Linux based Backup/Cloning Applications

Having already covered cloning and backup solutions for OSX and Windows, here are some Linux based solutions I use from time to time.

My favorite Open Source solution is by far Clonezilla. Clonezilla allows you to do bare metal backups/Images and restoration of partitions/volumes or whole drive duplication. It comes in 2 flavors, Clonezilla Live, and Clonezilla SE (server edition) for massive deployment supporting multicast. It supports ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, xfs, jfs of GNU/Linux, FAT, NTFS of MS Windows, and HFS+ for the Mac OS. Providing maximum flexibilty for cloning GNU/Linux, MS windows and Intel-based Mac OS.

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3rd Party Backup/Cloning Apps For Windows

Whether you're backing up your desktop(s) for archival, preparing for disaster recovery or just re-formating a PC, it's inevitable that you will need a good backup solution in your Windows environment. Here's a short list of common ones you may want to look into:

• Norton Ghost
• Paragon’s Drive Backup Express
• Acronis True Image
• DriveImage XML
• XXCLONE
  

Depending on your needs, some of these have personal free or demo downloads available. Although, I've used or seen most of these in action, the 2 most widely used i business/corporate with support for both multicast & unicast are Ghost and Acronis True Image.

3rd Party Backup/Cloning Apps for Mac OSX

There are many ways to go about backing up your Mac hard drive locally. In another article I'll go over how to do this from within OSX using Disk Utility. However, there is something to be said for well designed applications that simplify the steps needed into a few clicks for both Backups and Restore.

I tend to go back and forth between Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper. Both of these programs are just as good. They both support incremental and bootable backups. So what's the difference? Mainly the price. Carbon Copy Cloner is Free, but they accept donations. Super Duper will allow you to make free full disk backups, but the full registered version costs $27.95.

• Super Duper
• Carbon Copy Cloner