Clonezilla

I have seen Symantec Ghost used in the past. I have always wanted a scenario where using something like Ghost would make sense and today I have found it!

We have a great many machines here that are identical. They do the same function, have the same hardware, and need the same software. That being said I have finally found a reason to really need a solution like Symantec Ghost. Now being on a very tight budget I was looking for a different solution and thanks to the generous folks over on the Spiceworks fourms I found Clonezilla.

Now there is a server based version that I could use to Clonecast (I don't know if that is a real word or even something they use but I like it) images out to machines, but for now I am booting off of my 2GB USB key and saving / reading images from a seperate 160GB USB drive.

It takes about 15 to 20 minutes do drop an image from the USB-Hard drive to the client machine (for around 1GB of info). It takes just around as long do put the image on the USB-HDD which is very quick if you ask me. Most of the time is getting the computer to boot off of the USB key and configure the options you want.

One of my projects that I hope to do later is to install the NTFS 3g drivers for Linux so I can modify the file system once the image is installed. This will enable me to do things like rename the PC based on it's MAC address. Also I may get a Clonezilla server up and running. If I do you can be sure I will post something about it.