Rescuezilla - Bare Metal Backup for Cloning and Restoring images

Recommended Use:  

  • Before domain migrations

  • Before OS upgrades

  • Before risky application changes

  • Before hardware swaps

  • Before reimaging a special-purpose machine

  • Research/lab/instrumentation PCs where rebuild documentation is weak

  • One-off “safety net” situations

 

Environment

  • Windows

  • Mac-No silicone/Izzy

  • Linux

Directions

Youtube video for back up and restore using Rescuezilla

To start, you will need:

  • A USB flash drive
    Preferably 8 GB or larger. This will be erased.

  • The Rescuezilla ISO
    Download from the official Rescuezilla download page or GitHub releases. The current latest release shown on GitHub is Rescuezilla 2.6.2, released May 16, 2026.

  • A tool to write the ISO to USB
    Use something like Rufus or balenaEtcher.

  • A backup destination
    This can be:

    • External USB hard drive - exceptions only 

    • External SSD - exceptions only

    • Network share/NAS (Recommended) - see below for LSA share info

    • Internal secondary drive, if appropriate - exceptions only

Create the Rescuezilla Bootable USB

Step 1: Download Rescuezilla

  • Go to the official Rescuezilla download page and download the latest 64-bit ISO.

  • Save it somewhere easy to find, such as:

  • C:\Temp\rescuezilla.iso

Step 2: Insert the USB drive

  • Plug in the USB flash drive you want to use.

  • Important: everything on this USB drive will be erased.

Step 3: Open Rufus or balenaEtcher

Rufus option

  1. Open Rufus.

  2. Under Device, select the USB flash drive.

  3. Under Boot selection, choose the Rescuezilla ISO.

  4. Use:

    • Partition scheme: GPT for most modern UEFI systems

    • Target system: UEFI

    • File system: FAT32 if available

  5. Click Start.

  6. Confirm that the USB can be erased.

  7. Wait for the process to finish.

balenaEtcher option

  1. Open balenaEtcher.

  2. Select the Rescuezilla ISO.

  3. Select the USB drive.

  4. Click Flash.

  5. Wait for it to finish.

Prepare the Machine for Backup

Step 1: Shut down the machine

Do a full shutdown, not a restart if possible.

For Windows, hold Shift while clicking Shut down if you want to avoid fast startup.

Step 2: Connect the backup destination

Connect the external drive, or make sure the network share is available.

For an external drive, make sure of enough free space.

Step 3: Insert the Rescuezilla USB

Plug the Rescuezilla USB into the machine you want to back up.

Boot into Rescuezilla

Step 1: Open the boot menu

Power on the machine and repeatedly press the boot menu key.

Step 2: Select the USB drive

  • From the boot menu, choose the Rescuezilla USB.

  • It may appear as something like:

  • UEFI: SanDisk USB
    UEFI: Kingston DataTraveler
    UEFI: Rescuezilla

  • Choose the UEFI option if available

Step 3: Start Rescuezilla

Once Rescuezilla loads, choose the normal graphical option.

If the screen goes blank or graphics do not load correctly, try Graphical Fallback Mode from the Rescuezilla boot menu. The Rescuezilla GitHub release notes specifically mention this as a troubleshooting step for blank screen issues.

Create the Backup Image

Step 1: Choose “Backup”

  • Once Rescuezilla opens, select:

  • Backup

Step 2: Select the source drive

Choose the disk you want to back up.

  • Ensure drive(s) with O/S is selected 

Step 3: Select the partitions to include

For a full bare-metal backup, include all partitions on the system disk.

For a Windows machine, this usually includes:

  • EFI System Partition

  • Microsoft Reserved Partition

  • Windows partition

  • Recovery partition

There are different compression levels, from 1 to 9, which also helps with reducing the space used. 

Select the entire disk, not just the C: partition (some data may be captured).

This gives you the best chance of restoring the machine to bootable condition later.

Step 4: Choose the backup destination

  • Choose network location / shared folder if you are backing up to NAS or a server share using example naming convention below: 

Step 5: Review the summary

Before starting, confirm:

  • Source disk is correct

  • Destination disk/share is correct

  • Backup name is correct

  • You are backing up the full system disk

  • Destination has enough space

Start the backup.

Step 6: Let the backup complete

  • Do not unplug anything during the backup.

  • Depending on disk size and speed, this can take a while.

  • When finished, Rescuezilla should report that the backup completed successfully.

Verify the Backup

Step 1: Confirm the backup folder exists

  • Browse the backup destination and confirm the backup folder was created.

  • You should see a Rescuezilla/Clonezilla-style image folder with multiple files inside (confirm size).

  • Rescuezilla is compatible with Clonezilla images, so its backups use a structure that can also be restored by Clonezilla in many cases.

Note in the asset, location of bare metal backup, initial, and date of completion

RESTORE:

Optional: Basic Restore Process

To restore:

  1. Boot from the Rescuezilla USB.

  2. Choose Restore.

  3. Select the backup image.

  4. Select the destination disk.

  5. Confirm carefully, because the destination disk will be overwritten.

  6. Start the restore.

  7. Remove the USB.

  8. Reboot the machine.

Notes & Troubleshooting

BitLocker

  • If the machine uses BitLocker, record the BitLocker recovery key before doing anything.
  • For Windows machines, consider suspending BitLocker before backup if the machine is still bootable.

Secure Boot

  • If Rescuezilla does not boot, Secure Boot may be involved. You may need to temporarily disable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI, depending on the hardware and Rescuezilla version.

Full disk vs file backup

  • Rescuezilla is best for bare-metal imaging.
  • It is not a replacement for normal file backup tools like CrashPlan, OneDrive, enterprise backup agents (Windows Backup/Time Machine), etc.
  • Use Rescuezilla when you want to preserve the whole machine state before a risky change.

Common boot menu keys:

Manufacturer

Common Boot Key
   

Dell

F12

Lenovo

F12 or Enter, then F12

HP

Esc, then F9

Microsoft Surface

Volume Down + Power

Asus

Esc or F8

Acer

F12

MSI

F11

 

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