I have an old hard drive from electronic waste that I want to inspect for files and then possibly format or wipe it. Can I use Ventoy with multiple Linux Mint ISO files for this, or would Rufus be safer? My plan is to disconnect my computer's main drive and boot only from the USB so the old drive cannot affect my normal system. Is there any meaningful risk from using Ventoy, and are there precautions I should take when mounting or wiping the drive?
3 Answers
The biggest practical danger is selecting the wrong disk when formatting. Use tools such as lsblk or Disks to identify the old drive by its size and model, and double-check the device name before running any wipe command. If the drive contained sensitive information, formatting alone may not be enough; use the drive’s secure-erase function or physically destroy it.
That setup should work fine. Ventoy simply provides a boot menu for the ISO files you copy to the USB, so it is not inherently less safe than writing one ISO directly with Rufus. Disconnecting your main drive is a sensible extra precaution, especially when you are unsure about the old disk.
A Linux live environment is commonly used to inspect or repair potentially infected Windows drives. Malware designed for Windows generally will not execute in Linux just because the disk is connected, but avoid opening or running unknown files. If possible, disable automatic mounting and mount the old partitions read-only while inspecting them.
That was mostly what I was thinking; I just wanted another opinion before trying it.