PARTCLONE(8)

🎀 PARTCLONE (8) 🎀

okay so bestie, welcome to the partclone manual page — yes it's the one from the Partclone User Manual set, and yeah it's a section 8 page, meaning it's for the admin girlies who run stuff as root. grab a strawberry drink 🍓 and let's go.

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✨ NAME ✨

partclone — the utility for clone and restore a partition. that's it, that's the whole job. cloning. restoring. partitions. iconic behaviour honestly 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

here's the whole shape of the thing, no cap:

partclone.[fstype] {[-c | --clone]} {[-r | --restore]}
                   {[-b | --dev-to-dev]} {[-s | --source] source}
                   {[[-o | --output] [-O | --overwrite]] target}
                   [[-dX | --debug=X]] [[--restore_raw_file]]
                   [[-z | --buffer_size]] [[-N | --ncurses]]
                   [[-q | --quiet]] [[-f | --UI-fresh]] [[-F | --force]]
                   [[-I | --ignore_fschk]] [[-i | --ignore_crc]]
                   [[-C | --nocheck]] [[-R | --rescue]]
                   [[-L | --logfile] logfile] [[-X | --compresscmd]]
                   [[-D | --domain]] [[--offset_domain]]
                   [[-aX | --checksum-mode=X]]
                   [[-kX | --blocks-per-checksum=X]]
                   [[-K | --no-reseed]] [[-w | --skip_write_error]]
                   [[-E | --offset=X]] [[-T | --btfiles]]
                   [[-t | --btfiles_torrent]] [[-n | --note]]
                   [[-B | --no_block_detail]] [[--binary-prefix]]
                   [[--prog-second]] [[--write-direct-io]]
                   [[--read-direct-io]]

like yes it's a lot of brackets, don't panic, they're just vibes. we'll walk through every single one 🫶

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

partclone.[fstype] is a part of the Partclone project. Partclone provide utilities to backup used blocks and design for higher compatibility of the file system by using existing library, e.g. e2fslibs is used to read the used block of ext2 partition. (translation: it doesn't reinvent the wheel, it borrows the filesystem's own library to figure out which blocks are actually used, and only backs up those. efficiency queen ✨)

Partclone supported file system include btrfs, ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, reiser4, xfs and jfs for LINUX. Also support some non-linux operation system, ex: NTFS, FAT and EXFAT (for Windows), HFS plus (APPLE MAC OS), UFS2 (FreeBSD), VMFS (VMWare Vsphere) and MINIX (MINIX3). she's multilingual fr fr 🌈

All partclone utils could be run like partclone.[fstype] is very similar to fsck or mkfs. For example, for backup/restore hfsplus, just run partclone.hfsp. so you literally just pick the flavour that matches your filesystem, the way you'd pick a mkfs. variant. same energy, same muscle memory 🧠

🦋 the filesystem-to-binary cheat sheet 🦋

• btrfs — partclone.btrfs
• ext2, ext3, ext4 — partclone.[ext2 | ext3 | ext4]
• reiserfs 3.5 — partclone.reiserfs
• reiser 4 — partclone.reiser4
• xfs — partclone.xfs
• ufs | ufs2 — partclone.ufs
• jfs — partclone.jfs
• hfs plusfs — partclone.[hfs+ | hfsplus]
• vmfs — partclone.[vmfs | vmfs5]
• ntfs — partclone.ntfs
• fat12, fat16, fat32 — partclone.[fat12 | fat16 | fat32]
• exfat — partclone.exfat
• minix — partclone.minix
• f2fs — partclone.f2fs
• nilfs2 — partclone.nilfs2
• apfs — partclone.apfs
• others (Not Supported FS) — partclone.imager

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

The program follows the usual GNU command line syntax, with long options starting with two dashes (-). A summary of options is included below. okay bestie, deep breath, here comes the whole list — and yes, every single one is staying 😤

