Linux image (.img) file compatibility between dd,partclone,partimage and clonezilla

Question

In Linux , is the image (.img) file compatible between dd ,partclone ,partimage and clonezilla.Actually i want use the partclone to create a image from a partition,and restore it to another partition using dd or dcfldd.Is it possible , because partclone mentioned as it is a special image format. Thanks.

Answer 1

I would venture to say no even without looking through their documentation and source code. At least not directly.

I do know that Clonezilla uses compression on their images, which I think they just pipe the output of dd through gzip.

Answer 2

".img" is not standardized. dd copies each bit exactly as it is to the file you create. according to their website partclone doesn't do that:

Partclone provides utilities to back up and restore used-blocks of a partition ...

i'm not 100% sure but i doubt that this works.

Answer 3

From the partclone dev repository's Trac page:

Partclone provides utilities to back up and restore used-blocks of a partition and it is designed for higher compatibility of the file system by using existing library, e.g. e2fslibs is used to read and write the ext2 partition.

I added an emphasis to the important part. It appears that partclone reads the files on the filesystem as files, and then adds them to an image.

In contrast, dd works by reading the disk or partition as a block device, bit by bit, and makes an exact copy of exactly what each bit is on the entire disk or partition. This means that dd picks up filesystem bits, the contents of unused sectors, and so on.

As such, it appears that dd would expect far more information than is provided in a partclone image file.

As such, it appears that writing an image using dd would require in the image the presence of far more information than is provided in a partclone image file.

In conclusion: dd cannot be used to write images made by partclone no matter what.