility.

GParted Live and FoxClone are excellent tools to include on your Ventoy USB. If your budget allows, it might be worth investing in a new USB drive, as they’re pretty inexpensive these days!