Searching specifically for the ISO tells us you already understand Clonezilla isn't a normal application — it's a bootable Linux-based environment you write to a USB drive or burn to disc, then boot from directly, outside whatever OS is currently on the target machine. That's exactly why it can clone a drive that Windows itself is running on: it never touches the live OS while imaging it. Most people grab this ISO when replacing a hard drive with an SSD or archiving a full system image before a risky change.
Turning the ISO Into Something Bootable
The ISO by itself won't do anything until it's written to a USB stick with a tool like Rufus or Etcher, or burned to a DVD — simply double-clicking the file in Windows just mounts it as a virtual disc.
Clonezilla is free and open source under the GPL, and the same ISO covers both single-disk cloning and network-based mass deployment for multiple machines, though most home users only need the standalone-clone mode.
Who ends up using Clonezilla
Clonezilla is reached for by people replacing a hard drive with an SSD or archiving a full system image before a risky upgrade.
- Upgrading an old hard drive to an SSD by cloning the entire partition layout over
- IT technicians imaging a reference PC to quickly deploy identical setups to multiple machines
- Backing up a full working system image before a risky OS update or hardware swap
Before you install
A couple of things worth knowing about Clonezilla before you request the link: it covers Windows, macOS and Linux, so pick the right build for the machine you're setting up. And on pricing, Clonezilla is open source, so the installer is free with no trial timer, feature lock, or upsell screen to click past. It's developed and maintained by NCHC Free Software Labs.
System requirements
- WindowsWindows 10 or 11 (64-bit); older 7/8.1 builds usually still run but no longer get official support
- macOSa recent macOS release — check the download page for the current minimum version, since Apple Silicon vs Intel builds sometimes differ
- Linuxmost current 64-bit distributions; look for a native .deb/.rpm/AppImage or a package in your distro's own repository
Heavier workloads (large files, high-res media, big projects) will naturally want more RAM and a faster CPU/GPU than the bare minimum.
Quick steps
- Download the Clonezilla Live ISO from the link below
- Write it to a USB drive using Rufus, Etcher, or similar
- Boot from that USB and choose device-to-device or device-to-image mode
Clonezilla: the honest trade-offs
- Clones or images a drive Windows is actively running from without touching the live OS
- Handles single-machine cloning and network mass-deployment from the same tool
- Completely free and open source with no feature restrictions
- Text-based, keyboard-driven interface is intimidating for non-technical users
- No selective file-level restore — it works at the partition or disk-image level only
The ISO here comes straight from the Clonezilla/NCHC project's official release, unmodified, so its checksum matches the published one.
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Keeping Clonezilla up to date
Since Clonezilla is open source, most Linux distributions keep it current through their own package manager. On Windows/macOS, re-running the installer from the official site (or an updater built into the app, if it has one) gets you the latest release. Sticking to the developer's own distribution channel — which is what this page links to — means you're never stuck on an old build with unpatched bugs just because a mirror site stopped updating its copy.
Features, install steps, alternatives and more detail live on the main Clonezilla page.
Frequently asked questions
Can Clonezilla clone the drive Windows is currently running from?
Yes, because you boot Clonezilla itself from USB first, so the source drive isn't in active use during cloning.
Do I need to burn a DVD, or is USB enough?
USB is enough and generally faster; DVD is only needed if the target machine can't boot from USB.
