Just posting this at MDL in case it may be helpful for anyone else... Up until recently I've been delighted with the results obtained using Systemback - but I made a change that messed up my uses of it - I added a 2nd HDD for data storage only. I could have just migrated the whole thing, system & data to a larger HDD, but it would have created the same bottleneck because Systemback just grabs...everything - and that would make for a gigantic result, which I do not need or want. So instead... I made a slight mod - removed the blocker from an unused full sized drive bay & added another SATA cable, then stuck that as well as a power cable right out in front - and then... Plugged on an identically sized (as my main HDD) blank drive externally, then restart with my Ventoy stick that has my older, bootable Linux based version of Minitool Partition Wizard. (That direct SATA connection is way faster than any USB connection.) Tell it to copy my main drive to the spare, then settle down to read a book for a while. ~20 minutes later it is done, shut it down - unplug the cloned drive - restart as usual. Plugging the clone onto my play box had it up & running in just minutes, exactly as I desired minus the added data drive mounts. Side note: Every so often when I've cloned different Linux systems via any method, the clone drive needs a little help to start, and for those times I use the same Ventoy stick & the Boot Repair Disk ISO which fixes it in about a minute. Hope that info is useful for anyone.
Wow. After the several months since I posted this - plenty of views, but not a single comment ?? Amazing. (It is too quiet around here IMO.)
I have always used qt-fsarchiver for my backups and restores of linux systems, as it is far superior and less known/discussed to any of the literal dozens other tools I have used in linux that just plain suck, all of them. this is before encryption that is. I use timeshift in my now encrypted installs as having to do a complete system restore is such a hassle since restoring to an encrypted volume isn't as easy as it is in windows (not that I have found). as for all my data-data, it's backed up encrypted in the cloud, backed up encrypted on multiple external hdds, and nearly a master image exists for going back to base of anything should the need arise that is on a recovery usbkey. I've basically trimmed all my data-data to 500GB and this transfer to my ssd from any external I have in about an hour give or take a few minutes in bullseye currently. timeshift ignores /home by default which is where I store all my data-data. so far, this has proved to be the best setup I've had yet for backup/restoration in encrypted linux environments sans any windows. as for user customization should the system bork completely, well that's fairly easy to backup (and for me not really necessary as all my good stuff is modular/portable in my data-data) before having to do a clean install or restore from a wiped hdd. if that makes sense. I almost guarantee every power user here has a system that works flawlessly for them for all this. probably as varied as our usernames. and I know every beginner wishes they had a flawless system for doing these things...
Maybe because there are other threads already discussing cloning and software used. ie https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/discussion-cold-disk-imaging.52728/