This software may be free but the complex user interface is a major drawback and turn-off to potential users. You can’t even download it directly on an operating system but have to load it every time from an external storage medium, either a CD, USB flash drive or a USB hard drive. (Image credit: Clonezilla) Clonezilla: Interface and useĪs we’ve mentioned, Clonezilla has a complex user interface that an average computer user will find difficult to navigate. You can also encrypt files using eCryptfs, a disk encryption file for the Linux operating system. Hence, even if someone steals the backup media, they won't be able to access the files without knowing the unique password. Also, if you buy a new device and want to transfer all the data from your old PC to a new one, you can perform a simple disk image backup on the former and restore it on the latter.Ĭlonezilla lets you encrypt image files using passwords to prevent unauthorized access. This feature comes in handy if you ever experience data loss, as you can just restore the clone of your hard disk and have it working as exactly as before. You can restore image files in a similar way you create them using Clonezilla.

Since Clonezilla doesn’t support them, it means you must download the whole contents of a hard disk each time you want to clone them. The idea behind these types of backups is to save storage space by not requiring the user to download an entire copy of their disks multiple times but, instead, just add newer files to existing backup jobs. Incremental backup refers to a backup (imaging) job that only includes the data that has changed since the last backup, while a differential backup includes all the data that has changed since the last full backup. The average user will be best served by other imaging software.Īlso, Clonezilla doesn’t support incremental or differential backup. Hence, we advise only technical users that can work their way excellently around a computer to adopt this platform. Even after loading it through a boot media, it requires complex settings to perform the backup operations. It’s quite ironic that Clonezilla is free to use but most users can’t adopt it.

Besides, the process is much more stressful than using something you can download directly. Understandably, most computer users aren’t tech-savvy enough to load software on a boot media and run it on their PC. The lack of a direct agent that you can install on an operating system pretty much prevents the majority of computer users from adopting Clonezilla.

Hard drive cloning software