I'm running Linux Mint on an SSD formatted with ext4, and I want to backup my system to an NTFS hard drive that I typically use for Windows backups. I heard Rescuezilla can handle both formats, so I'm wondering if I can back up my Linux Mint installation onto the NTFS drive and then later restore it back to the SSD. Is this feasible?
6 Answers
You can technically write to NTFS using Rescuezilla, but I wouldn't recommend it for what you're trying to achieve. If it's a one-off situation, make sure to disable fast startup in Windows first and shut down properly. Boot into Linux, mount the NTFS drive in read-write mode, then launch Rescuezilla and set your source and destination. Just be cautious with this method unless absolutely necessary.
For backups, I’d recommend using Timeshift instead. It creates files that can be saved on any file system. I keep mine on an SSD and back it up to a NAS. Plus, consider using Linux distributions that support creating bootable images—like MX or NixOS—for quick recovery.
Not quite! Rescuezilla captures an image of the file system rather than individual files. When you restore it, it goes back to NTFS. It might be better to use rsync and then tweak the attributes later, as NTFS attributes don’t translate to ext4.
I'm really curious about this too! I asked in another forum about mixing ext4 partitions on an NTFS backup drive, but didn't get much feedback.
While some people prefer Clonezilla for this kind of task, it also supports NTFS if you want to consider that option. I've used it recently for imaging an NTFS partition before switching a friend's OS.
Absolutely, you can store a disk image on any file system that can handle large files, including NTFS. Just make sure your backup process is correctly set up.

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