Free imaging software for linux mint.

Hi.
Could anybody suggest a good free imaging solution for linu mint please.I would like to image my os and store it on an external HDD.


Also does mint have a built in imaging solution ?

Thanks.

 

Use Linux live cd and dd command to backup OS disk, however this way no compression is done.

For a much better solution, you can use Clonezilla live CD to do the backup of Linux Mint OS drive.

 

Another vote for Clonezilla.. I use it here and it works fine.

 

Im going to try clonezilla.Reviews and testimonials seem positive.

 

Most of the time I just reinstall entire Linux. Hmmm maybe I should give clonezilla a try.

 

Yes i see your thinking about re-installing the entire os as its a very quick process.However i prefer to save an image as the updates and my configs are there all set.

The only problem i have discovered with clonezilla is how to get out of the rescue cd environment.
I had to do a hard shutdown to get back into normal mode.

 

You could also try Redo Backup & Recovery.

 

Dear Forum ,
For my monthly and/or pre-upgrade image backups I use SystemRescueCD with it's brilliant Partimage routine for very quick backups/restores , storing only used data and with 2 levels of compression should you want it . Unfortunately as Partimage does not support EXT4 I've kept my Linux Mint Maya installation using EXT3 , which seems to have no ill effects for my type of usage .

 

Thank you for the link alex.

 

What's the best/easiest way to image a fully encrypted drive? I know I can do a sector by sector outside of the OS (no compression), but is there any way to do it inside the OS and either store it in a TC container, or apply any backup software encryption? I have:

/, /home, and swap in an LVM. /boot is on a USB, so I think dd would be easiest for that.

 

I partition the system so that I can then back up the small system partitions (boot, swap, root etc) via clonezilla. I then have a large encrypted data partition that I can sync to other encrypted spaces using rsync.

Edit; all encrypted, lvm except boot.

 

I know I am a little late, but I second Redo Backup & Recovery.

 

You can take image using "pv -tpreb /dev/sdaX | dd of=/path/to/image.img bs=1M" where X is the corresponding partition number. And recover the image using "pv -tpreb /path/to/image.img | dd of=/dev/sdaX bs=1M"

 

Clonezilla boot cd (or Clonezilla on PartedMagic or any other boot cd) is the best option IMHO.

 

Just passing by this thread. Do any of the programs suggested in this thread do auto-SPANNING? I use Fat32 for archives. Macrium Pro works fine but I am always trying to learn and keep options open.

 

I believe both clonezilla live cd and IFL can do auto spanning.
you can specify the size of each span.