Prepare a disk to be imaged by Clonezilla for use on smaller disks?

Solution 1:

Inside every clonezilla image, there is a file called sda-pt.parted. You can edit the sector size of /dev/sda to be smaller than your target hard drive.

Here is how we do it:

1. Install OS and programs
2. Shrink partition in OS to lowest possible value (we find under 80 works best)
3. Sysprep and clone
4. Edit image/sda-pt.parted

Below is a sample of an edited sda-pt.parted file

Model: ATA ST31000524AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 78200000s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start    End        Size       Type     File system  Flags
1      2048s    206847s    204800s    primary  ntfs         boot
2      206848s  78135295s  77928448s  primary  ntfs

Original:

Model: ATA ST31000524AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 1953525168s

Solution 2:

In creating your Master Image, resize the partitions or "total non Free space area" to be smaller than your smallest target drive will be.

Use the expert mode instead of beginner in Clonezilla.

If you are sure all the data from the image could fit the smaller disk, add the option "-icds"

CloneZilla will work fine Imaging to a smaller drive than the image was created on.