Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Clonezilla VS UNetbootin

Compare Clonezilla VS UNetbootin and see what are their differences

Clonezilla logo Clonezilla

Clonezilla is a suite of software that's designed to allow you to back-up and image new hard drives with your data.

UNetbootin logo UNetbootin

UNetbootin is a utility for creating live bootable USB drives. The name of the software is short for Universal Netboot Installer, and its most prevalent use has been to create bootable versions of Linux distributions on a USB drive.
  • Clonezilla Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-16
  • UNetbootin Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-29

Clonezilla features and specs

  • Free and Open Source
    Clonezilla is available for free and the source code can be reviewed, modified, and distributed by users.
  • Wide Compatibility
    Works with a variety of file systems including ext2, ext3, ext4, reiserfs, xfs, jfs for Linux, and NTFS for Windows.
  • High Performance
    Utilizes programs like Partclone, Partimage, and ntfsclone, which offer efficient cloning and imaging capabilities.
  • Flexible and Powerful
    Provides numerous advanced options and features for power users, including unattended modes and network cloning.
  • Broad Hardware Support
    Compatible with various types of hardware, and can clone a single machine as well as multiple machines simultaneously.

Possible disadvantages of Clonezilla

  • User Interface
    The interface is not very user-friendly and can be challenging for beginners to navigate.
  • Complexity
    Offers a steep learning curve with numerous advanced features and command-line options that may overwhelm novice users.
  • Limited Incremental/Differential Backup
    Does not support incremental or differential backups natively, requiring full backups each time.
  • Limited Support
    Support mainly comes from community forums and documentation, which may not be as reliable or fast as paid technical support.
  • Boot Media Requirement
    Requires creating and booting from live media (CD/USB) for operation, which might be inconvenient for some users.

UNetbootin features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Support
    UNetbootin is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, making it accessible to users on different operating systems.
  • Wide Range of Distributions
    It supports a variety of Linux distributions, allowing users to easily create bootable drives for different Linux OSes.
  • Ease of Use
    The interface is user-friendly, allowing even non-technical users to create bootable USB drives with minimal effort.
  • No CD/DVD Required
    UNetbootin eliminates the need for physical media, enabling users to create bootable USB drives directly from ISO files.
  • Persistent Storage
    It supports the creation of persistent storage, allowing users to save changes to the USB drive without losing data on reboot.

Possible disadvantages of UNetbootin

  • Limited Advanced Features
    UNetbootin lacks some advanced options found in other tools, such as creating multiple partitions or supporting non-Linux operating systems.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Some users report compatibility issues with certain USB drives or BIOS configurations, affecting the bootability of the created drive.
  • Infrequent Updates
    UNetbootin is not updated as frequently as some alternatives, which may result in it not supporting the latest Linux distributions promptly.
  • No Guaranteed Support
    As a free and open-source tool, there is no guaranteed customer support, relying mostly on community forums for troubleshooting.

Analysis of Clonezilla

Overall verdict

  • Clonezilla is considered a good tool for those who need a powerful, flexible, and cost-effective solution for disk imaging and cloning tasks. It is particularly well-suited for IT professionals and system administrators who need to manage multiple systems. However, it requires some technical know-how, so it may not be the best fit for users who prefer a more graphical, user-friendly interface.

Why this product is good

  • Clonezilla is highly regarded for its efficiency and reliability in cloning and imaging computer systems. It supports a wide range of file systems and is capable of handling both Linux and Windows partitions. The tool is open-source, which means it is free to use and continuously improved by a community of developers. It offers advanced features like multicasting, unattended mode, and the ability to encrypt images for added security. Users appreciate its robustness and the fact that it can perform full and incremental backups efficiently.

Recommended for

    Clonezilla is recommended for IT professionals, system administrators, and tech-savvy users who need a reliable and cost-effective solution for cloning and imaging tasks. It is ideal for those who are comfortable working with command-line interfaces and require support for a wide range of file systems and disk formats.

Clonezilla videos

Clonezilla vs Acronis

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Clonezilla Tutorial: How to back up or clone your PC's HDD or SSD
  • Review - Cloning hard drives with Clonezilla!

UNetbootin videos

How to use UNetBootin

More videos:

  • Review - UNetBootin - Create a Bootable Linux USB Drive [Tutorial]
  • Review - DeepIn 15.8 - Neuerungen & Installation (UNetbootin) & Review | Deepin auf Sony Vaio | 10. Dez.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Clonezilla and UNetbootin)
Cyber Security
100 100%
0% 0
Utilities
0 0%
100% 100
Backup & Restore
100 100%
0% 0
Bootable USB
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Clonezilla and UNetbootin