• -s FILE, --source FILE — Source FILE. The FILE could be a image file (made by partclone) or device depend on your action. Normally, backup source is device, restore source is image file. Receving data from pipe line is supported ONLY for restoring, just ignore -s option or use - means receive data from stdin. 🚰
• -o FILE, --output FILE — Output FILE. The FILE could be a image file (partclone will generate) or device depend on your action. Normally, backup output to image file and restore output to device. Sending data to pipe line is also supported ONLY for back-up, just ignore -o option or use - means send data to stdout. 🫗
• -O FILE, --overwrite FILE — Overwrite FILE, overwriting if exists. she will not be asking permission, that file is going to the shadow realm 💀
• -W FILE, --restore_raw_file FILE — create special raw file for loop device.
• -c, --clone — Save partition to the special image format.
• -r, --restore — Restore partition from the special image format.
• -b, --dev-to-dev — Local device to device copy on-the-fly, source and output both are device.
• -D, --domain — Create GNU Ddrescue domain log file from source device. This is a human readable file in which + marks used block areas and ? marks free areas.
• --offset_domain=X — Add X (in bytes) to all positions reported in the domain log file
• --restore_raw_file — Creating special raw file for loop device. (yes she shows up twice in this manual, she contains multitudes 💅)
• -L FILE, --logfile FILE — put special path to record partclone log information. (default /var/log/partclone.log)
• -R, --rescue — Continue after disk read errors. ride or die energy 🫡
• -C, --no_check — Don't check device size and free space.
• -N, --ncurses — Using Ncurses Text User Interface. retro aesthetic ✨
• -I, --ignore_fschk — Ignore filesystem check.
• -i, --ignore_crc — Ignore crc check error.
• -F, --force — Force progress.
• -f sec, --UI-fresh sec — put special second to different interval.
• -z size, --buffer_size size — Read/write buffer size (default: 1048576)
• -q, --quiet — Disable progress message. silence is golden 🎧
• -dlevel, --debug level — Set the debug level [1|2|3]
• -x, --compresscmd CMD — Start CMD as an output pipe to compress the cloned image
• -aX, --checksum-mode=X — Checksum formula to use to add error detection

where X:

• 0: No checksum (no slowdown, smallest image)
• 1: CRC32 (Fast to compute, basic detection)
• 2: xxHash64 extremely fast non-cryptographic hash algorithm
• 3: xxHash128 Strong and extremely fast, best detection

• -kX, --blocks-per-checksum=X — Write one checksum for every X blocks
• -w, --skip_write_error — Continue restore while write errors
• --write-direct-io — Writing data to TARGET partition without cache
• --read-direct-io — Reading data from SOURCE partition without cache
• -B, --no_block_detail — Show progress message without block detail
• --binary-prefix — Show progress with bit size (default is MB, GB...)
• --prog-second — Show progress in seconds (default is minute)
• -E, --offset=X — Add offset X (bytes) to OUTPUT
• -T, --btfiles — Restore block as file for ClonezillaBT.
• -t, --btfiles_torrent — Restore block as file for ClonezillaBT but only generate torrent.
• -n, --note NOTE — Display Message Note (128 words).
• -h, --help — Show summary of options.
• -v, --version — Show version of program.

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🍓 FILES 🍓

• /var/log/partclone.log — The log file of partclone

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🌟 EXAMPLES 🌟

clone /dev/hda1 to hda1.img and display debug information.

partclone.ext3 -c -d -s /dev/hda1 -o hda1.img

restore /dev/hda1 from hda1.img and display debug information.

partclone.extfs -r -d -s hda1.img -o /dev/hda1

restore image from clonezilla (split, gzip,) with stdin source

cat sda1.ext3-ptcl-img.gz.a* | gunzip -c | partclone.ext3 -d -r -s - -o /dev/sda1

see that -s - in the last one? that's the stdin pipe moment. chef's kiss 👨‍🍳💋

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🔥 DIAGNOSTICS 🔥

The following diagnostics may be issued on stderr:

partclone provides some return codes, that can be used in scripts:

• Code 0 — Program exited successfully. 🎉
• Code 1 — Clone or Restore seem failed. 😭

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🦋 BUGS 🦋

Report bugs to thomas@clonezilla.org or http://partclone.org.

You can get support at http://partclone.org

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

partclone(8), partclone.chkimg(8), partclone.restore(8), partclone.dd(8), partclone.info(8)

the whole friend group, love that for them 🫶

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Yu-Chin Tsai <thomas@clonezilla.org>

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🌈 COPYRIGHT 🌈

Copyright © 2007 Yu-Chin Tsai

This manual page was written for the Debian system (and may be used by others).

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2 or (at your option) any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL.

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ok that's the whole page bestie, every flag accounted for, no strays, no leftovers 💖

and that's a wrap — this little love letter of a manual page is partclone, dated 09/12/2026, living its best life under the PARTCLONE(8) banner. go clone something responsibly, mwah 💅✨