How to make a backup of an encrypted disk using clonezilla?

Support
1

Hello,

I’m trying to make a backup of an encrypted SSD to an encrypted HDD using clonezilla. The system would be restored to an NVME disk.

Since the disks are encrypted I can’t use the normal TUI and I have to use the “enter_shell” option. I think I’ve got the first part figured out. Here is what I’m doing in the shell :

sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdN foo
sudo mount /dev/mapper/foo /home/partimag
sudo clonezilla

Here, I’ve decrypted the HDD which will have the image and mounted it.
I’m at the point where I’m back in the TUI and have to chose between the Beginner Mode, Expert Mode or exit and enter the command line.
If i chose Beginner mode, my SDD is there, but I can’t select it, probably because it is encrypted.

What should I do at this point ?
Decrypt it when I’m at the first shell and mount it ? Where should I mount it ? To /mnt ?

If you have any indications, and have some tips on how to restore the system afterwards, that would be a huge help !

Thank you very much !

1 Like
2

This essentially is a clonezilla support question - not a Manjaro one. Use the clonezilla forum.
However, you’re doing it wrong:
/home/partimag is the place where clonezilla will save the backup to - this is not what you want. You want it to take a backup of that disk.

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3

Clonezilla is a bit reading software - not a file reading software.

If you want to create an image of the unencrypted partition you must reference that partition usually something like

/dev/mapper/cryptroot

But creating an image of the unencrypted data - kind of defeats the purpose of having it encrypted in the first place.

Also - it is a not recommended to hot clone a running system - unspeakable horrors can rise from such quest.

1 Like
4

This is a spin-off question from another question, so adding some background:

He’s trying to clone an encrypted SSD to an encrypted HDD, so to write to the encrypted HDD he needs to LUKSmount it first which he did. The issue is he cannot select the SSD to clone from now (which I’m unfamiliar with)…

He’s not: he’s using a bootable CloneZilla Live USB stick.

:innocent: :wink:

P.S. I agree with @freggel.doe :man_shrugging:

5

Thanks for your time everyone and thanks for clarifying my thread Fabby. I’m sorry I was not clear enough.

I’ll post on the Clonezilla forum as well ! I should have done that first, you are right.

1 Like
6

Please feed back here and mark your own answer as Solution once they come back to you.

(sometimes it’s worth asking around here because someone already did this before, but in this case it seems like not…)

:man_shrugging: