[SOLVED] Clonezilla Unable to Find Target Partition SDA
You can easily resolve the “Clonezilla unable to find target partition sda” issues by shrinking the partition size ofthe source disk or using an easier alternative - AOMEI Cloner.
Last Updated June 20, 2025
The Issue: Unable to Find Target Partition sda1
I was trying to move 217GB of total DATA from an NVME(480GB) to a SATA SSD(240GB), which I suppose was a mistake since I thought Clonezilla would take into account empty space on the partition and format partitions in the smaller drive accordingly since i knew 217 GB of total DATA would fit inside 240GB SSD but ALAS It did not, and instead got an error -Unable to find target partition sda1.
- Question from Clonezilla
Clonezilla is a powerful, open-source disk imaging and cloning tool, so you can use it to clone hard drive to another one. It's trusted by tech enthusiasts and IT professionals alike for its speed and reliability.
However, when you clone larger drives to smaller drives, you will receive the error “Clonezilla unable to find target partition sda1” and you can’t ignore this as it will check both disk sizes before starting to clone. So you can’t migrate all the data from one hard disk to another (if it's smaller).
The good news? This error is easy to fix, and you can choose to shrink the partition size of the source disk to fit on the target disk, or use an easier alternative to Clonezilla Windows 11.
Resize the Partition Size and Clone Again (with Clonezilla)
You can’t use Clonezilla to clone large drive to smaller drive if the target partition size is smaller than source. The easiest method is to shrink the partition size of the source disk before cloning with Disk Management.
Part 1: Shrink Partition Size of Source Disk using Disk Management
Step 1: Press the Win + X key and select Disk Management.
Step 2: In the Disk Management window, right-click the partition on the source disk and select Shrink Volume.
Step 3: Enter the disk space to shrink in MB and click on Shrink to confirm it. If there are multiple partitions, repeat these steps until the source drive is equal to the target drive.
Part 2: Clone Larger Drive to Smaller Drive using Clonezilla
Step 1: Download Clonezilla ISO to create a bootable USB and boot from it.
Step 2: Select language and keyboard layout, and start Clonezilla.
Step 3: Select device-device mode.
Step 4: Select Expert mode. Please be sure the "-icds" option is enabled to ignore disk size before creating a partition table.
Step 5: Select disk_to_local_disk.
Step 6: Then, choose the source disk and destination disk.
Step 7: Configure other options and then type in y to confirm and start cloning.
Clone Large Drive to Smaller Drive with Clonezilla Alternative (Easier)
In fact, you don’t need to shrink the partition size of the source disk one by one if you find a professional cloning software. AOMEI Cloner integrates an intelligent clone mode, which allows you to clone only the used sectors of a drive. So you can easily clone larger drive to smaller drive with secure boot. Here are some highlights of it:
- 👑 Disk Clone: Clone HDDs/SSDs or MBR/GPT disks
- Bootable Clone: Copy all contents from one drive to another, including OS, system files, apps, user data, etc., to ensure a secure boot.
- Advanced cloning feature - Enable SSD Alignment to improve its performance. Smoothly clone MBR to GPT, or vice versa, with Edit Partitions.
- Highly compatible - Work perfectly with different disk brands, such as Samsung, WD, SanDisk, Crucial, Corsair, etc.
100% Secure- By default, this software uses the intelligent clone feature to clone only used sectors of a drive, ensuring you can clone larger drive to smaller drive easily. It minimizes the cloned drive won’t boot issue due to not enough space as well.
Step 1: Connect the target drive to your computer using a SATA cable or adapter. Then, open AOMEI Cloner, click Clone > Disk Clone.
Step 2: You will then be asked to select the source disk and destination disk (with equal or larger capacity). Select them and click Next afterward.
Step 3(Important): Be sure to check SSD Alignment to improve disk performance (if it is). Click Edit Partitions to convert disk partition style while cloning MBR to GPT or vice versa. At last, check your settings and click Start Clone.
Conclusion
You can easily fix “Clonezilla unable to find target partition” by shrinking the partition size of the source disk and then cloning larger drive to smaller drive using Clonezilla. But it can be easier with a professional cloning software - AOMEI Cloner.
It integrates with Intelligent clone mode to clone a drive with only used sectors and transfer all contents to another one with secure boot. You can enjoy SSD Alignment to improve SSD disk performance, convert MBR to GPT using Edit Partitions, etc., during cloning.