Clonezilla is a powerful open-source disk cloning and imaging tool that is widely used in the Linux environment. It allows you to clone entire drives or partitions, create disk images for backup, and restore them when needed. This article will guide you through the process of using Clonezilla on a Linux system.

What is Clonezilla?

Clonezilla is a partition and disk imaging/cloning program similar to True Image® or Norton Ghost®. It helps you to do system deployment, bare metal backup, and recovery. Clonezilla saves and restores only used blocks in the hard disk, which increases the clone efficiency.

Getting Started with Clonezilla

Clonezilla can be used in two main ways:

1. Clonezilla Live: A bootable live CD/USB that you can use to clone disks and partitions.
2. Clonezilla Server Edition (SE): For massive deployment, it can clone many computers simultaneously.

For this guide, we will focus on using Clonezilla Live.

How to Use Clonezilla Live

Step 1: Download Clonezilla Live

1. Visit the official Clonezilla website: Clonezilla.org
2. Download the Clonezilla Live ISO file suitable for your architecture (i.e., 32-bit or 64-bit).

Step 2: Create a Bootable Clonezilla Live USB

You can create a bootable USB using tools like Rufus on Windows or dd on Linux.

Example using dd on Linux:

sudo dd if=clonezilla-live-version.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M
sync

Replace /dev/sdX with your USB drive identifier.

Step 3: Boot from Clonezilla Live USB

1. Insert the USB into the target machine.
2. Reboot the system and boot from the USB drive.
3. Follow the on-screen instructions to start Clonezilla.

Step 4: Clone a Disk or Partition

1. Select "Clonezilla live" from the boot menu.
2. Choose your preferred language and keyboard layout.
3. Start Clonezilla and select "device-device" for disk-to-disk or partition-to-partition cloning.
4. Choose the source disk/partition and the target disk/partition.
5. Confirm the operation and let Clonezilla perform the cloning.

Step 5: Create a Disk Image

1. Follow the initial steps to boot into Clonezilla Live.
2. Select "device-image" to create an image from a disk or partition.
3. Choose the directory where you want to save the image (local or network).
4. Select the source disk/partition to image.
5. Confirm and let Clonezilla create the image.

Examples

• Clone a Disk: Use the device-device option to clone /dev/sda to /dev/sdb.

• Create an Image: Use the device-image option to save an image of /dev/sda1 to a local directory.

Conclusion

Clonezilla is a versatile tool that provides robust solutions for disk cloning and imaging on Linux systems. Whether you need to back up a single computer or deploy an image to multiple machines, Clonezilla offers the functionality you need.