Cloning Ubuntu to an External Hard Drive

Cloning Ubuntu to an external hard drive is a great way to keep a backup of your system or even use it as a portable operating system. Cloning is a process of copying the contents of one drive to another. This article will explain how to clone your Ubuntu system to an external hard drive.

Step 1: Prepare the External Hard Drive

Before you start cloning, you will need to format the external hard drive. To do this, connect the external hard drive to your system and open the “Disks” application from the Applications menu. The “Disks” application will show you the connected drives. Select the external hard drive and then click on the “Format Disk” button. You will be asked to select the filesystem (e.g. ext4, etc.) and then click on the “Format Disk” button to start formatting the drive.

Step 2: Install Clonezilla on Ubuntu

Once the external hard drive is prepared, you will need to install Clonezilla on your Ubuntu system. Clonezilla is a free and open source cloning software. To install Clonezilla, open the “Software Center” application and search for “Clonezilla”. Once you find the Clonezilla package, click on the “Install” button to start the installation process.

Step 3: Launch Clonezilla and Start Cloning

Once Clonezilla is installed, launch it from the Applications menu. You will be presented with a graphical user interface. Select the “Begin Clonezilla” option to start the cloning process. You will be asked to select the source drive (the one you want to clone) and the destination drive (the external hard drive). Select the drives and then click on the “Begin Clonezilla” button to start the cloning process.

Step 4: Monitor the Cloning Process

Cloning will take some time depending on the size of the drives and the number of files that need to be cloned. You can monitor the cloning process by checking the status bar in Clonezilla. Once the cloning is complete, you will be prompted to reboot your system. After the reboot, you will be able to boot from the external hard drive and use it as your main operating system.

Conclusion

Cloning Ubuntu to an external hard drive is a great way to keep a backup of your system or even use it as a portable operating system. The process is simple and can be completed in a few easy steps. This article has explained how to clone your Ubuntu system to an external hard drive using the free and open source Clonezilla software.