DriveClone 3 Pro
$49.99
FarStone Technology
www.farstone.com/software/driveclone-pro.htm
CPUs: 4

Most backup software can be categorized as either a “drive imager,” a “file archiver,” or a “snapshot taker.” Very rarely does a single product fall into all three of these categories while still doing each job well, but FarStone Technology’s DriveClone 3 Pro is one of those products. It isn’t without a hiccup or two, but it has all the bases covered to ensure good backups of your whole system, your setup and configuration, and all your data files.

DriveClone works in three modes and adds some useful utilities. The first mode is System Backup, which basically takes a whole image of a drive or boot partition and copies it elsewhere. Almost magically, it manages to successfully copy Windows from within Windows while Windows is running, if you follow me, but other programs need to be shut down. The File Archiver copies sets of files and folders, either manually or on a schedule. The Snapshot Taker works in place of Windows’ own System Restore, recording snapshots to a hidden partition on your main hard drive. All three modes also allow for incremental updates, so backups only record changes.

DriveClone can write system back-ups and file backups to second internal drives, external USB devices, burnable CDs/DVDs, and even over a LAN to a network drive, and it does it all very quickly with compression set to Medium. A Linux-based boot disc allows for restoring from all modes and from all sources, even if Windows won’t boot.

Foibles? Just minor ones. The installer doesn’t install all of the DriveClone’s features by default, which is odd; choose the Advanced installation and follow the prompts to activate everything. Secondly, DriveClone just didn’t like one of my PCs, constantly stating “System partition space or continuous space is not enough,” even though I was using a 20GB drive with 4GB of data on it. So try the program before buying it. Finally, some PCs just don’t like Linux bootable CDs, so test the Restore CD before relying on it.

That said, DriveClone 3 Pro works marvelously and can handle all your backup needs in one slick package.

by Warren Ernst