This article will guide you through the whole process of imaging and cloning a Caldera PC (Debian Linux) with the Clonezilla live software.
What is Clonezilla?
"Clonezilla is a partition and disk imaging/cloning program. It helps you to do system deployment, bare metal backup, and recovery. Three types of Clonezilla are available: Clonezilla live, Clonezilla lite server, and Clonezilla SE (server edition). Clonezilla Live is suitable for single-machine backup and restore. While Clonezilla lite server or SE is for massive deployment.
Clonezilla Live is a small bootable GNU/Linux distribution for x86/amd64 (x86-64) based computers. Actually, it combines Debian Live with Clonezilla". (Clonezilla.org)
This software is useful for passing a complete system such as Linux and porting it completely to another machine, ensuring that data, partitions, mounts, boot entries, and everything else is the same (as long as the new machine has the same key hardware configuration).
It is also useful for restoring a computer showing system failures or a computer that has had an unwanted software update.
Notes and prerequisites
- Debian Linux was the operating system that came preloaded on our Dell computers in the past. This documentation was created at the time to follow a process via CD/DVD and adapted to the process via USB recently.
- We recommend including your IT staff to help you in the process, especially if you are not comfortable with the terms used here.
- Before you begin, be sure to back up the CalderaRIP configuration and data that you might need on an external drive. You might be interested in reading: How to manually backup each element of CalderaRIP?
- For using Clonezilla Live to save a Caldera PC with Linux Debian onto a bootable USB drive and then restore it, please consider the following:
- You must have a bootable USB key:
- This procedure requires a bios configuration. Check how to do that, with this dedicated article.
How to Install Clonezilla on your PC
- Go to Clonezilla Live's download page and select stable categories to download the Debian version.
- Select your CPU architecture. In case you don't know your CPU, select the basic one: "i686."
- Choose iso for file, click on download then proceed with the installation.
Steps to save and restore the Caldera PC
After installing Clonezilla live, you will have to follow two major steps to save and restore your data.
You can skip the first step if you have already performed a full disk backup using a bootable USB disk or if you have performed a CalderaRIP backup and saved it onto a USB disk.
- Prepare the bootable USB disk with enough free disk space to save your data.
- Restart your computer.
- (For Dell users): Once you see the Dell logo, press F12 repeatedly to access the boot menu. You will have to boot your computer in UEFI USB mode.
Tips & tricks
Depending on your computer brand, the shortcut to access the boot menu is different:
- For DELL computers: Press F12 multiple times when starting the computer.
- For HP computers: Press Esc multiple times when starting the computer.
- For other computers: Refer to the Boot Menu column of the list available on this website, or look for it through a search engine.
In Case the USB boot does not functionPlease make sure that you have correctly configured your bios by following the steps of the corresponding documentation, or by checking the following video (for Dell computers):
- Start Clonezilla live, select your language then select "Device-image".
- Select "local_dev", follow the instructions to insert the USB device then select the right disk (example: sdb1) and choose the directory inside that disk to save data.
- Check the size of the selected directory. It should be enough to save your data then choose Beginner mode.
- Choose "Savedisk", and enter your file name.
- Select the disk as the source for full disk back-up as well as the compression option then choose "skip checking/repairing".
- Select "Yes, check the saved image", and click OK. Enter “Y” to continue then wait for the backup procedure to finish.
- Follow the instructions to power off the system to complete the full disk backup and keep the backup data safe to be able to restore it later.
Info
Feel free to visit the official Clonezilla documentation if you need to go beyond the steps described here.
You can now restore all your systems from the USB disk you have already prepared and in which you have saved your backup.
- Once your USB is connected, restart your computer, press F12 to access the boot menu, and select UEFI USB boot mode.
- Select the language then select "Keep the default keyboard." Start Clonezilla live and select "device-image."
- Select "local_dev" then follow the instructions to insert the USB device if it is not already connected.
- Select the right disk and choose the directory inside the USB disk to read the image, then choose Beginner mode.
- Select restoredisk, choose the right image file to restore then select the target disk to restore the data, and press OK to continue.
- As the source image, choose Clonezilla then select the disk (sda) you want to restore.
- Choose the first option for partition then check the image before restoring.
- Choose to reboot later.
- Review the target disk information and press “Y” twice to proceed with the restoration.
- Wait for the backup procedure to finish then press OK to continue or select Power off to shut down the machine.
Info
Feel free to visit the official Clonezilla documentation if you need to go beyond the steps described here.