A free program that makes images of linux OS from a boot cd or usb ?

Hi all, do you know a free program that makes images of linux from a boot cd or usb? I need an easy one, not complex, just to have un image twice a year. Thanks. So great to be back here. One diferent from g4l, clonezilla or APart. Thanks.

 

Why different?

 

Because I use them, and I want to know if there is something diferent to make an image from linux. I have seen there are many programs that do it for windows, but for linux I don´t know.

 

TeraByte Unlimited's Image for Linux. It's not free but you get what you pay for.

 

There are Rescuezilla and Redo Rescue.
Although I have no experience with those two, I use Clonezilla only.
I didn't know G4L, nor APart. Is that Apart GTK?

 

Macrium Reflect also images Linux Systems off-line.

 

I am buying a Dell XPS 13 Developer Edition soon which comes with Ubuntu 20.

When I first turn it on, can I simply insert my Macrium Reflect Rescue Disk and create a factory image of the whole OS before anything was touched? Does Reflect support the Linux File system?

 

If you can BOOT from the Rescue Media of Reflect, it should work fine (ext2, 3, 4). I use Reflect to image all my "test" Linux Systems... and under v8, all my UFD-based LIVE Linux Systems.

PS- I've not used it to date on any UEFI Systems (all Legacy-MBR so far) but I s'pect you'll have no problem.

 

Oh come on...

 

Well, for me the "acid test" would be the imaging of a Chromebook Recovery Media which is hugely multi-partitioned, UEFI-GPT formatted, some EXT formatted code partitions and <Blank> space in the middle of the whole thing. Just did this and you can see the Reflect LOG HERE on my Google Drive (It's an HTML file... download it to view it in your Web browser)...

 

...and here's a PICTURE (also on my Google Drive) of the Chromebook Recovery Media from within Reflect (to give you an idea of the complexity)...

 

That one is very good, I know it since about 18 years ago.

 

About G4L y could say it is a very good program, takes time to make a clone but good.
https://www.linuxlinks.com/g4l/
And yes, it is Apart GTK, and good too.
https://blog.desdelinux.net/clonar-restaurar-particiones-disco-apart-gtk/

 

Thanks, I didn't know that, I'M GOING TO TRY IT.

 

Hi Stupendous Man, y have a question ¿how much do Rescuezilla and Redo Rescue compress? I am interested, ¿could you tell me your experience with them please?.

 

I'm very sorry. As I mentioned, I have no experience with Rescuezilla or Redo Rescue, I use Clonezilla only.
Looking at Rescuezilla's and Redo Rescue's documentation, I see that Rescuezilla uses compression formats gzip and xz (and uncompressed) (see screenshot 9), but no numbers about compression are mentioned. In Redo Rescue's documentation I found no information about compression.

 

He is speaking the truth. Terabyte Image for Linux is one of the only two disk imaging software pieces (the other being CloneZilla) that correctly recognizes the used space of my Ubuntu OS disk and that could back it up properly. Both Acronis and Macrium reported vastly difference in terms of used space on OS drive from the amount that Ubuntu itself reported. The backup also produced huge image file for both of them.
I purchased Image for Windows which also includes a license for Image for Linux. It's the only disk imaging software that I paid for

 

I agree, fully. You're correct.
I'm just an idiot

 

According to history, Macrium REFLECT has been doing "Intelligent Sector Copying" (used sectors) of EXT formatted partitions since v4. The EXT superblock and groups are read, and only used clusters are backed up if "Intelligent sector copy" is selected. Back then, their Recovery Media was LINUX-based (like IFL)... that's why it was easy for them. When they moved to WinPE Recovery Media for v6, they implemented the same capability so that it would remain completely compatible as the product moved forward.

 

MX snapshot tool. It can be used as a recovery image or to install on a second computer. It's part of the OS and runs from the OS. The downside is that it only works (as far as I know) with MX-Linux.

 

Oh come on...

 

1.- I installed MXLinux in one PC
2.-I installed timeshift and Apart-GTK in the MXLinux OS.
3.-I snapshot that install and made a bootable usb.
I have not proved this bootable usb with a snapshot of MXLinux to see if timeshift works, Apart-GTK works.

 

Dumb question... can't you just use dd?

sudo dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/path/image.iso

 

Hi, because it doesn't compress the image.

 

If you just want to recover system to previous state you may use mkfs to format filesystem then unarchive files from archive file. mkfs would probably need some additional options so it would create filesystem with the same uuid etc. It should be enough for GPT/UEFI system.
For old BIOS computers it may be not enough for boot partitions and MBR record, but these partitions are very small so dd without compression is probably still an option and regular archive tools for rest of mass storage device.