How to mirror and clone a hard disk?

Clonezilla is a partition and disk cloning program for Linux,free-net-openbsd,mac OS X,windows and Minix. It supports all major file systems, including EXT,NTFS,FAT,XFS,JFS and BTRFS,LVM2, as well as VMware's Enterprise Cluster file system VMFS3 and VMFS5. The Clonezilla supports 32-bit and 64-bit systems, while supporting both the legacy BIOS and the UEFI BIOS, and supports both MBR and GPT partitioned tables. It's a good tool for a full backup of the Windows system and all the apps installed on it, and I like to use it to back up the Linux test system so that I can do crazy experiments on it and get it back quickly.

Clonezilla can also use the DD command to back up unsupported file systems, which can copy blocks rather than files, so you don't have to care about the file system. The simple point is that Clonezilla can replicate anything. Quick description of blocks: Disk sector is the smallest addressable storage unit on disk, and block is a logical data structure composed of single or multiple sectors.

Clonezilla is divided into two versions: Clonezilla Live and Clonezilla Server Edition (SE). Clonezilla Live is first-rate for cloning a single computer to a local storage device or to a network share. The Clonezilla SE, however, is suitable for larger deployments, which are used to clone PCs in the entire network at once, quickly and with multiple points. Clonezilla SE is a magical software that we will discuss in the future. Today, we will create a Clonezilla Live USB storage Stick, clone a system, and then restore it.

Clonezilla and Tuxboot

When you visit the download page, you will see a stable version and an optional stable release. There are also beta versions, and if you are interested in helping improve Clonezilla, then I recommend that you use this version. The stable version is based on Debian and does not contain non-free software. The optional stable version is based on Ubuntu, contains some non-free firmware, and supports UEFI security boot.

After you download the Clonezilla, install Tuxboot to copy the Clonezilla to the USB storage stick. Tuxboot is a modified version of UNetbootin that supports Clonezilla; you can't use unetbootin because it can't work together. Installing Tuxboot is a bit of a headache, but Ubuntu users are easy to install via a Personal Pack archive (PPA):

If you are not running Ubuntu and your distribution does not contain a packaged tuxboot version, download the source code tarball and follow the instructions in the README.txt file to compile and install it.

Once the tuxboot is installed, you can use it to create your ingenious, Clonezilla USB memory stick that can be launched directly. First, create a minimum 200MB fat 32 partition, and Figure 1 (pictured above) shows the partitioning using GParted. I like to use a label like "Clonezilla", which will let me know what it is. This example shows the format of a 2GB storage bar as a single partition.

Then, start Tuxboot (Figure 2). Select Pre-downloaded (pre-downloaded) and click the button with an ellipsis to select the Clonezilla file. It will automatically find your USB memory stick, and you need to select the partition number to make sure it finds the right one, and my example is/dev/sdd1. Click OK and then click Exit when it is finished. It will ask you if you want to reboot, don't worry, don't reboot now. Now that you have a smart Portable Clonezilla USB Memory Stick, you can use it anytime, anywhere.

Create a disk image

Start the Clonezilla USB memory stick on the computer you want to back up, and the first one to mirror you is the regular boot menu. Boot to the default entry. You will be asked what language and keyboard you are using, and when you get to the start Clonezilla menu, choose Start Clonezilla. Select the device image in the next Level menu and go to the next screen.

The screen is a bit confusing, with localdev,sshserver,sambaserver and nfsserver options. This is where you choose to copy the backup image to, and the target partition or drive must be as large or even larger than the volume you want to copy. If you choose Localdev, then you need a large enough local partition to store your image. Additional USB hard drives are a nice, quick and easy option. If you choose any of the server options, you need to be able to connect to the server and provide an IP address and log in. I'm going to use a local partition, which means that you want to choose Localdev.

When you select Local_dev, Clonezilla scans all attached local storage Liben, including hard drives and USB storage devices. It then lists all the partitions. Select the partition to which you want to store the image, and then it will ask you which directory to use and list the directory. Select the directory you want, and then go to the next screen, which shows all the mounts and the available/usable space. Press ENTER to enter the next screen, please select a beginner or Expert mode. I choose Beginner mode.

In the next screen, you can choose to save, that is, to create a mirror of the entire hard disk, or to create a partitioned image, which allows you to select a single partition. I want to select a partition.

In the next screen, it will ask you the name of the new mirror. After accepting the default name, or entering your own name, go to the next screen. Clonezilla scans all your partitions and creates a checklist where you can choose which one you want to copy. When you are done, the next screen will allow you to choose whether to check the file system and fix it. I didn't have the patience, so I just skipped over.

In the next screen, ask if you want Clonezilla to check your newly created mirror to make sure it is recoverable. Choose "Yes" and make sure it is foolproof. Next, it will give you a command-line prompt, and if you want to use the command line instead of the GUI, then you must press ENTER again. You need to reconfirm and enter Y to confirm the production copy.

When Clonezilla creates a new mirror, you can enjoy the friendly red, white and blue Progress screen (Figure 3).