HDClone

HDClone is a disk cloning and backup application by Miray Software. It supports copying storage devices sector-by-sector as well as file-by-file, which allows to create both, a physical and a logical identical copy. Supported are x86 und x64 computer architectures, the Windows desktop versions XP-10 and the Windows Server versions 2003 - 2016. HDClone is offered as download - the pay version may also be purchased as copy on CD. The license model is Freemium. By the price policy, HDClone is for home users and for professional users. HDClone is offered in 7 languages (while the website focuses on German and English), has several hundred thousand users worldwide and has been sold in over 140 countries.

Overview

Functionality

The Primary aim of HDClone is cloning storage devices and creating or restoring storage device images. GeneRally it is possible to start HDClone directly on Windows or as stand-alone from a boot media. With the boot media it is possible to implement a Bare-metal Restore. On Windows HDClone offers a command-line interface which allows automatic control, e.g. in combination with the Windows Task Scheduler. With the Enterprise Edidion it is possible to write on 16 storage devices at once. With the separate tool Miray Virtual Disk it is possible to mount images on Windows as virtual drives in order to access their content.

Editions

HDClone is offered in several editions. The Free Edition is free of charge and offers a basic functionality for cloning and creating respectively restoring images. For additional functionalities higher editions must be purchased. Some of these additional funcionalities are amongst others:

• Less or no throttling of the data transfer rate.
• Unlimited size for storage devices.
• File-by-file data transfer.
• Differential Images.
• Control via a command-line interface.
• Parallel writing on up to 16 storage devices in one run.

Tools

Depending on the edition HDClone has the following additional software modules:

• Sektor editor for storage devices.
• Speed test for storage devices.
• Info center for storage devices (e.g. for S.M.A.R.T. values).
• Partition editor (MBR / GPT).
• TRIM tool for SSDs.
• Tool for creating an ISO file from an optical storage device.
• Tool for editing registry hives.
• Miray Virtual Disk: separate tool for mounting images as virtual drives.

File systems

HDClone supports edition-dependent the following functionalities for the listed file systems.

Boot media

It is possible to make an USB drive or an optical medium bootable in order to start HDClone from it, independently of Windows. This also allows it to copy operating systems, on which the HDClone executable file can't be started. It uses either Miray Symobi or Linux as host operating system.

Symobi

Symobi is the proprietary real-time operating system from Miray Software. It was the sole base for starting HDClone via a boot media in the first 5 years (until HDClone 3.5 ). Symobi is based on the message-oriented operating system µnOS, which itself is again based on the real-time kernel Sphere.

µnOS version 0.92 was officially presented on 1 August 2001. Intermediately, Sphere SP 2.0 was released on 14 May 2002. Symobi then was presented for the first time with version 1.2 at the "Systems" fair in Munich in the year 2006. And in the following year again, the version 1.4 with multi-core support for up to 32 processor cores.

Miray Virtual Disk

With the separate tool Miray Virtual Disk it is possible to mount with HDClone created images on Windows as virtual drives. This allows it to access the contained data via the Windows Explorer. Depending on the edition it is possible to mount from 1 to 7 images at the same time - optionally permanently and writeable. If the content of a mounted image is changed, then these changes are stored in an overlay which functions as differential image and may also be included for restoring the respective image.

History

On 31 March 2003 HDClone version 1.0 was announced, and on 25 April 2003 HDClone was officially presented. HDClone startet as stand-alone product which required a boot media to start it. After five years, with version 3.6 it was also possible to start HDClone directly on Windows. However, parallel writing on multiple storage devices was already realised for the Enterprise Edition one year before. In 2010 came with version 3.9 the command-line interface for the automatic control. In the same year Miray Virtual Disk was added as separate tool to version 4.0, which allowed to open HDClone images as virtual storage devices for the first time. After four years version 5.0 was equipped with support for SATA hot plugging.

Versions

Reception

• „HDClone is perfectly suited for creating an identical copy of smaller hard disk drives.“ (German original text: „HDClone ist hervorragend dafür geeignet, eine identische Kopie kleinerer Festplatten zu erstellen.“) Michael Humpa (Chip software editorial staff), 11 April 2016
• „HDClone is a fast, lucid and fully developed program. The use of HDClone can provide an effective protection against private data loss as well as in the company.“ (German original text: „Der Einsatz von HDClone kann sowohl privat als auch in der Firma effektiv vor dem Verlust von Daten schützen.“) (Netzwelt), 12 April 2015
• „HDClone Free Edition makes it easy to clone, create images, or back up drives and data.“ (CNET), 6 January 2015

Reviews

Various German computer magazines, like "PC Magazin", "Computerbild", "com!", "Computerwoche" and "Chip", published tips on how to use HDClone for duplicating hard disk drive content. Internationally HDClone is mainly described via digital journalism.

The Free Edition has been praised by German computer magazines for its clear and simple user interface and recommended for copying small hard disk drives. It has been criticized for limited and left out functionalities, which are only available for the paid versions. The reduced data transfer rate has been mentioned in this regard from time to time. Some reports highlight the practice of the boot media which allows using HDClone independently from the installed operating system.

Literature

HDClone is mentioned as example for disk cloning software in some international books.

A few international books use HDClone also as case example for disk cloning software with a detailed description:

• Hak Cipta: Langkah Cerdas Mengamankan dan Menyelamatkan Data pada Hard Disk 2010, S. 136-139,
• Сенкевич Глеб Евгеньевич: Искусство восстановления данных 2011, S. 201-204,
• Antonio Luís Cardador Cabello : Testeo y verificación de equipos y periféricos microinformáticos. 2014, S. 168-176,

Trivia

• Until version 5 the clone-sheep Sheepy (a comic sheep) was used as mascot for HDClone. This may be a reference to the real clone sheep Dolly.
• With the release of HDClone 6 there was a raffle of six software boxes with dedication and signature from the developers, which also contained a copy of the computer game The Ultimate Doom.
• Since 8 September 2003 the HDClone Free Edition is part of the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD), a bootable CD, which contains a collection of software tools, which are mostly for the system diagnosis.
• HDClone occasionally wishes a happy birthday at the license information (e.g. Marius on 16 April, Franziska on 20 April or Alex on 1 May).

See also

• Disk cloning
• Comparison of disk cloning software
• Backup software
• List of backup software