HDClone 3.9 - Defragmentation "on the fly"

05/06/2010

The company Miray Software, located in Munich, Germany, releases version 3.9 of the cloning tool HDClone. The new version comes with a variety of new copying options. For instance, it is now possible to defragment a file system during creating the copy ("on the fly"), to create compressed file images and to downsize NTFS partitions.

In the new version 3.9, HDClone is now able, in addition to the well-known SmartCopy and SmartImage modes, to defragment the file system on demand. The defragmentation then will be performed within the copying process ("on the fly"). As a result, there is no significant additional time required for defragmentation from the user's view. In the recent versions, the size of file images was equal to the amount of data on the source medium and therefore had no options for saving space. This has changed in HDClone 3.9, which offers a "Compression" option, available from the Standard Edition upwards. Compression allows to create significantly smaller file images. The compression rate is comparable to the usual rates of compression software, with compression rates of 50 % achievable with standard installations.

Migrating entire Windows installations to smaller hard disks is now also supported. With previous versions, it has only been possible to migrate to system partitions of at least equal size. Now, HDClone ensures by actively downsizing of NTFS partitions successful copying to smaller partitions. This feature is included from the Basic Edition upwards. It allows users to easily migrate an existing installation to a faster, but usually smaller SSD drive, for example.

HDClone 3.9 also takes care for the advancing spread of hard disks with a 4K sector size and other sector sizes, deviating form the usual 512 byte. On demand, HDClone changes the alignment of partitions in the right way to avoid the feared speed drop, usually seen with conventional cloning software without 4K awareness. This feature is included in all editions of HDClone 3.9.

Another highlight in HDClone 3.9 is a command line version, which is included from the Professional upward. This version supports creating file images of drives and partitions. It can be started right from batch scripts or the Windows Task Scheduler, for example to create backups automatically at fixed times.

HDClone 3.9 is available as from May 10th, 2010 in different editions: Basic (19,90 €), Standard (39,90 €), Professional (99 €), and Enterprise (starting from 299 €). Additionally, we offer the Free Edition for private use. It is especially suitable for migrating existing installations to a new hard disk. HDClone 3.9 Free Edition will be available as a free download at www.miray.de/public/download/hdclone.3.9.fe.en.zip as from May 10th, 2010.

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