Small sized linux distro

[badhon_raj]

Hi, I need a small sized linux iso that will boot from usb and can perform some basic task.

More specifically saying,
I need to execute this from terminal

sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
sudo grub-install --root-directory=mnt /dev/sda

that is, I need to reinstall grub to recover mint/ubuntu installation.
So please suggest me which distro will be better.
Please ask if I'm not clear enough or if you need to know anything. Thanks.

[jayd512]

Hello and Welcome!
Any LiveCD would do the trick. But if you're looking specifically for something to put on a USB drive, Parted Magic is a good choice. And it makes a nice addition to your toolkit, as well.

[badhon_raj]

thank you jayed. I'm not clear what you meant by livecd. Did you mean something like ubuntu livecd?
I need something like that. I want it to put into my usb. But I want it to be as small as possible. Something like this

damnsmalllinux.org

but I don't know whether this one is good or not. That's why I asked for your help.
I saw something named tinycorelinux. Will that one work?
Thanks.

[oz]

Hello and welcome!

Parted Magic can be installed on a USB flash drive, and so can Damn Small or Puppy. You can take a look at pendrivelinux.com to see some options:

USB Puppy Linux Install | USB Pen Drive Linux

[rokytnji]

If you use Puppy Linux. You can drop the sudo. Small Pup is BrowserLinux 501 Tiny Core and Slitaz Linux are even smaller.

[yancek]

Re-installing Grub to repair a corrupted bootloader is always best done by using the medium you used to install. Grub2 has changes from version to version and may cause problems if you use a different version. Grub2 has had at least three different versions released before it got to 2.00 and what works on Ubuntu may not work on other systems using Grub2 and vice versa. What happened to your installation medium for Mint/Ubuntu? How did that get installed? You should always keep a copy of the installation medium for just such reasons.

[badhon_raj]

I do have the installation medium. As in the iso's. But I need to copy them over to usb every time I need to use them.
That's why I was thinking of keeping a bootable linux on my usb permanently to boot up pc's that won't boot normally.
And I wanted it to be as small as possible so that it doesn't occupy much space in my pendrive.
Any way I'll test those three and see how it goes.
Thank you all.

[jayd512]

In addition to Pendrivelinux, you could take a look at Unetbootin.
From the Unetbootin page:

UNetbootin allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux distributions without burning a CD.

[badhon_raj]

^Thanks. I usually use universal usb installer. And sometimes I do use unetbootin when an iso is not supported/listed on universal usb installer.