Clonezilla — Parted Magic GUI Wizard

Disk Imaging, Cloning, and Network Deployment

Clonezilla in Parted Magic is a GUI wizard for the open-source Clonezilla project that handles full-disk backups, disk-to-disk copies, and network deployment to many machines at once. As a result, IT technicians and sysadmins can back up a workstation, roll out an identical image to a classroom, or recover a failed drive — all from the same bootable stick. To get started, download Parted Magic and boot from a USB drive.

Clonezilla Overview

Furthermore, the upstream open-source project is a powerful disk imaging and cloning tool. In addition, Clonezilla in Parted Magic is the GUI wizard built on top of it. Specifically, it works with all six Clonezilla modes:

Mode	Description
device-image	Save/restore disks and partitions to/from images
device-device	Clone a disk or partition directly to another
remote-source	Send a disk/partition to a remote machine
remote-dest	Receive a disk/partition from a remote machine
lite-server	Multicast an image to many clients at once
lite-client	Receive a multicast image from a lite-server

Clonezilla Wizard Flow — 8 Steps

Specifically, the wizard uses a common 8-step pattern. However, steps that do not apply to the chosen mode are skipped on their own.

Step	Name	Description
1	Mount	Mount /home/partimag (device-image and lite-server)
2	Mode	Choose Beginner or Expert mode
3	Task	Select the task type or sub-mode
4	Device	Select source and/or target disks/partitions
5	Options	Compression, encryption, restore flags, and so on
6	Confirm	Review the command and confirm
7	Run	Live output while the task runs
8	Done	Results summary and session log

Clonezilla Mode Details

Device-Image (ocs-sr)

First, choose device-image to save or restore disk and partition images to or from /home/partimag. As a result, this is the most common Clonezilla mode for backups and restores.

Specifically, the Clonezilla wizard walks you through these steps in order: Mount, then Beginner or Expert selection, then Task, Device, Options, Confirm, Run, and finally Done.

In addition, device-image supports four tasks: savedisk, saveparts, restoredisk, and restoreparts.

Device-Device Clonezilla Mode (ocs-onthefly)

Next, device-device lets you clone a local disk or partition straight to another local disk or partition. As a result, you need no image folder at all — the data flows from source to target in one step. Furthermore, this is the fastest way to migrate to a new SSD because there is no intermediate image file.

Furthermore, this mode walks through Beginner or Expert selection, Sub-mode, Source and Destination, Options, Confirm, Run, and Done.

Moreover, the two available sub-modes are disk_to_local_disk and part_to_local_part.

Remote-Source (ocs-onthefly -a)

In remote-source mode, this machine sends a disk or partition over the network to another machine running Clonezilla in remote-dest mode. Therefore, you run both ends in tandem.

Specifically, the flow covers Beginner or Expert selection, Sub-mode, Source Device, Options for the network pipe and compression, Confirm, Run, and Done.

Remote-Dest (ocs-onthefly -s IP -d DEV)

Conversely, in remote-dest mode, this machine takes in a disk or partition from another machine running Clonezilla in remote-source mode. As a result, this is the receiving end of a remote clone job.

Furthermore, the flow covers Beginner or Expert selection, Server IP entry, Destination Type and Device, Options, Confirm, Run, and Done.

Lite-Server Multicast Deployment (ocs-live-feed-img)

In lite-server mode, the machine serves an image to many clients at once via multicast or broadcast. However, this mode needs udpcast (udp-sender) installed. As a result, lite-server is the go-to choice for mass-deploying an image to a lab or office.

Specifically, the wizard walks through Mount, Beginner or Expert selection, Client Mode, Image and Device, Deploy Options, Confirm, Run, and Done.

Moreover, the two available client modes are massive-deployment and interactive-client.

Lite-Client (ocs-live-get-img)

Finally, in lite-client mode, this machine links up to a lite-server and takes in a multicast image. Therefore, you run one lite-client on each target machine you want to image.

In short, the flow is just Server IP, Confirm, Run, and Done.

Clonezilla Mount Types

Specifically, device-image and lite-server modes use this to mount the image folder at /home/partimag. In addition, you can pick from four mount types:

Type	Description
Local / USB	A locally attached partition (ext4, NTFS, exFAT…)
NFS Share	Server IP + export path
Samba / CIFS	Server + share + optional subdirectory + credentials
SSH (SSHFS)	Server + user + remote path via FUSE

Clonezilla Beginner vs Expert Mode

Beginner

First, Beginner mode uses safe defaults on its own. As a result, only the main options show up: compression, partition table mode, fsck, and encryption.

Expert

In contrast, Expert mode gives you full control over every setting: the cloning engine, all checksum types, split image, skip flags, partition table modes, and more.

Clonezilla Compression Options

Furthermore, you can use these when saving a device-image. However, they do not apply to device-device or remote-dest modes.

Option	Notes
None (z0)	Fastest speed, largest files
gzip (z1)	Fast with good compression
gzip-mt	Parallel gzip — uses multiple cores
lzo (z3)	Similar to gzip, slightly faster
lz4 (z8)	Very fast with moderate compression
zstd (z9)	Recommended — excellent balance
zstd-mt	Parallel zstd — the fastest and best overall
bzip2 (z2)	Slow but produces very small files
xz (z5)	Very slow but produces the smallest files

Clonezilla Image Encryption

In addition, you can turn on encryption when saving a device-image. As a result, your image stays safe even if the backup drive gets lost or stolen. Moreover, for full-drive erasure rather than encrypted backup, see the Parted Magic Secure Erase page.

Option	Description
Do not encrypt	No passphrase, no overhead
gocryptfs (-goc)	Recommended. Modern authenticated encryption
eCryptfs (-enc)	Legacy Clonezilla encryption

Clonezilla Log File

Furthermore, after each run, Clonezilla writes a session log to /home/partedmagic/. As a result, you can review the full command output later:

clonezilla-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.log

Clonezilla Command-Line Usage

In addition, you can start Parted Magic Clonezilla from the command line. For example:

pmagic_clonezilla              Launch the GUI wizard
pmagic_clonezilla --test       Launch with dummy data (no real ops)
pmagic_clonezilla --deps       Check all dependencies and exit
pmagic_clonezilla --manual     Show the built-in manual

Finally, if you also need to manage the partition layout before cloning, see the Parted Magic partition editor.