Hey everyone, I'm looking for some advice. We use Clonezilla to create backup images of our laptops and desktops, which include the latest updates, applications, and settings. However, I've noticed that when we take an image of devices with BitLocker enabled, the size of the image is essentially the entire hard drive space, often around 500GB. I'm wondering if there are any free tools out there that can create images of BitLocker-enabled devices but only save the used disk space, rather than the full size. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
5 Answers
If you image a drive that has BitLocker enabled, you’re essentially just cloning one massive encrypted file. BitLocker functions similarly to other disk encryption methods in this regard. So yes, it saves the entire size. Just something to keep in mind!
Unfortunately, you can’t create a smaller image of a BitLocker-encrypted disk unless it’s unmounted. If the disk is mounted and unlocked, you can use imaging software that works with unencrypted data, which might help reduce the image size!
I’ve heard some debate about having BitLocker enabled in the base image at all. If you're deploying thick images, you might want to consider using a virtual machine for testing and deployment instead. Anyone else do this?
I still use MDT for deploying images, works pretty well for us! But regarding BitLocker, it’s best to enable it after you’ve deployed the image. Taking an image with BitLocker on can lead to those huge file sizes.
Thanks for the tip!
The reason your images are so large is that BitLocker encrypts the entire disk, so when you clone it, you're getting a massive encrypted file. It's usually better to disable BitLocker before cloning, then re-enable it after. Just a heads up! Do you have anyone on your team who can offer some IT guidance?
We have around 500 PCs using the same BitLocker key. Once we create a base image and add it to AD/Intune, it encrypts the drive automatically. By the way, are you using SYSPREP for your images?
Haha, I’m definitely not a tech expert. We’re a small company with older hardware, and I just realized we need to disable BitLocker before imaging the new systems. It’s been a long week!
Thanks for the insight!