rEFInd vs Super Grub2 Disk
rEFInd
rodsbooks.comSuper Grub2 Disk
supergrubdisk.orgSide by side
| Figure | rEFInd | Super Grub2 Disk |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Boot Manager Software | 8.3 (#8) | 7.5 (#16) |
| Automatic detection | It scans EFI loaders, legacy loaders and firmware boot entries without requiring every entry to be listed in a configuration file. | Its Everything option detects most operating systems, and Everything plus also searches special devices or filesystems. |
| Downloads | The maker lists binary ZIP, RPM, Debian, CD-R image, and USB flash drive image packages, among other forms. | The stable download page offers USB bootable images, CD-ROM bootable images, standalone EFI images, and source code. |
| Maker | The primary author and maintainer is Roderick W. Smith. | The site's Impressum names Adrian Gibanel Lopez as site operator and says the website is a non-commercial project with no commercial interests. |
| Purpose | rEFInd is a boot manager forked from rEFIt that scans for boot loaders and helps users choose an operating system or utility at startup. | Super GRUB2 Disk helps boot operating systems that cannot boot by normal means. |
| Secure Boot | Secure Boot operation is supported through Shim, PreLoader or enrolled keys and signatures. | The stable download page describes the recommended multi-architecture USB image as Secure Boot enabled and the classic USB image as Secure Boot non enabled. |
| Support | The maker invites users with problems or comments to email [email protected]. | The product page links to documentation and a forum for discussing how to use the tool. |
Plans
In their own words
rEFInd
rEFInd is a free boot manager, forked from rEFIt, that scans for boot loaders and lets users select an operating system or utility at startup. It is intended for EFI-based computers, not older BIOS-based machines, and works with EFI 1.1 and UEFI 2.x. It can find EFI loaders, BIOS/CSM/legacy loaders, and boot options saved in firmware NVRAM. For Linux, rEFInd can detect kernels with EFI stub support, locate initrd files, and read kernel options from a refind_linux.conf file. It supports text and graphical operation, with configurable resolution, backgrounds, icons, and fonts. It can communicate with Shim to authenticate boot loaders using valid UEFI Secure Boot keys, Shim keys, or Machine Owner Keys. Included filesystem drivers cover ext2/3, ext4, Btrfs, ReiserFS, HFS+, and ISO-9660; the NTFS driver is not compiled by default. Downloads include ZIP, RPM, Debian, CD-R image, and USB flash drive image packages. Installation scripts and manual procedures cover Linux, macOS, and Windows. The maker describes it as beta-quality, with uneven testing across architectures.
Super Grub2 Disk
Super Grub2 Disk is free boot media for helping start operating systems that will not boot normally. Its Everything option detects most operating systems, while Everything plus extends the search to special devices or filesystems. Manual boot choices cover operating systems, GRUB2 and GRUB legacy configuration files, core.img, and bootable ISOs. The site lists Windows, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, EFI files, and Mac OS X/Darwin as supported targets. Extra GRUB2 functions include LVM, RAID, PATA, encrypted LUKS and geli volumes, and serial terminal support. Downloads include USB and CD-ROM bootable images, standalone EFI images, and source code. The stable download page describes its recommended multi-architecture USB image as Secure Boot enabled and the classic USB image as Secure Boot non enabled. It publishes MD5, SHA1, and SHA256 checksums for release files, and lists version 2.06s4 dated July 30, 2024. Documentation and a forum are linked for use questions.