Parted Magic linux 2013_08_10 – the last free version archive (GPLv2)

Posted on by

Distribution description
Parted Magic is a Linux-based bootable disk with disk partitioning and data recovery tools. It is free (as freedom) software under the GPLv2 license.

Availability
It was available for free from its homepage and various websites like SourceForge.net. After the Parted Magic 2013_08_10 was released the ISO is no longer freely available for download from the official website. The distribution moved to a pay-for-download service. Old and unstable images were still available for a few weeks on SourceForge and other websites.
There is currently no official way to download the ISO freely, although it’s legally available through other download services due to Parted Magic Linux distribution being GPLv2 licensed.
The source code is not made public in the official website, it should be provided by request, as stated by the GPL license Parted Magic is under.

2013_08_10 reconstruction
The 2013_08_01 is the last known version officially available for free as an ISO image and known to cause problems on certain computers (more in the update 3 below). The pxe variant of the fixed 2013_08_10 was briefly available on SourceForge. Old versions were still mirrored on some websites. I’ve found a mirrored copy of a 2013_08_01 iso on MajorGeeks and a 2013_08_10 pxe version somewhere else. I haven’t found the 2013_08_10 iso version so I’ve decided to make a 2013_08_10 iso from these two. I’ve extracted the main SQFS archive from the 2013_08_10 pxe (it was inside initrd.img) and replaced the one inside the older 2013_08_01 iso image using IsoMaster. That was the most important file containing the main filesystem. I’ve replaced all files that are present in both iso and pxe versions including contents of the initrd.img. Testing under VirtualBox shows that it works and reports version 2013_08_10 under HardInfo. Conky also shows a newer kernel version. I’ve edited the boot menu so it reports the correct version in the boot menu, and it launches that version using SQFS files from the 2013_08_10 pxe. My custom Parted Magic 2013_08_10 iso is named pmagic_2013_08_10_reconstructed.iso.
Based on Phooen‘s feedback I’ve fixed the broken 64-bit boot option and the new image is: pmagic_2013_08_10_reconstructed_v2.iso.

Other information
I’ve posted all images I’ve found below. Use them at your own risk. All these images were mirrored when they were freely available (it’s still GPLv2). This post is just an archive of the last free versions. You’re free to mirror this post and/or links to these old free versions.

Screenshots

Parted Magic 2013_08_10 (reconstructed)
Parted Magic 2014_06_10

Update (15.10.2013)

I’ve replaced my reconstructed 2013_08_10 iso version with a new version built using the 2013_08_10 pxe and menu configuration files from the 2013_08_09 iso instead of the 2013_08_01. This made Dutch, Turkish and Ukrainian translations usable.

Update 2 (5.11.2013)

There was a warning on the Parted Magic’s home page:

 “WARNING! A few sites on the internet are offering a file called pmagic_2013_08_01.iso for free download. This version was released with a very destructive USB corruption bug in the Linux kernel. We removed this file from our official mirrors to minimize the damage and quickly released version 2013_08_10 to replace it. The 2013_08_01 version also included a bug in the OLD Secure Erase GUI that would allow a user to erase an ATA disk through a USB interface. In some cases it would brick the expensive USB device. The OLD GUI would also set the secure erase password to NULL by default and using the disk on a Lenovo BIOS is not possible because a password cannot be entered. Version 2013_09_26 does not contain these flaws and is completely safe to use. Sorry for any inconvenience or loss suffered by using this unofficial/unsupported FREE pmagic_2013_08_01.iso. You have been warned.” 

Please use version 2013_08_10 or newer to avoid critical bugs present in the 2013_08_01. As a safety precaution don’t use the Secure Erase GUI on USB devices.

You can find recent versions (still licensed under the GPL) on the list of mirrors, which has been prepared on the basis of comments made by users, received messages and my own research. There are many free alternatives like UBCD Live, SystemRescueCD, GParted-live or LiveCDs of the most popular linux distributions like LinuxMint. You’re free to mirror this post/links/iso images.

Parted Magic archive (old free versions, newer are here):

Parted Magic 2013_08_10 (last free version-fixed iso)
pmagic_2013_08_10_reconstructed_v2.iso
pmagic_pxe_2013_08_10.zip (PXE version)
Parted Magic 2013_08_01 (WARNING! CRITICAL USB BUG)
pmagic_2013_08_01.iso
pmagic_2013_08_01.iso (MajorGeeks mirror)


Parted Magic mirrors (GPL):

Parted Magic mirror thanks to traxter-online.net
Mirrors by traxter-online.net - recent versions
Mirrors by traxter-online.net - recent versions
Parted Magic mirror thanks to raspis.eu
Mirrors by raspis.eu - recent versions


Other tools:

YUMI – Multiboot USB Creator
Yumi-home page
SystemRescueCd (free rescue livecd)
SystemRescueCd-home page
GParted-live (free rescue livecd based on gparted)
GParted-live on SourceForge
UBCD Live (free rescue cd from the Ultimate Boot CD developers)
UBCD Live main page
UBCD Live forum thread

32 thoughts on “Parted Magic linux 2013_08_10 – the last free version archive (GPLv2)”

    • Second link from the bottom of the page. If you have problems with mega.co.nz use jdownloader 2 to download files from such sites.

