Hard Disk Cloning
For the average computer, or even an average small-to-medium sized business, anything more than periodic hard disk cloning might be considered overkill for backup purposes. Once these businesses have a good backup copy of OS files and applications (which are usually readily available in the form of OEM or recovery disks) it is only the data and files that change on a regular basis that need to be backed up to insure their accuracy and value upon restore.
The process of copying an entire image of a computer disk drive to another blank disk drive is called hard disk cloning. When cloning a disk, data files, as well as operating system, application, system state and active directory files, are copied directly to the new drive. Instead of multiple formats of data, a single source can be tapped for an entire drive’s worth of data.
Hard disk cloning allows a computer user to simply boot the new ‘cloned’ computer and resume use, as if they were using the original machine. As a data backup and recovery tool, disk cloning has received attention as a great way to preserve entire computing environments instead of only the data and files preserved by data backup and remote backup utilities.
Another common use for hard disk cloning is as a process to migrate data from one computer to another. Instead of creating multiple backups of data and files to be manually installed on a new computer, a hard disk cloning process allows a user to migrate to a new, perhaps faster, computer while minimizing hassle, downtime and manual processes. For moving a mobile workforce member’s data to a new laptop, for example, hard disk cloning is ideal.
At RBS, our software has been used in hard disk cloning-type applications for many years, primarily where those disks contained data and files, perhaps as a component in a drive array. If you are considering hard disk cloning as a means of data backup, give us an opportunity to show you have our remote backup software may be the ideal data protection solution for you.
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