VENTOY
Multi-boot USB drives for easy distro hopping
Use the powerful Ventoy to repair operating systems and make distrohopping so much simpler, with a bit of help from Matthew Holder.
OUR EXPERT
Matt Holder Having worked in IT support for over a decade, Matt has always tried to utilise Linux alongside the other installed systems. He’s been a fan of the open source methodology for over two decades and uses Linux and other tools where possible.
Before describing what Ventoy is, let’s discuss a couple of scenarios. Scenario one: after performing an upgrade on your daily driver laptop there’s an issue with the bootloader and it won’t boot into your favourite Linux distro. What now commences is a desperate scrabble to find the USB stick that contains recovery tools. When that fails, one has to decide which memory stick to wipe to then install said recovery tools. Scenario two: distro-hoppers are likely to have a fair number of USB sticks that contain different distributions. When a new version is released, a USB stick needs to be wiped to install the new version.
Ventoy changes the way USB devices are used to boot into different operating systems. When written to a USB stick, the device is then split into two partitions. Partition one is used to store Ventoy and the files required for booting. Partition two contains an area to store ISO files, which Ventoy can boot directly. This means that a memory stick, or more likely USB SSD, can be used to boot many different operating systems and when new versions are released, the ISO can simply be copied onto the second partition and it will then be available to be booted from the Ventoy menu system.