      Reply ↓

  6. First of all thanks for the links, I downloaded one right now. 🙂
    I understand the author’s view, I donated to the project even when it was free, but I don’t agree with *forcing* users to pay. He started asking donations, and that was nice and fair. But charging for FLOSS software (most of which he didn’t develop) without redistributing the sources is against the GPL. He can charge but he should respect the licenses…

    Reply ↓

    • It’s his decision. There are sources on his website (http://beefdrapes.partedmagic.com/source/). I’ve bought a 2013_11_11 iso and the Polish translation has a few issues. Some captions are only partially translated like someone just picked words from a dictionary. I don’t know why somebody translated “Magic” from Parted Magic to Polish. Check disk health was translated as “Dysk twardy inspekcji sanitarnej”, terminals section as “zaciski”.

      Reply ↓

      • Yes, you are right about the sources, at first I didn’t notice them. I agree, the Italian translation is “sad” as well. I still have a copy of Parted Magic from around June 2012 and I like it a lot more, and still use it. Also, it recognizes a damaged hard drive which both the new one and also Ubuntu 13.10 fail to read. It’s strange!
        I love the project and I think probably I will donate some more, but I liked the previous approach better. 🙂

        Reply ↓

  7. Are these images the “non-PAE” versions? There are still LOTS of perfectly servicable machines in use that do not have PAE-capable processors, but the “standard” version of PM requires PAE.

    Reply ↓

  8. Could you share in mega the ‘sqfs’ file contained in pmagic_*.iso, PLZ? It’s lower in MB that iso file, right?

    In that way we just need update our sqfs file, keeping the old sqfs name’s… It’s just an idea!

    Reply ↓

    • I’m not the uploader of these images (just 2013_08_10 and older). Sqfs image is not the only file updated from version to version. For example the Linux kernel is stored in a separate file.

      Reply ↓

  9. Hello mrsebe,

    Thank you for your detailed information on Parted Magic.

    I’ve finally got Parted Magic 2013_08_10.
    However, I’m not sure how, but I cannot boot “Default settings 64 (Runs from RAM)” with a CD burned from “pmagic_2013_08_10_reconstructed.iso”.
    Of course Parted Magic can start from “Default settings 32 (Runs from RAM)” and work well on 32bit machines but some tools of Parted Magic, such as File Manager, cannot work so well on 64bit machines.

    I would appreciate if you could advise me in this matter.

    Best regards,
    Phooen

    Reply ↓

    • Test results:
      CD: 32-bit works, 64-bit doesn’t.
      USB (unetbootin): 32-bit works, 64-bit works (!).
      Advices:
      -Ignore it and use 32-bit mode. 64-bit mode makes no difference (supports more RAM) and it’s pointless for a recovery distribution.
      -Use Parted Magic 2014_09_29 (the bottom of the page). Old versions like 2013_08_10 have more bugs and worse hardware support.

      Reply ↓

      • Thanks.

        It’s good to know that the cause is its bugs.
        I think Parted Magic would be used mainly to run Secure Erase or to rescue files in case an OS crashes, so 32bit mode would be useful enough.

        I asked the question because I would like to introduce this blog and your “pmagic_2013_08_10_reconstructed.iso” as a FREE Parted Magic on my blog in Japanese. Would you mind if I do that?

        Phooen

        Reply ↓

  11. thx 4 the upload

    does anyone have an entry for grub4dos?

    the new pmagic_2015_03_06 version only starts from a standalone usb stick but not in a subfolder
    after booting i get an error “mounting the fu.sqfs failed”

    please post your working menu.lst if it works with grub4dos

    Reply ↓

  13. big thanks!!

    I get the following MD5s
    1cd846dcb9113bb5bce50c73ab33ca1d *pmagic_2013_06_15.iso
    645a1ac52c34a6b12bf516da02977535 *pmagic_2013_08_10_reconstructed_v2.iso
    74a1951074e41d7df70376cb024a979d *pmagic_2014_09_29.iso

    Reply ↓

    • It supports partitioning SSD drives. I don’t know how it handles secure erasing. Try the latest version or the software provided by hard drive manufacturer: Seagate SeaTools, Western Digital SSD Dashboard, Samsung Magician.

      Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *