Clone X is specially designed to create a copy of your system, to duplicate it on other disks or computers, and to repair and reinstall the system in case of problems (damaged system, errors during installation.). With Mac OS X, the system is now a very complex construction. It is no longer confined within the OS 9 System folder, but is distributed all around multiple folders, most of them being inaccessible (invisible, protected or permission denied). Moreover, any copy or installation must preserve permissions and ownership of each file.
Was hoping that someone who has downloaded this or paid for it could enlighten us as to why we would pay this huge amount versus other software that does this.
How does it compare to SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner? I have used CCC for years and it has been stellar. Never ever had an issue with a clone from it and it is Donationware. I have even donated a few times, but technically it is free as it can get.
SuperDuper! has also been very solid.
Would like to have justification as to why it is worth this amount.
a very reliable product
Pros
clear, fast, helpfull
Cons
nothing to say
Summary
Needs much more work
Jason!
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This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I've tried Clone X in the past, but I downloaded the version 3 trial today to see if it had improved. Much to my dismay, it has not.
The first problem I noticed is that the installer DMG contains two PDF manuals. One claims to be French and the other English. However, both files are actually French. There is no English manual in spite of one PDF saying it is in English! I might expect this from immature software, but Clone X is not at version 3!
I then launched the app (not knowing what recommendations the manual has since I cannot read French). The interface seemed self-explanatory enough, so I thought I would do a test clone from my internal 120GB hard drive to my external 120GB firewire drive. I have made this type of clone before using Apple's Disk Utility in OS X. I had hoped Clone X might be faster, as Clone X, by its very name, is supposed to excel at cloning. However, it took well over 3 hours to clone just under 100GB of data (on my 1.7GHz G4 Mac).
I suppose I can live with a 3 hour cloning time for 100GB of data, but I had hoped that Clone X would make me a perfect clone. Disk Utility does a pretty good job, but some of my applications (like little Snitch and Adobe apps) sense that the disk has been cloned and then I have to re-register again. Sadly, Clone X makes a worse clone than Apple's Disk Utility. Upon completing the clone operation, I was presented with an Errors dialog. Clone X told me there were a total of 2193 errors. It then listed the following data, which I really don't know what to make of since the following numbers total more than 2193:
On File: 1493
On Folders: 6992
Others: 7
It then told me that Clone X couldn't set permissions on some files, couldn't modify some dates, and couldn't set correct file sizes -- which it says is a "critical error."
In light of the fact there is nothing fancy about my computer setup, I am greatly disappointed by this software. I would have expected a dedicated cloning application, especially at version 3.0, to have worked better than Apple's Disk Utility. But that is not the case with Clone X. And to think, this software costs nearly US$50!
User beware.
Wow
Hockpooh777
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This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is very user friendly. I really like how it is clear about what's going on. It looks great on top of all that and seems to work just fine. Cloning is a VERY VERY VERY serious subject. People who make these types of applications should not put them out until they are 100% sure that they work. I have a Master & Slave. I use the Slave for a monthly backup using SuperDuper. I also have a external firewire HD that is used for a backup every month. I've learned my lesson the hard way. Sometimes it takes awhile to find the fault in a backup application. So far this one looks OK. If this proves to be right on every single time, then it may replace my SuperDuper. I do like the look and feel of this much more. The bootCD and backup options are very cool. The price is cheap compared to loosing everything.
Landfill fodder
Xeater
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This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I tried out Clone'X with the intent of moving my system to a new HD. I'd used Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) in the past with great success, but this could make CD-R backups so it seemed worth the trouble. WRONG. Lucky for me I tested it out before erasing anything from the old drive. The first problem is that it can't seem to clone my home directory, which makes it pretty much useless since I have to use CCC anyways. But the main problem is downright frightening: Clone'X MISSED my utilities folder! I RTFM and couldn't find anything that I did wrong, so I tried it again and it made a complete clone. Unfortunately, this begs the question, when will Clone'X next forget to clone a file/folder, and will it be something irreplaceable? For me, a backup utility that doesn't consistently work is utterly worthless--there's no wiggle-room for backup utilities. I don't have the confidence in Clone'X's reliability to ever use it again.
Note: I gave Clone'X a "poor" rating on price primarily because it doesn't work, and also because it cannot be used to backup the Home directory, and because some of its competition (CCC) is donationware.
vaccaro
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This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Does the job and does it simply. No muss. No fuss. Both Clone'X and CCC do the job but do it differently. Is Clone'X worth
Peteyboy
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This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Repeat the mantra: Carbon Copy Cloner
SystemLord
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This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />"Copy Succesfully Terminated!" How nice. They should have named the company Tri-Others.
vascott1
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This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I tried it and I am not impressed. Main problem is it will NOT clone /Users. If there is any value without that, I am