How to Make an Image of an NTFS Drive in Linux

You can make an exact copy of an NTFS volume on a fresh partition.

The NT File System is an organization for data and metadata on storage devices, created by Microsoft. Originally, NTFS was only supported by various versions of the Windows operating system; later, other operating systems, such as Linux, became capable of accessing NTFS drives. In some cases, you may need to make a sector-by-sector copy -- also called an "image" -- of the contents of an NTFS drive. For example, this is useful when those contents need to be restored quickly and/or on multiple computers. You can create an image of an NTFS drive using Linux.

Things You'll Need

• Storage partition with the exact capacity as the NTFS drive

Instructions

1. Log in to your Linux computer as user "root." Log in as your regular user if your Linux installation disallows "root" logins.

2. Start a command shell by clicking on the "Terminal" icon on the graphical desktop, or by logging in in text mode in the first place.

3. Type the following command into the shell:

   dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/sdb2

   if you logged in as root, or the following command

   sudo dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/sdb2

   if you logged in as your regular user. Replace "/dev/sda1" by the Linux name of the NTFS drive whose contents you want to image. Replace "/dev/sdb2" by the Linux name of the partition where the image will be created. Press "Enter." When the "dd" command completes, the spare partition will contain a perfect image of the NTFS drive.

References

• Linux Manual: Die.net: dd(1): convert/copy file