4. Use The Network
The networking options include an SSH
server, Samba server and NFS server. If you want to back up your PC to an NAS
drive on the local network, then select the Samba server option. Samba is
software that runs on Linux to enable it to work with Windows computers on a
wired or wireless network. The operating system in an NAS drive is actually a
Linux server and it uses Samba to allow Windows computers and devices to
connect to its disk to read and store files.
Select 'samba_server' in Clonezilla and the
next step depends on whether you're using a wired or wireless connection to the
network. The biggest limitation with Clonezilla is with support for wireless
networking and it's the one thing that could prevent you from using the
software. If you have an LAN cable to connect the PC to the router, you'll find
that Clonezilla works perfectly. This is not only simpler, it's also preferable
for backups, because a wired connection is faster and more reliable than a Wi-Fi
link. Clonezilla attempts to use a Wi-Fi adapter if its available, but it won't
work in all computers. You should be okay if the PC has a common chipset,
though.
To connect to a wired or wireless network,
the computer needs an IP address. This can be a static one in which the IP
address is set manually and never changes or it can be obtained through DHCP.
Most home routers are set up to assign IP addresses to computers and devices
automatically when they're detected, which is DHCP. Select the DHCP option to
continue unless you're sure your PC has a fixed IP address and can enter it
manually.
With the PC's IP address assigned,
Clonezilla can connect to the NAS drive and it asks for the IP address of the
Samba server. Right at the start we found this and now you can enter it. It
will be something similar to 192.168.1.80. Next you need to enter the Windows
workgroup and again we saw this earlier when looking up the NAS drive settings.
On the next 'Mount Samba server' screen,
you must enter a username. Enter the one used when logging into the NAS drive
to access the setup menus. The default is often something like 'admin', but you
may have changed this to something else. Then you're prompted for the directory
to save the backup to. This must exist, so think about what you see when you
access the NAS drive in Windows Explorer. If the NAS drive has a 'Shared'
folder, for example, then Clonezilla can save to '/shared'. Finally, a NAS
drive password is required. Use the one required when logging into the drive to
change the settings.
An
NAS drive is a Samba server. You'll need to know its IP address and other
details
5. Disks And Partitions
After connecting to an NAS drive or a USB
disk and selecting the folder to save the backup, you now have a choice of
either saving the disk or partitions. Choose 'savedisk' if you want to save a
complete copy of the whole disk drive with all its partitions. Saving a single
partition is faster because less information has to be backed up, but a partial
backup doesn't give you the security of a full backup.
The rest is straightforward and the default
name given to the backup image is based on the date, but it can be edited and
changed to whatever you want. One of the last things to do is to choose the
disk to actually back up. It's obvious if there's only one drive in the PC, but
if you have two internal drives or an internal and USB drive, the disk labelled
'sda' is the one to select. Skip the option to check the drive for errors,
because it should not be used on Windows disks. The final option is whether to
check the saved backup image is okay and can be restored. It is useful to do
this of course, but it does add significantly to the total time taken.
Select
savedisk to save the whole disk drive including all the partitions
6. Advanced Options
There are actually a few more steps than
outlined above, one of which is to select either beginner or expert mode. If
you're backing up a Windows disk, then beginner mode is fine and it works
perfectly. A dual-booting PC with both Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04 partitions
using a Grub boot loader didn't work in beginner mode and it only worked with
advanced mode settings. Advanced mode is also useful when restoring the disk
drive too.
In advanced mode there's a choice of backup
and restore modes and when backing up, savedisk is the one to use. When
restoring a disk drive, you would select the 'restoredisk' option, which
restores a backup image on an external USB drive or NAS drive to the disk in
the PC.
If a backup fails in beginner mode, select
advanced mode, choose 'savedisk' and then there's a choice of four priority
options. Priority: 'Only dd' is the most compatible because it supports all
filesystems and was the one that works on the dualboot PC Clonezilla was tested
on. The other options are faster, but read the status messages on the screen
after a backup and make sure there are no errors.
Select
advanced mode for extra backup options and to restore a disk or partition
Test It In Virtualbox
Clonezilla is a powerful tool and some
options seem complicated at first sight. You might want to experiment with it
and explore the menus and settings in a safe environment before using it on
your PC. VirtualBox (www.virtualbox.org) is a great way to test it. This free
software lets you install and run other operating systems in a window on the
desktop. It's a bit like running a Sinclair Spectrum or C64 emulator on your PC,
only you run Windows or Linux instead. You'll need to install an OS to create a
disk for Clonezilla to back up and there are lots of Linux distros like Ubuntu
(ubuntu.com) if you don't have a Windows disc to install.
Boot the Windows or Linux virtual machine
using the Clonezilla CD and back it up. Then create a new virtual machine and
restore it to the blank disk just to familiarise yourself with the procedure.
(Micro Mart - 26 July 2012, Page 60-63)
