Choosing a storage snapshot tool
Clone It
Experts agree that you should keep a copy of your data, but restoring from incremental backups takes time and sometimes doesn't work as expected. Alternatively, you can capture your data in a snapshot. Read on for a review of some leading Linux snapshot tools.
Modern operating systems often include more than 100,000 files. In the event of system crash, bringing a system back online by restoring from incremental backups can be a complex and time consuming task. Data may even get lost along the way, if you forgot to back up certain directories or if you only created incremental backups without performing the occasional full backup.
Snapshots are a fast alternative to incremental backups. A snapshot is a copy of the dataset frozen at a point in time. This article compares several snapshot tools, including Clonezilla [1], CYA [2], Partimage [3], qt-fsarchiver [4], and Snapper [5]. See the "Not Considered" box for a few tools that did not make the list.
Requirements
Snapshot software differs greatly from backup software. A snapshot usually includes a drive partition. Unlike conventional backup sets, this unit cannot be supplemented and accelerated by differential or incremental partial backups.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.