A Logical Answer To Hard Drive Cloning

Once the operating system is happy, it&'s time to install all the productivity and accessory software, such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, antivirus software and countless other packages. Anyone at all familiar with this process knows that it is laborious and time-consuming. In theory, once all the software is installed, a hard drive can be pulled from one system and installed in an identical one, and the hard drive will never know the difference; thankfully, in actuality this is usually the case as well.

System builders know how long it takes to install software and configure new systems, and they also know that they don&'t have time to do this on a system-by-system basis. The only practical way to install software on a mass-production basis is to manually set up the software once on a master drive and then clone additional hard drives as needed. Of course they all have to be installed in identical hardware platforms or else it might not run properly—but that&'s another story. Logicube&'s OmniClone 10Xi is a high-speed hard drive duplication system that can simultaneously make 10 copies of a master hard drive. The device is priced at $8,995.

Engineered for high-volume production, the OmniClone 10Xi can clone IDE, EIDE, UDMA and SATA hard drives at up to 3.5 Gbytes per minute. Speeds will vary on IDE drives. The master and target drives can be different brands, models and sizes. The duplication process is navigated from a paper-white touch screen. The touch screen lets users edit volume labels, enter passwords and store settings. What looks like a traffic light atop the unit is OmniClone&'s Visual Light Stack. The tricolor light stack displays the ongoing cloning status in a manner that&'s visible from a distance. This lets technicians in busy assembly labs get other things done while keeping an eye on the duplication status.

The OmniClone 10Xi has an integrated USB port that allows it to be connected to any Windows PC. It enables users to modify, defragment, reformat and manage the master drive contents. OmniClone&'s CleverCopy technology will automatically scale DOS, FAT16 and FAT32 file systems to precisely fit the target, and it skips blank areas on the master drive to save time. The mirror copy function performs sector-by-sector copying, and this should be used for Mac, Linux, Sun and all proprietary operating systems. Logicube offers several software and hardware options for the OmniClone 10Xi. NTFS CleverCopy supports all NT-based file systems and permits only the copying of selected partitions. MasterManager lets users add partitions from different sources to the master drive. OmniDiagnose allows data on bad sectors to be recovered and the sectors repaired. A database and bar-code reader also are optional; this lets users scan and log cloning sessions to include hard drive make, model, serial number and firmware revision. Scanned bar-code information is stored in a 64-Mbyte compact flash card for easy portability. The OmniClone&'s operating software is also stored on the flash card, and Logicube offers free lifetime software updates for registered users.

The OmniClone 10Xi is ideal for use by system builders in busy assembly centers, and it&'s sized to fit in cramped settings. The unit measures 18.75 inches wide by 2.5 inches high by 24.75 inches deep and weighs 15 pounds. Solution providers that are still cloning systems manually will want to get their hands—and drives—on this unit.

A product such as Logicube&'s is not designed to be resold to enterprise-level customers. The company&'s channel program focuses more on supporting the direct buyer (usually a system builder) as opposed to the traditional reseller. Logicube&'s products are available direct or through large tech catalogs or a small reseller network.

The company offers free Web-based training, and classroom training is available for a fee of $860. There are no costs for becoming a partner, but partners must demonstrate technical ability to sell and support the company&'s products. Margins range from 7 percent to 17 percent and the company does offer demo units, determined on a case-by-case basis. Support is handled directly by Logicube, and the same level of support is offered to both end users and partners. Partners have access to a dedicated Web portal and a complete technical knowledge base for troubleshooting purposes 24x7. Logicube offers a standard one-year warranty on parts and labor and can handle all warranty requests directly with the end user.

While Logicube offers ample support for in-house use of its products and good support for distribution partners, the company&'s channel program is not designed for resellers just looking to move product. Also, there is very little opportunity for ongoing revenue generation. The real advantage offered by Logicube&'s products translates to saved time in the manufacturing and deployment process, where time truly equates to money. With that in mind, high-volume VARs may want to pass on partnering with Logicube, but businesses aimed at supporting system builders will find plenty of advantages to offering Logicube&'s products to their customers.