Tink vs Partclone
Partclone writes a used-block partition image. That is not a mechanic. Tink installs in one command, watches the Linux host, explains what is wrong, and helps you fix it.
Partclone writes the image. Tink answers “why is this VPS sick?”
Accidental sysadmins land on Partclone because a used-block clone looks like insurance. Then the host volume fills, nginx dies, and the last partclone.ext4 -c still looks complete — no restore match for host fill. A filling /var is a Tink warning; it is not a Partclone job unless you scraped cron mail and watched it.
Tink is the other job: detect the issue on the machine, say why it happened in plain English, propose the command, and run it only after you approve. Keep using Partclone if you already run partition images. Use Tink if you run Linux servers and want a mechanic.
| Feature | Tink | Partclone |
|---|---|---|
| Setup time | 30 seconds (one curl | sh command) | Hours — live vs rescue media, which /dev/sdXN to clone, gzip pipe, then a host that still has no mechanic after the last partclone.ext4 -c exits 0 |
| What you get | Working monitoring, diagnosis, and approved fixes | A used-block partition image and a restore path. Disk fill, nginx, Postgres, and certs stay your problem until you SSH past the last -c |
| Pricing | Free (Scout) / $9 / $29 per machine per month | GPL and free. You still pay the person who owns the VPS after the last .img file looks complete |
| Hidden costs | None — fully managed | A quiet image that is not host fill, a second disk for the clone, and a second tool to tell you the box is sick while partclone.chkimg still looks finished |
| Monitoring approach | Agent on the server — CPU, disk, services, logs, certs, ports | partclone.ext4 -c, partclone.restore, and chkimg. Partclone does not watch a quiet cert or host auth.log after the last image landed |
| Configuration | None after install — heuristics and AI | Which filesystem binary, -s source, -o output, gzip pipe, and which failed clone actually pages you |
| Plain-English diagnosis | Yes — AI explains root cause, impact, and fix | You read partclone -v and the clone log, then SSH into the host to change the Linux box Partclone already sits on |
| Fix execution | Proposes and executes approved commands with an audit trail | partclone.ext4 -c and partclone.restore — Partclone cannot free host disk, rotate a cert, or stop SSH brute-force unless you restore the whole partition |
| Alerting | Built-in across 8 channels | Not a Partclone job — cron mail from a failed clone plus a separate monitoring tool have to fire |
| Predictive alerts | Yes — disk fills in ~6 days, memory and CPU trends | Not a Partclone job — an image date does not forecast a quiet host filling up |
| SSH brute-force detection | Built-in — parses auth.log every scan | Never — Partclone does not read host auth.log, journald, or firewall state after the last image landed |
| Machine offline detection | Agent presence monitoring with multi-channel alerts | Silence if the host dies after the last partclone.ext4 -c — unless you built a separate uptime check |
| Public status page | Shareable URL with 90-day history | None — Partclone has no customer-facing status page for the Linux host |
| Weekly fleet digest | Automated Monday digest + daily brief when issues are open | None — a chkimg recap is not a plain-English fleet narrative |
| On-call tracking | Built-in /oncall command + incident acknowledgment | Not included — wire failed clone into PagerDuty or another incident tool |
| Conversation interface | Telegram, WhatsApp, web dashboard, CLI | partclone.chkimg and SSH. No mechanic you text when /var filled and the last image still showed complete |
| Learning curve | None — works after install | Steep — live vs offline clone, matching partclone.ext4 vs partclone.ntfs, restore to a different-size partition, and which failure is the image vs the running host |
| Best for | Freelancers, small teams, accidental sysadmins (1-50 Linux servers) | Teams that already run Partclone for used-block images, not a sick-VPS mechanic |
When Partclone is the right choice
Keep using Partclone when you already want that exact job:
- Used-block partition clone — you need partclone.ext4 -c, partclone.restore, and a .img you can restore to a matching filesystem, not a mechanic.
- An existing Clonezilla stack — Clonezilla already calls Partclone, gzip pipes, and restore from an image matter more than guest nginx, certs, and SSH on a quiet VPS.
- An existing lab or nested setup — Partclone already runs, the image already exists, and someone owns the backup disk.
- Hosts that only page on clone or cron death — you already run failed-clone cron mail, not a sick-box SSH loop.
The real cost of “just watch the clone log”
Partclone writes a used-block partition image. A working ops loop for five Linux boxes is not:
- A healthy .img still means you SSH into the host and change the box by hand when it gets sick later
- Host fill, nginx, certs, and SSH brute-force never appear unless a separate tool scraped those signals and a rule fired
- A filling /var is a Tink disk warning on every scan — Partclone will stay quiet until the next clone fails
- A single VPS with a dead agent still needs a mechanic, not another partition image
For a 5-server team, Tink Mechanic at $45/month is cheaper than the engineer who keeps failed-cron notifications alive after a green partclone.ext4 -c, and every scan includes a diagnosis a quiet .img list will not type.
No Partclone clone homework. No silent host. One command install.
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