Clonezilla still the venerable king!

[Jason]

I used Clonezilla yesterday to back up my entire drive containing Windows 11 and Zorin OS (Linux) to another drive as a .img file.

I used a SATA to USB 3 adapter to access an old-style 1 TB HDD. Amazingly, it still works. I'm not surprised for Clonezilla but was with the drive. It's been sitting on my shelf for probably 8 years. It was manufactured earlier (2011).

While it doesn't have the friendliest interface, Clonezilla is still a reliable disk/partition cloner. I couldn't get Windows 11 to back up its partitions using its control panel program. It complained about not having enough space or something. The error message was unintelligible. Boo, hiss! Clonezilla is still the king!

Using Clonezilla, I backed up about 200 GB in about 15 minutes, faster than expected. I wouldn't want to have tried it using USB 2.0!

I have 3 other HDDs (one 1 TB and two 2 TB) that I don't know what to do with. I might use them in a backup server. Clonezilla can also back up multiple computers over a network.

Note: You must boot from a Clonezilla CD/DVD/USB drive to do the cloning. You can't clone the drive while using the operating system.

I forgot to mention the link for it. It's easily searchable but I endeavour to make your lives easier.

https://clonezilla.org/

[buster]

I believe Fox and I have both used GParted to back up partitions. I used it to copy a full Mint OS, but the copy will not boot, but there is a workaround for that. GParted is totally visual and dead simple. I believe you could use it for windows partitions from the running Linux partition, but I'm not sure.

FBReader is a very good epub (and other formats) reader. Apparently there is a Linux desktop version available.

[Jason]

That's great when you're just doing a partition. In my system, there are 5 partitions. Windows insists on using four partitions and I have Linux on just one. That'd be a real mess to back up to another system if I had to do it individually for each partition. Maybe not a mess, but a pain and prone to error.

Interestingly, the makers of GParted Live (what I presume you're using) recommend using another program to back up the entire drive before manipulating partitions. The first suggestion in their list is Clonezilla. You could back up only your personal data but then you'd have to spend time reinstalling the OSes, updating them and the programs before restoring it. Which is what I've been doing until now.

[Jason]

Btw, I think you meant for the FBReader response to go with another topic. This one, probably.

[ssfc72]

I used Clonezilla for many years but then I tried Rescuezilla a few years ago and prefer it, over Clonezilla.
I can't recall what exactly I felt was better with Rescuezilla but it must have been something worthwhile, to cause me to switch from Clonezilla.

[Jason]

I used Clonezilla for many years but then I tried Rescuezilla a few years ago and prefer it, over Clonezilla.
I can't recall what exactly I felt was better with Rescuezilla but it must have been something worthwhile, to cause me to switch from Clonezilla.

I think I know what you were thinking. It says on the RescueZilla website:

Yes, Rescuezilla is the Clonezilla GUI (graphical user interface) that you might have been looking for.

The screenshots of it look great.

So you get the rock-solid reliability of Cloudzilla with an easier interface.

I'm going to have to try this the next time I image my drive. Thanks for sharing.