Installing the RIP (recovery-is-possible) distribution
I just installed the RIP distribution, and it worked well! If you're looking for an emergency distribution to replace or supplement your Debian setup, give this a try. From the readme file:
"These are some of the programs it contains (partimage / partimaged, parted, dump/restore, reiserfsck, fsck.reiser4, fdisk, cfdisk, sfdisk, mke2fs, e2fsck, tune2fs, debugfs, jfsmkfs, jfsfsck, mkfs.xfs, xfsrepair, xfsdump/restore, cdrecord/dvdrecord, mkisofs, dvd+rw-format, growisofs, ntfsresize, mkntfs, ntfsclone, lynx, mutt, fetchmail, ncftp, epic4 irc, tin, telnet, wget, zgv, testdisk, rsync, udp-sender/receiver, lde, blesstivo, rtvpatch, chntpw, cmospwd, grub, grubconfig, smartctl, memtest86+, captive-ntfs, ddrescue, ddrescue, acpitool, dmidecode, hwinfo, lshw, ethtool)."
Here's the quick guide to installing: Mount the RIP ISO file, and untar the boot/rootfs.tgz file onto your newly created partition. It takes up just under 50mb, but I'd go with at least 60mb to be safe. Then follow the directions on the Custom Distribution Wiki