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Download Clonezilla Live’s USB ZIP, prepare the drive using the instructions for the computer’s boot mode, then boot from it and carefully distinguish the disk you are imaging from the disk that will hold the image. The creation steps differ between UEFI and legacy firmware; the wrong device choice during preparation or imaging can cause data loss.
Before you begin
Clonezilla Live is a bootable GNU/Linux distribution for imaging or cloning one computer at a time. Clonezilla SE is a separate edition for deploying many computers and requires a DRBL server and network boot. This guide covers Clonezilla Live.
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- Get a USB flash drive for boot media. It is separate from the disk or USB storage you will use to save image files.
- Check whether the target computer boots in UEFI or legacy mode. The official installation instructions provide different procedures for each.
- Decide where the image will be stored. Clonezilla’s example uses a second disk or USB storage as the destination.
Download the correct Clonezilla file
Open Clonezilla’s official download page and choose the CPU architecture appropriate for the target computer. For the USB procedures, select the ZIP file: Clonezilla labels ISO downloads for CD/DVD and ZIP downloads for USB flash drives or USB hard drives. Follow the official USB installation guide for the target machine’s firmware mode.
Prepare the USB for UEFI boot
Clonezilla’s documented UEFI procedure calls for an amd64 ZIP and a FAT16- or FAT32-formatted partition of at least 1 GB. The guide says GPT or MBR can be used for a USB intended only for UEFI boot, and recommends GPT. These are requirements for this documented method, not a guarantee that every computer’s firmware will behave identically.
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- Use the official download page to get the amd64 ZIP.
- Prepare a USB partition formatted as FAT16 or FAT32 with at least 1 GB of space.
- Extract the ZIP contents onto the USB, preserving all files and directories in the archive’s structure.
- Safely eject the USB when the extraction is complete.
Prepare the USB for legacy boot
For legacy firmware, the official guide lists several methods rather than one universal procedure. On Windows, it documents tools including Rufus and Etcher; on GNU/Linux, it includes manual and graphical approaches. Choose the method that matches the computer used to prepare the USB, then follow Clonezilla’s current steps for that method.
Pay particular attention to device-targeted steps. Clonezilla warns Windows users not to run makeboot.bat from the local hard drive; doing so could prevent Windows from booting. Its Linux instructions warn that choosing the wrong device path for makeboot.sh can cause data loss or prevent Linux from booting. Before running a command or writer operation, verify the target is the USB drive—not the computer’s internal disk.
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Boot the computer from Clonezilla USB
- Insert the prepared USB into the computer you want to image.
- Use the computer’s firmware boot menu or boot-priority settings to select the USB device. The exact key and menu wording depend on the computer.
- When Clonezilla’s startup menu appears, choose the default mode to start. If the default graphics mode has problems, the official guide to alternate and failsafe modes describes other startup choices.
Save an image without mixing up the disks
Before imaging, shut down the installed operating system fully. Clonezilla’s save-image example says not to image while the operating system is hibernating or using fastboot. Once booted into Clonezilla Live, follow its save-image walkthrough.
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- Select the storage location for the image. In Clonezilla’s example, this is a second disk or USB storage drive.
- Identify the source disk: the disk whose contents you want to capture.
- Read the on-screen selections again before confirming. Verify that the source is the disk being imaged and the destination is the storage location for the image.
Do not treat the boot USB, source disk, and image destination as interchangeable. Stop if you cannot identify each one confidently. Clonezilla’s on-screen choices determine which disk is read or changed; an incorrect save, restore, or clone selection can overwrite or otherwise alter the wrong disk.
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If the USB does not start
- Confirm that you followed the UEFI or legacy procedure appropriate for the target computer; the steps are not interchangeable assumptions.
- For the UEFI ZIP method, check that the partition is FAT16 or FAT32, is at least 1 GB, and contains the extracted files with their directory structure intact.
- Check the firmware boot menu or boot priority and select the USB device.
- If Clonezilla starts but the default graphics mode fails, try an alternate or failsafe startup mode described in its usage guide.
Clonezilla’s live instructions and download offerings can change. Check the official pages linked above for the current procedure before preparing media.
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