Not RIP in the sense you're thinking.
Recovery Is Possible Linux
I decided to take a risk and gamble on an open box deal of a 2TB WD Caviar Black. It was 50% off and the drive can be returned to the local vendor, but I've only got seven days to do so.
So naturally I was looking for a good SMART tool to view the current status of the drive and to test the drive for faults. and Smartmontools fit the bill.
Now I'm sitting in a Live USB install of Linux. It let me download Chrome from the repository and now I'm surfing the web while a SMART extended test completes. WinPE does offer some level of this flexibility (see BartPE), but the licensed nature of Windows impedes freely sharing pre-built designs.
It's total geek, but I love stuff like this. This little Slackware distro is worth poking at in a VM and keeping in mind the next time you need a recovery platform.