I have a very specific use case for which I am looking into Linux-based backup solutions that can be used to back up (not necessarily clone) and restore a Windows system (XP through 8.1 must be supported).
The idea is to use PXE (e.g. through DRBL) in order to boot an array of machines which is used for test runs. These test runs are largely automated, but every once in a while a machine will lock up and that's taken care of by having a network-controlled power supply.
The options I have been looking at are:
- Clonezilla, based on partclone
- ntfsclone, part of ntfs-3g (
ntfsclone(8)) - partimage
- G4L
Now, I am not asking for a comparison of these programs. But what I am interested in is the compatibility between each other (obviously Clonezilla and partclone will be compatible) with respect to the image format.
Another aspect is how the respective solutions can be automated out of the box. Of course I can also go and write a shell script, but even for that I'll need a program that can be used from the command line.
So my questions:
- How compatible are the image formats created by the four mentioned programs (partclone, ntfsclone, partimage or G4L)?
- Which of them can be automated out of the box?
- Which of them have no program that I can control from the command line?