G4L
G4L is a hard disk and partition imaging and cloning tool. The created images are optionally compressed, and they can be stored on a local hard drive or transferred to an anonymous FTP server. A drive can be cloned using the "Click'n'Clone" function. G4L supports file splitting if the local filesystem does not support writing files >2GB. The included kernel supports ATA, serial-ATA, and SCSI drives. Common network cards are supported. It is packaged as a bootable CD image with an ncurses GUI for easy use.
| Tags | Recovery Tools Internet FTP Archiving backup Mirroring Operating Systems Linux Distributions Floppy-Based Systems Administration |
|---|---|
| Licenses | GPL |
| Operating Systems | POSIX Linux Mac OS X Windows |
Recent releases
- 10 Jul 2010 08:22
Changes: This release added new kernel versions, ncftp 3.2.4, syslinux 4.01, and busybox 1.17.0. TestDisk was added to the Utility menu. The g4l30o8 script is now used. cpu_freq is set on 32.x kernels and above. There were many minor updates to the script to reduce size, and some other additions.
- 28 Jan 2010 23:08
Changes: This release updates the kernel, busybox, and syslinux. It updates lblank6 to lblank7 to clear free space on partitions. hdt (Hardware Test) 0.36 has been released. testdisk has been added. This release uses udpcast 20091230. It adds reboot.c32 for hdt. The Syslinux menu has been split into two parts: Default and Oldkern. A reboot option has been added to the Syslinux menu. cleandrive5 has been modified to check for dialog and Xdialog.
- 25 Sep 2009 10:27
Changes: FTP check status was added to the F: option. Linux kernels 2.6.29.4, 2.6.30.7, and 2.6.31 are included. Busybox-1.15.1 plus patches as of 9/23/2009 are incorporated. lzop support was added to busybox syslinux 3.83 pre11 with hdt (Hardware Test) 0.34. The Click-n-Clone option was updated to just show disks. ncftp was upgraded to 3.2.3. Some libraries and support programs were updated. Some debug support was added for USB and other changes were made to the kernel. The file list option was updated to show date and size. udp-sender and udp-receiver were updated to the 2009/09/20 version.
- 19 May 2009 00:29
Changes: This release has been converted from Fedora 8 to Fedora 10 libraries and programs. It uses syslinux 3.80 (bugfixes) and adds syslinux hdt (Hardware Test) 0.33. It uses kernel 2.6.29.3 and BusyBox 1.13.4. An updated g4l script adds udpcast options, and there are some new menu functions. Thekernels bz25 - bz29.3 have been recompiled to include CIFS. A CIFS (Samba) option has been added to the local menu. Basic MBR backup has been added to the Network and Local menus. MBR and EBR backup options have been added.
- 10 Feb 2009 14:53
Changes: The 0.28 update included updates to the Linux kernels of 2.6.27 and above that removed things that appeared to be unnecessary, or at least had recommendations to exclude if in doubt, but this appears to have caused problems with USB keyboards. This version update includes rebuilds of all the 2.6.27 and above kernels with the configuration previously used for 2.6.26. It also uses syslinux 3.73.
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Recent commentsG4L can restore an image from a DVD, but doesn't directly write images to a DVD. So, one must create the Image to a disk, and then be burned to a DVD, and it must fit on one DVD since there is no spanning option.
The format of the file must also be one that can be mounted by the linux kernel.
I generally have found it is much easier and faster to use an USB external hard disk that is formation as ext3 or ext4. Can be ntfs, but that has extra overhead and is slower.
The other advantage is that they don't have the size restriction that DVD disk. I use a 500GB USB hard disk to make images.
The image can be restore to a disk or partition regardless of if it has an OS on it.
If a partition is being restored, you must setup the partition and mbr before restoring. G4L can back up the MBR and partition table with the MBR options.
With Windows NTFS partitions, ntfsclone is generally much faster than raw backups, but doesn't include the MBR or parition table.
thanks for your contribution.
can G4L restore a hard-disk image saved to DVD, on a computer running windows, to the hard disk which is the current windows partition?
can G4L restore a hard-disk image saved to DVD, on a computer NOT running windows or any other OS?
thanks!
johnywhy@gmail.com
Release of version 0.34.
Latest changes with 0.34
Kernel 2.6.33.6 2010/07/05
Kernel 2.6.32.16 2010/07/05
Kernel 2.6.34.1 2010/07/05
Kernel 2.6.35-rc4 2010/07/05
Kernel 2.6.31.14 2010/07/05
Kernel 2.6.27.48 2010/07/05
Updated ncftp 3.2.4 2010/04/12
Added TestDisk to Utility Menu
Cleaning g4l30n in g4l30o8 script
Change g4l to use g4l30o8 script
syslinux 4.01 Released 2010/07/02
set cpu_freq on 32.x kernel and above
busybox 1.17.0 2010/07/06
As of 12:45am 5/8/2010 the college MIS seems to have done something that blocks access to the download machine and others. These machines are on Private IP block, but had these linked to public address. All of these machines lost access, and I was able to get limited access outgoing by setting up a second ip address to the system running the squid proxy. So, until it gets corrected Sourceforge is the site to download the files from. It currently also has a 0.33 version.
Sorry for the problem.
Just came out with alpha 43 for 0.33
ftp://amd64gcc.dyndns.org/g4l-v0.33alpha43.iso
Below is the latest updates from the last release.
Probable will just change the docs to make it the released version
instead of an alpha. Am working on adding a process to do a file based compressed
tar file of partitions that can be mounted and read directly. This would exclude LVM
partitions at this point, since I don't have the process LVM partitions.
In a simple test I was able to make the compressed image, and was able to later uncompress
it, and uncompress it to see files.
Latest changes with 0.33
Four updated Kernels on 2010/04/01
Kernel 2.6.27.45 2010/04/01
Kernel 2.6.33.2 2010/04/01
Kernel 2.6.32.11 2010/04/01
Kernel 2.6.31.13 2010/04/01
Kernel 2.6.34-rc4 2010/04/13
Added SMP support to 2.6.32.9 and above
Added UDF CDROM support to 2.6.32.7 and above
syslinux 3.86 Released 2010/04/02
busybox-1.16.1 2010/03/29
modified testcd to check for sdx CDROMS and srx
Had NFS FS set, but had not set client options under that.
Added NFS option to 2.6.32.9 and 2.6.33 kernels
Added SMP option to 2.6.32.9 and 2.6.33 kernels
Added NFS option to local menu
Updated udp-sender / udp-reciever to 2010-01-30
Changed wording in Local Menu for clarification
From "A: Pick drive" "target/source partition for IMAGE file ($localdrive)" \
To "A: Pick drive" "Partition for/with IMAGE file ($localdrive)" \
In g4l30n script I use tabs set to two space in Editor, replaced tabs with two spaces
to make it display same without having to set editor. Adds about 20K to script size?
Added -x and -fx to the sfdisk backup option for MBR to included extended partition info.
Fixed error in restoring of EBRs, should have been seek instead of skip option.
Changed g4l script to have ddrescue instead of older dd_rescue
Changed dd_rescue to newer gnu ddrescue 1.12
Modified DDRESCUE menu to display ddrescue help info and allow options to be entered.