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How can I clone my entire OS to a bootable USB stick?

Asked 6 years, 7 months ago Modified 4 years, 11 months ago Viewed 28k times

I'm running Ubuntu and using about 45GB of HD space.

I also have a 64GB USB stick. I know how to make a bootable / live USB stick. What I want to
12
do is export my Ubuntu OS in its current state (installed programs, config files, media, etc) to
the USB stick so that all of the data is stored on the stick, and I can boot into it from another
machine.

How can this be done?

linux ubuntu liveusb

Share Improve this question edited Mar 9, 2017 at 14:02 asked Mar 9, 2017 at 3:13
Follow hyph HelloWorld
379 3 11 301 1 3 12

1 I've found this answer, have you tried that? askubuntu.com/a/645370 – hyph Mar 9, 2017 at 3:24

♦
Remastersys could do this. There's supposed to be a new fork but its been kinda in limbo for ages
– Journeyman Geek Mar 9, 2017 at 3:47

2 Answers Sorted by: Highest score (default)

There's Clonezilla, a small linux live distribution which is doing exactly this task:

Somebody explained it in this answer on AskUbuntu:

10
Steps:
 1. Download Clonezilla from http://clonezilla.org/downloads/download.php?branch=stable
(download the ISO)
2. Download Live Linux USB Creator (Lili) from http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download

3. Create a bootable Clonezilla (Live Clonezilla) on USB by running Live Linux USB Creator.

4. Configure your Source desktop / laptop to boot from a USB drive

5. Insert both, the destination external hard drive or destination USB Flash drive in 1 USB
Slot and the Clonezilla Live USB drive in other slot and boot.

6. Clonezilla will take some time to read partition info When the Clonezilla UI appears,
select default menu entries.

7. [With Caution] select Source Partition info and Destination partition info It may be noted
that Clonezilla would require space on destination USB Flash drive or external hard disk
which is equivalent of the source Hard disk and it will erase all data from the destination
USB Flash drive / external hard drive.
8. Once all is selected, Clonezilla will create a live OS on the destination drive / flash drive

9. Test the cloned OS by removing Clonezilla Live USB drive and booting from the Live OS
which has been cloned onto the destination External drive / USB Flash drive.

Share Improve this answer edited Apr 13, 2017 at 12:22 answered Mar 9, 2017 at 13:12
Follow Community Bot hyph
1 379 3 11

1 Clonezilla and Lili are both really awesome tools and can certainly solve your problem – ProdIssue Mar
9, 2017 at 13:15

2 Surprised after hours and hours trying to get this to work; yep - now, finally, I have my Debian OS with a
http-server from an Intel NUC with a 250 GB SSD running on a standard 16 GB USB / SD booting into a
desktop environment in less than a few seconds. Amazed. :D – K. Kilian Lindberg Dec 16, 2020 at 9:08

i copied the partition with clonezilla to a usb but then it didn't boot. I had to then put the disk
into a computer not running ubuntu. (windows only machine ) and then boot up with a
0 bootable ubuntu and run the boot repair on the usb copy of ubuntu. This worked and i got a
bootable version of my ubunut install.. The only downside is my windows wouldnt boot after
this for some reason and i had to reimage this back with easetodo . Thankfully I had an
image.

Ubuntu asked if it was removable disk and I said no. Maybe that is why my windows got
messed up. Hope this helps.

One more thing. You have to shrink your imaged partition so its

smaller than the usb drive with gparted before you image it with clonezilla.

Share Improve this answer Follow answered Oct 28, 2018 at 9:11
 kevin E
1

This is more feedback (better post this as a comment below my answer) than an actual answer. Just a
pointer how this site works, thanks for the feedback! – hyph Nov 9, 2018 at 14:33