Hi
i just downloaded clonezilla live ...
my target is to save a ntfs partition to an external usb hard disk
the external disk is huge (1000GB), is already used to store multimedia contents,but it is NTFS Formatted..
looking clonezilla docs i cannot find info about output file system format...i see it uses partclone
so the question is...can the partclone output be directed to an ntfs disk ?
thanks in advance
Maurizio

If you are cloning something, you are cloning the file system, files, everything.

If you are making an .iso of the partition, then all you need is a drive with a file system that will allow that size of a file. So not FAT for example if the file is over 4GB, it has a 4GB file size limit.

That will make an .iso of sdb partition 2. You can save that wherever you have room, and the file system will let you have a file that big.

Clonezilla has two ways to clone. It tries to clone file by file first and if it can't read the filesystem it will clone bit by bit (as in dd)

You may not need to use clonezilla. Gparted can also copy partitions to partitions rather easily.

I've used clonezilla to create/restore images and clone over hundreds of sysprep Windows laptops for schools and is amazing every time. It will work with ntfs partitions just fine.

I recommend you use a external hard drive and not a USB thumb drive as they are a lot slower for creating an image on. USB2/3 external hdd/sdd is your best option to create/store the image. Unless you have another internal drive.

Hi
Thanks to all
to nicedream
i forget to write... i'm only creating a backup,so i will use "save disk image"
in the past i was using partimage..
as output i will use an external ntfs drive usb connected,it already contains data..
i need confirmations that clonezialla will create a destination file in the output ntfs dirve withou destroying existing files
thanks in advance
Maurizio

Re read post 2 where I explained that.

Ok Thanks ... i will proceed

Hi ... i forget last question...
From disk uses 42,6 Gb ...i have to buy an usb pen to save...
more or less which is the target size ?
thanks in advance
Maurizio

Not sure what you are asking.
If you have or are making a disk image that is 42.6GB in size. Then the storage device will need to have at least 42.6GB free space on it.

Microsoft says
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...6-f7a6976ac0c0

NTFS maximum file size is 16 × 1024^6

dd works and is simple, but the disadvantage is that it copies unused space and therefore makes an image file that is larger than necessary.

clonezilla by default skips the unused blocks and makes a smaller image file. When you restore from the image, it restores the layout of the unused blocks but not their content.

To answer the original question as clarified in post #5, yes, clonezilla can save disk or partition images to ntfs filesystems, and it does it non-destructively. That is how I use clonezilla for backup, saving images to an ntfs filesystem on an external USB hard drive which contains many other files.

I have partclone installed. Also pigz (Parallel Zip), then this clones partition saving only used sectors:
The second part of the command verifies clone.

Usually clone programs do try to copy file by file and in the process they also have some options for compression level. If you copy even a full disk 42G then it will still require less in almost all cases. Clonezilla will make a number of files for it's task but the boot area and the few data files will be minimal.

Clonezilla fully reads NTFS unless it has been bitlockered so it will first try to read file by file.