Clonezilla

Clonezilla is an advanced, open-source disk imaging and cloning solution used by system administrators, IT engineers, repair technicians, and power users who require reliable, sector-level backup and recovery capabilities. Unlike many commercial GUI tools, Clonezilla performs true block-level imaging — ensuring accurate, byte-for-byte system snapshots that can be restored on demand, migrated to new hardware, or deployed across hundreds of machines simultaneously.

Clonezilla works as a Live environment launched from ISO or USB. It bypasses your installed OS entirely, allowing consistent snapshots without interference from running applications. Whether you are migrating from HDD to SSD, preparing mass deployment for corporate workstations, preserving system states before risky modifications, or restoring corrupted installations — Clonezilla remains one of the most trusted solutions in professional environments.

Because Clonezilla is not tied to a specific platform, it supports dozens of file systems out of the box, including ext4, NTFS, Btrfs, APFS, FAT32, LVM, and ZFS pools (via raw mode). This makes it ideal for mixed-OS infrastructures in enterprise, educational, and research environments.

Technical Overview

Clonezilla works by leveraging multiple underlying technologies:

• Partclone — captures used disk blocks efficiently
• ntfsclone / partimage — fallback engines for NTFS and legacy systems
• dd — raw, sector-by-sector imaging (universal / slower)
• DRBL (Diskless Remote Boot) — optional PXE-based mass deployment
• Compression engines — gzip, zstd, lz4, bzip2

Image storage and restoration can be done using:

• Local disks (internal/external)
• USB flash drives
• Network shares (NFS, Samba, SSH)
• PXE server or Clonezilla SE infrastructure

Clonezilla supports both device-to-image and device-to-device operations, making it useful for everything from backups to full disk migrations.

Related Tools on RebootTools

Clonezilla integrates perfectly with several other utilities available on this site:

Rescuezilla — graphical Clonezilla frontend
• Ideal for beginners who prefer a GUI
• Uses Clonezilla engine internally
• Great for quick home backups

GParted Live — partition editing tool
• Resize, format, check and repair partitions
• Perfect before or after cloning jobs

Ventoy — multiboot USB creator
• Put Clonezilla ISO directly onto a Ventoy USB
• No need to re-flash the drive each time

Rufus and Balena Etcher — USB flashing tools
• Required for writing Clonezilla ISO to USB
• Supports UEFI and BIOS boot formats

When Clonezilla Is the Best Choice

• Cloning disks without reinstalling Windows/Linux
• Migrating to a new SSD or NVMe drive
• Performing system backups before major updates
• Restoring corrupted OS installations
• Deploying hundreds of identical systems in a lab/school
• Saving exact byte-level copies of entire drives
• Creating forensic disk images (dd mode)

Advantages of Clonezilla

• True block-level imaging — extremely accurate snapshots
• Fast — only used blocks are copied
• Supports almost every OS and file system
• Zero cost — 100% open-source
• No installation required — Live ISO only
• Enterprise deployment ready — PXE + multicast
• Compression and encryption options

Common Problems & Troubleshooting

Clone fails with filesystem unsupported
Use raw mode (dd) or ensure the partition is healthy. Run chkdsk /f on Windows or fsck on Linux.

Target disk smaller than source
Resize partitions with GParted before cloning.

Bootloader missing after restore
Rebuild GRUB/BCD using Rescuezilla or Windows recovery tools.

Slow cloning speed
Switch compression from gzip to zstd or lz4, use USB 3.0 ports, avoid raw mode.

Network image restore fails
Check NFS/Samba credentials and permissions, verify correct mount points.

Clonezilla vs Similar Tools

Clonezilla vs Rescuezilla • Clonezilla — more advanced, text-based, faster for large deployments • Rescuezilla — GUI, beginner-friendly, slower but easier

Clonezilla vs Acronis True Image • Clonezilla — open-source, forensic-accurate imaging • Acronis — commercial, user-friendly, but heavier

Clonezilla vs GParted • Clonezilla — imaging and cloning • GParted — partition management only

How to Use Clonezilla

1. Download the ISO or ZIP from RebootTools
2. Create a bootable USB using Rufus, Etcher, or Ventoy
3. Boot your machine from the USB
4. Select language and start Clonezilla Live
5. Choose cloning mode (device-image or device-device)
6. Select compression, destination, and image name
7. Confirm and start the cloning process

Download Options

Useful Links

• Official Website
• License: GPLv2

💡 Tip: If you prefer a graphical interface or want a simpler workflow, try Rescuezilla — a beginner-friendly GUI alternative built around Clonezilla’s engine.