Use DOS 7.1, set it up on a Flash Drive on one machine, copy any data you need to it ect, configure it properly, then make an ISO image of it, and burn it to a CD-Rom is my idea.

You could use Grub as the bootloader so you can add other utilities and tools kind of like Hirens or UBCD

There are some you can build on top of. Both HighTreason and Phil has created their own benchmark suites.
On a webpage, called something with "all bootdisks" or something like that, you can download ready made CD ISO's.

From these things, you can actually build you'r own portable DOS image for burning or for USB stick's.

candle_86 wrote:

Use DOS 7.1, set it up on a Flash Drive on one machine, copy any data you need to it ect, configure it properly, then make an ISO image of it, and burn it to a CD-Rom is my idea.

You could use Grub as the bootloader so you can add other utilities and tools kind of like Hirens or UBCD

I might do the DOS BootCD thing but some older machines won't boot from CD-ROM or might not have a CD-ROM. I am thinking of either using a SD to IDE adapter with a decent size SD card or an actual IDE hard drive.

DOS actually lends itself nicely for a portable installation!

As long as the machine is compatible with the hard drive size (old machines might have a HDD limit), this is actually really straight forward.

A boot floppy can also work, but has limited capacity. Unless you use the awesome GOTEK floppy emulator with 1000 disk images 🤣