Clonezilla Reviews

Linux File Backup - 5 Best Softeware for Linux Desktop and Server
As the name implies, Clonezilla(secured URL: https://clonezilla.org/) is all about cloning, disk imaging, and more. It is a free backup tool with features like UDPcast, partial cloning, and image partitioning. You can avail yourself of two different editions: Clonezilla Live (general users) and Clonezilla SE (server usage).
Source: www.easeus.com
The Best Free Backup Software and Why it is Difficult to Find One
Clonezilla claims to be a similar software solution to what Acronis True Image and other programs offered – a disk imaging/cloning program with unimpressive capabilities but with an amazing operation speed. Clonezilla has different versions of itself for regular users and servers with large numbers of machines – Clonezilla live and Clonezilla SE, respectively. It can perform...
Source: www.bacula.org
Top 7 Best Hard Disk Repair Software for Windows in 2022 (That Actually Can Rescue Your HDD!)
The best way to guard against data loss is to create backups. Cloning entire drives – or at least the important partitions – can save you much headache in the event of a drive failure. CloneZilla is the perfect freeware tool for this task, with some basic MBR repair capabilities, tacked on.
The Top 17 Free and Open Source Backup Solutions
Clonezilla is open source backup software from Symantec Ghost Corporate Edition, based DRBL. The primary mechanism of the solution includes image partition, partial clone, and udpcast, as well as bare metal backup and recovery udpcast. There are two versions of Clonezilla are available: Clonezilla live for single machine backup and restore, and Clonezilla SE for a server. In...
15 Best Acronis Alternatives 2022
Clonezilla is unaffected by the OS of the computer being cloned, backed up, or restored. For Clonezilla Live, it is installed on a CD/DVD or USB first, or it can be used as a server application in the case of Clonezilla Server instead.

UNetbootin Reviews

7 Best Rufus Alternatives To Create Bootable USB In 2022
We found UNetbootin to be a fantastic software and mentioned UNetbootin in our “five easy ways to create bootable USB media in Ubuntu” article. The tool is also available on Windows and macOS. It has a pretty simple user interface that gets the job done.
Source: fossbytes.com
10 Best Rufus Alternatives in 2022 (USB Bootable Tools)
The thing that makes UNetbootin unique is its lightning-fast speed. Compared to all other USB bootable tools, the flashing speed with UNetbootin is very fast.
Source: techviral.net
14 Rufus alternatives for Linux, Mac, and windows
UNetBootin is another cross-platform alternative to Rufus. It has the option to choose between downloading the latest iso images or choosing your iso file. UNetBootin has a list of supported Linux distributions available on their website.
Rufus Alternatives – 8 Best USB Bootable Software For Linux
Just like the Windows USB/DVD tool, UNetBootin is designed to create bootable drives but only for Linux. UNetbootin is the only software in this list that even lets you download the ISO from within the app. A neat little feature called persistent storage. This enables you to save a particular amount of storage on the USB. Basically, you can also flash the USB storage and...
Source: techwiser.com
8 Free USB Bootable Software For Windows
Just like the Windows USB/DVD tool, UNetBootin is designed to create bootable drives but only for Linux. The good thing about UNetBootin is you can either create a bootable media using an ISO file or you can download the Linux distribution within. When creating bootable media for Ubuntu distribution, you can set aside some space to preserve files across reboots. This feature...
Source: techwiser.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, UNetbootin seems to be a lot more popular than Clonezilla. While we know about 60 links to UNetbootin, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Clonezilla. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Clonezilla mentions (2)

  • Upgrading mass storage on laptop and keeping windows license
    Cloning drive using https://sourceforge.net/projects/clonezilla/ should work. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Best OS for Java dev
    It wakes your machine up (if properly setup) and performs a incremental backup during the night. There are other ways using free software but they are advanced and mostly only worth if you want to learn how to get those things work. Source: over 3 years ago

UNetbootin mentions (60)

  • Troubleshooting External Hard Drives on Linux
    Use a tool like Rufus or UNetbootin to create a live USB stick. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Kali live kernel panic
    Format your USB drive and then you can retry with your software again, or you can try with a piece of software I know works successfully. https://unetbootin.github.io/. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Best way to get files off corrupted/inaccessible drive?
    Linux on a USB large enough to hold your files. Linux does not care what OS made the file. You mat be able to Boot from the USB. Access the BIOS and try it. UNetbootin can also be used to load various system utilities. Https://unetbootin.github.io/. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Install Fedora 38 without any USB or CD.
    I think UNetbootin could create a bootable installer directly from your current drive. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Flashed ISO using dd on mac and this happened…
    This is what you want. Bootcamp is the old way to do it. You want to use This for making a usb. Source: about 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Clonezilla and UNetbootin, you can also consider the following products

Acronis True Image - (Formerly Acronis True Image) Complete protection for your digital life

Rufus - Rufus is a piece of software that allows you to transform a portable drive, like a flash drive or other USB drives, into a bootable drive that can be used for a variety of purposes. Read more about Rufus.

Macrium Reflect - Macrium Software - the creators of Macrium Reflect backup, imaging and cloning software.

Balena Etcher - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives, safely and easily.

HDclone - HDClone by Miray Software is the universal tool for cloning disks and other mass storage media fast and easily. To be used for backups, data recovery, system migration and professional duplication of several disks at a time.

YUMI - YUMI (Your USB Multiboot Installer), is a tool that allows you to boot multiple ISO files from one USB drive.