We all have a hard disc that has our favorite pictures, films, games, Rap songs, and other items. Generally, hard discs are used to store or create backups. But what if all you want is an exact clone of your hard discs? How are you going to reveal all of the secret files? What if your computer dies and you want to backup everything before attempting a hard-drive repair? It’s time for Clonezilla to enter the fray.
Clonezilla Live is a free disc imaging and data recovery software created by Steven Shiau and developed by Taiwan’s NCHC Free Software Labs. Clonezilla is available in two editions: Live, which can be booted via USB or DVD, and Server, which can be run via a network. I’m going to go over the Live because it’s the one that desktop users need.
Graphics
When I booted Clonezilla, I expected to see a terminal-based design, but I was mistaken. Clonezilla Live starts up and displays the screen seen below.
I was quite taken aback. It was just like any other Linux distribution. It contained a fully-fledged environment. I was using the most recent version, and it was quite smooth and fast. Clonezilla not only gave me one option for graphics, but it also gave me other screen resolutions to boot. Clonezilla’s GUI was still nice when I started digging, and it was all clutter-free and well-explained. Clonezilla’s graphical options and management greatly impressed me.
However, I’d like to point out that performance is affected by both hardware and software. A fantastic piece of software and high-end hardware can undoubtedly improve the performance of a task. Nonetheless, Clonezilla ran as expected on my old laptop, which was powered by a dual-core i3 processor. It quickly moved my 150 GB partition to my external hard drive, which I purchased a few months back.
So, to be more specific, I was combining two types of old and new technologies, which took me so long. I suppose if you have a good PC, time will be on your side.
I forgot to mention that it also asks you what you want to do after the task is over.
I chose to power off.
Security
Clonezilla gives you the option of encrypting your saved images or partition data files. All you have to do is choose whether or not to encrypt the file when prompted at the end.
This is especially beneficial if your data contains sensitive information. It also allows you to check for and correct any file system issues.
This is all about the security and verification that the average person would expect from software. Clonezilla’s security impressed me overall.
Miscellaneous
Clonezilla’s increased options and simplicity struck me in a variety of ways. The screenshots below show some of the choices that you’d love to have in Clonezilla.
Conclusion
Overall, Clonezilla is a fantastic, simple, and powerful piece of software. I’d never seen an open-source software that was that simple to use while yet being so powerful. At the end of the review, I concluded that Clonezilla is “an excellent combination of power, simplicity, and security.” I will claim that if utilized in beginning mode, any normal person may use Clonezilla without any assistance and successfully clone their hard discs. I’d also like to know about your Clonezilla experience. What are your thoughts on it, and how frequently do you use it? Also, please post any other alternatives you utilize in the comments section.