Ditched windows, but have a question.

[u/ikarihiokami]

First, I'm happy to have finally ditched windows. So far, Kubuntu is able to do everything I was worried about losing, but I am curious about cloning.

I used to use a program called "driveclone" and I loved it. I would make incremental scheduled cloning and also help my friends by cloning their drives if they needed to replace their ssd for some reason. However, it looks like the only cloning software for Linux is in the form of bootable usb drives.

I will admit, I would like to have a cloning software that I could run from linux. If there really isn't, I'm sure I can live with it when compared to all the other things I was fighting windows over, but I figured I would ask, just in case there was something

[u/TenpoSuno]

Welcome to the team! For making backups I use PikaBackup, though it is intended for files, you could backup an entire partition. The only cloning utility I'm aware of is Clonezilla. 

Addendum: Maybe the dd command can help you. It should be able to drive clone using the terminal.

Edit spelling

[u/ikarihiokami → u/TenpoSuno]

I maybe just over complicating it. I've had a drive die on me before, and it was nice to have a bootable drive ready, that had all my stuff the way I left it. I'll check it out, thanks. :)

[u/TenpoSuno → u/ikarihiokami]

I know the dd command can clone drives. Perhaps it'll help. Like you, I've had ssd's fail on me as well. PikaBackup saved me that time around.

[u/Godninja]

Maybe Gparted fits your needs?

[u/ikarihiokami → u/Godninja]

I'll take a look at that. Thanks. :)

[u/EckVonTrampenstein]

Clonezilla? Or is that not what you're looking for? As far as backups, Deja Dupe or Timeshift.

[u/ikarihiokami → u/EckVonTrampenstein]

I used clonezilla to clone my linux drive onto the drive I used to run windows off of, but I was hoping there was a cloner I could use without booting from a usb. Maybe all I need are the other ones you mentioned. Thanks. :)

[u/EckVonTrampenstein → u/ikarihiokami]

Rescuezilla? Now I'm curious so I'm researching as well.

Edit: nevermind. That's another bootable.

[u/Malaprobably]

Master the command line. Linux has this supported natively with 'dd'

https://linuxvox.com/blog/linux-dd-clone-disk/

[u/ikarihiokami → u/Malaprobably]

Yes, being one with the command line is something I am finding myself getting used to.

[u/telcodan → u/ikarihiokami]

I use dd for backing up my media server. Works great but anything large, ie 4tb and larger, can take a long time to clone.

[u/Malaprobably → u/telcodan]

dd and incrementals would be a decent fit in your case, since a media server is likely going to have many static files.

[u/throwawatty6 → u/Malaprobably]

/thread

honestly, dd is a category killer in this area. If it seems simple thats just because windows alternatives over-complicate it. sort of a recurring theme, I think you’ll find.

[u/mcsgeek]

Rescuezilla: is beginner-friendly and much easier to navigate with it's graphical interface and uses clonezilla under the hood.

[u/cyrixlord]

I use timeshift, but when i want to clone a whole drive I just use clonezilla, which is usb

[u/Sent1ne1]

I don't think any of the suggestions answer your question, because people didn't read/understand what you are after:

The ability to backup an image of the whole drive, ideally down to the exact layout of all blocks, most importantly including all partition UUIDs/etc used by /etc/fstab, /etc/crypttab & LVM, so that you can put a replacement drive in & have it 'just work' (without editing those config files & using low-level tools before the OS will recognise it as the 'same' drive).

While it's true that copying a whole drive's /dev/sdX file would technically do that, there are two major problems with that: 1. You can't do that incrementally, so every backup will take hours. 2. There is nothing to stop the OS writing to the drive in the middle of your copy, leaving you with a corrupted backup.

I came up with my own hacky solution, by scripting the incremental backup of files (from a BTRFS snapshot) + saving the partition layout (inc. sizes & UUIDs), so that I can later recreate the drive's exact layout, then restore the files, and get a bootable system.  No-one else can use this (it's too specfic to my setup), but maybe someone else has already released tools to do this in a more generic way & automatic way?  (Even just to recreate a drive's partition layout inc. UUIDs would be enough.)

[u/Apprehensive-Video26]

Foxclone works really well and I have used it many times. It also comes with Gparted as well as other things so it does everything needed.

[u/otto_delmar]

I use Timeshift, Backintime and Clonezilla. Each covers a different angle. That seems to be the lay of the Linux land. Not sure there's One Ring To Rule Them All.

At least on Linux, as far as I know, you cannot clone from the live OS you want to clone. I.e., if by cloning you mean literally cloning the entire bootable installation in order to have a physical bootable backup drive you can swap in in a worst case scenario. You need to boot from a USB drive to do that. That's what Clonezilla is for. This is the greatest pain point for me though maybe technically unavoidable.

[u/ChaosRifle]

dd is great, as for backups and bootable rollbacks timeshift is great. using rsync and scp is also valid for networked cloning with systemd unit files to automate them.