Making bootable partition image?

Ander111 · 04-06-2020, 06:10 PM

Hi guys,

I hope this is an appropriate section of the forum for this kind of question. (If not, feel free to move it, admins.)

Can any of you tell me how I can make an image of an entire Ubuntu Mate 18.04.4 system partition, so it can be restored to a freshly formatted partition (or disk) that I can then boot from?

I used to be able to do this with Drive Image, which booted from a DOS disk—but it doesn't support SATA drives, which I'm using now.

This being Linux, I figured there'd be all kinds of free (i.e. OS) ways to do something like this, but I haven't found any yet. Thanks for your help!

syg00 · 04-06-2020, 06:29 PM

Clonezilla is the canonical answer - or you can use any of the tools it uses under the covers.
Just copying the partition usually isn't sufficient:
- you need boot code in the MBR or EFI partition to boot it. May not be an issue if simply replacing a disk, but usually is, even in that case.
- if putting into a new system, you'll need to ensure appropriate drivers are in place prior to the backup.
...

Nothing is ever as simple as it first seems. Do-able tho'...

jefro · 04-08-2020, 03:50 PM

Linux clone used to be hard then easy then back to hard... progress.

My guess might be that Clonezilla tends to be a popular choice and most folks use it. In fact one of our business systems use it. Pretty easy to use over lan too.

Anyway, syg00 is correct that there may end up being naming and other unique things that may need to be made generic before clone or fixed later. Hopefully just works.

A list of some other choices. https://www.ubuntupit.com/top-15-bes...are-for-linux/

Ander111 · 05-16-2020, 03:20 AM

Hi everybody,

Thanks for your replies. I'm sorry it took over a month for me to acknowledge you. I actually posted that question for a friend here in Vancouver, BC, who was (ironically) unable to get online after an upgrade. He now says:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ander's goofy friend

I guess you can report the thread resolved, though I had not wanted to give a definitive response until I had a bit more experience. As I offered before, pleas thank them for me.

I tried using gparted to clone my first MATE 18.04 setup before it was blasted, and it copied but did not boot from the destination disk. In retrospect, I may have switched destination disks for one not already prepared with a previous Ubuntu installation, and thus lacked the GRUB setup. I think I had previously used it with an 8.04 installation using a much older version of GRUB. Must try that again!

Of course, neither Clonezilla nor gparted create compressed images like Drive Image... I will have to investigate the compressing options on that list you so kindly provided!

My current MATE build is showing some odd behaviour and reporting an error to Canonical. There were many changes in the updates since our last try.

So there you go. Thanks again for your help. Cheers, A.

Ander111 · 05-16-2020, 03:23 AM

Oops—sorry about the duplicate post. This time I noticed the message about moderator approval. Maybe you've had spam problems here. Anyway, moderator, feel free to delete both this and my redundant post. Cheers, A.

ondoho · 05-16-2020, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ander111

Anyway, moderator, feel free to delete both this and my redundant post.

Why?
Is your problem SOLVED?
If so, would you please share your solution. Others will benefit.

FWIW, I think you're looking for something like remaster or respin