My work often involves testing all kinds of software on different operating systems, and it can be time-consuming. While I could use virtual machines, I usually prefer running tests on real hardware, so I can get a good sense of the performance you can expect or how a certain feature may work on form factors like laptops or tablets.
That’s why Ventoy has been an absolute lifesaver for me. Instead of having to create new bootable media every time I need to install an operating system, I can keep all of them on a single drive and use whatever I need at any given time.
Ventoy lets me boot everything
One drive, all the installers
The way a live USB drive typically works is that it can only hold one operating system at a time. Whenever you flash a new operating system onto a USB drive, that drive is formatted, deleting whatever was there before, so the drive is single-purpose unless you’re constantly reformatting it.
Ventoy changes this by making your drive able to boot any ISO file directly, without having to flash the image first. Essentially, I just need to flash Ventoy itself onto the flash drive, and then drag any ISO I need onto the drive. When I boot up from the USB, it lets me choose the ISO I want and start using it.
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With a typical USB drive, this may not be a perfect solution, but this is a great pairing for a small portable SSD, or a larger USB drive. I have a 128GB drive, so I can carry around all the operating systems I could ever want and have them all ready at a moment’s notice. Ventoy supports Windows, the overwhelming majority of Linux distributions, ChromeOS, and more, so I can use it for pretty much anything I want.
It even supports persistent data
It’s like having a full computer
Usually, a live USB drive is only meant to test and install an operating system, not to be run across multiple sessions, so any apps you install or files you downloaded aren’t preserved after you shut the computer down. Some Linux distros provide a method of data persistence, though, allowing you to have not only a live operating system, but a set of apps and tools you may need on any device.
You may think this is harder to achieve when using a tool like Ventoy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. You can actually configure multiple Linux distros, particularly those based on Arch and Ubuntu, to use persistent storage by mapping that storage to a .dat file. The Ventoy team provides pre-created files of different sizes you can use as persistent storage, or you can make your own, if you prefer that route.
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Being able to carry multiple operating systems in one drive is already great, but the ability to use persistent data means I can carry a complete PC setup that I can use on almost any device. If I want to use an office suite to write a document, I can have an Ubuntu ISO with persistent data and OnlyOffice installed, and use it on just about any PC I come across, without having to touch the existing user data or deal with potential privacy risks when using a public PC. It makes this even more helpful.
All the recovery tools in one place
I’ve mostly been talking about operating systems being used with Ventoy, which is the use case that applies to me the most, but there are a lot of important tools that are also bootable, and they make a ton of sense to use with Ventoy.
One great example is Clonezilla, a bootable Linux-based tool that can clone entire drives relatively easily, so you can take backups of data on your PC. There are a lot of tools you can boot, such as Spinrite, MemTest86, and even some anti-malware tools that can do a better job at detecting and eliminating viruses on a computer. And Ventoy allows you to combine all of them into a single drive, turning it into a bonafide rescue tool for PCs whenever you need it.
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In fact, this premise is the basis for a tool called Medicat USB, which uses Ventoy to compile a wide range of recovery and otherwise bootable tools into one package, packing and organizing the ISO files so you can more easily find the tools you need at any given time. I’ve written about Medicat before, and it’s a great example of what can be achieved using Ventoy. You can make something like this from scratch yourself, or even take Medicat and customize the tools included to fit your needs. Either way, it wouldn’t be possible without Ventoy.
Ventoy is a must-have
If you’re working with PCs all the time, particularly repairing them or installing software, Ventoy is a must-have. The versatility of having as many operating systems and tools as you want on a single drive is simply incredible, and it’s undoubtedly something I wish I had found sooner. Just make sure you have a big enough external drive to make it useful.