I would think that HDDSuperClone could "stabilise" a USB-connected device by controlling the power rail and USB data lines through appropriate hardware. A mechanical relay or electronic load switch could control the +5V power while a high speed IC analog switch could control the data lines.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I do not own a DeepSpar USB Stabilizer. I also don't even have any good USB only drives to test with, and have to use adapters for testing. But I understand what the stabilizer does, and have figured out how to best implement the ability with software. The Direct USB mode takes over the USB device and communicates as directly as possible with software. This allows the use of timers and sending different reset commands, and power cycles with a relay.

If anyone has a DeepSpar USB Stabilizer and is interested in performing comparison tests, I would be willing to provide a license for hddsuperclone. But to truly test you would also need a YKush (or a modified USB cable with a relay) for power cycles.

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

I don't have a DeepSpar USB stabilizer. But I would be willing to buy a YKush 3 and try a bad wd usb hard drive or a good drive for testing.

Direct USB mode videos made.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE_WanbbzgM
Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM17AEz06hk
Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEwoZMTUxn4
Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXfHI8 ... QTQ/videos

For those who just want to see it work without going through all of the how to stuff skip to part 3.

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

And as an added bonus, I made a video about the HDDLiveCD, and also how to make it into a Live USB. When someone says they don't know how to run HDDSuperClone or use Linux, point them to this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-p31s93cLg

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

In my web searching I found someone requested HDDSuperClone to be reverse engineered (cracked) on the Reverse Engineering Team site. I almost feel like my software has made it to the big leagues

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

Your software is great and thanks for the videos.

New version released.

HDDSuperClone Changelog

version 2.3.3 20220430
* Fixed an issue with the virtual driver only mode

HDDSCViewer Changelog

version 1.0 20220212
* Added the option to load a domain
* Log and domain file names are displayed
* Block information is shown in display

HDDLiveCD changelog

2022_04_30
Updated HDDSuperClone to version 2.3.3
Updated DMDE to version 4.0.0.800

2022_02_12
Updated HDDSCViewer to version 1.0

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

FYI

There is an interesting project that can use built in Linux abilities to mount an image file with a ddrescue log file as a device complete with read errors. It can be found here:

https://github.com/CKingX/ddrescue_error_mapping

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

Is it possible to save the created image file back to the hdd with its original structure?
I mean, not with hddsuperclone, but maybe a linux command or any other software?
Thanks

Maximus is great . Hddsuperclone is evolving day by day into a super power tool. He is generous to make it available free of cost.
Appreciate all the efforts. I am taking this opportunity to make a small feature request,
I always get trouble in saving log (selection of save location). I want to have a folder on installation directory where logs will get automatically saved.
Same is for screenshots , if tool has some function to take screenshot and save in program directory automatically ,that will be very easy.
Thanks

It has come to my attention that HDDSuperClone has compatibility issues with newer version of Linux, for both the free version and the pro features. My current solution is that if you want it to work, stick with an older version of Linux. If you must have the latest version of Linux, then understand that I may not be able to support it.

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

Just an FYI to everyone, I have been thinking heavily about making HDDSuperClone open source. This is mostly because I want to drop support for it. Right now it doesn’t work with the latest versions of Linux, and I just don’t have the time or desire to deal with that. And I also just spent hours working on firewall rules to try to stop the damn Russians from constantly trying to hack my licensing server causing it to lock up and need to reboot regularly. It doesn’t make that much money, and I just don’t have the time for it anymore. I have other things I should be spending my time on. More thoughts about this to come...

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

Sorry to hear about this, the hacking and compatibility issues.

I can see how you'd want an online licensing server, but this type of trouble, well all server side trouble made me decide against it. Simple licensing an take for granted people will abuse it. I try to avoid software that needs a server to connect to for it to work, gets more difficult every day.

OS incompatibility, one of the most frustrating things. One day everything works and by accident you find out an update breaks something, or worse you find your mailbox filled with 'does not work' messages.

Maybe open sourcing it will solve the issues for the software, but many fine open source projects go to waste. Or some commercial party may make cosmetic changes and make money with it, specially with an excellent tool like this.

Can you not make it LiveCD/USB only so you're sure it runs a Linux version you tested? And then for licensing dongle it to a specific UFD? So client sends hardware serial for the UFD he intends to use, you generate a license key based on that + date + licensing period + name (or something)?

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Joep - http://www.disktuna.com - video & photo repair & recovery service

Oh .
Maximus you have taken great efforts spent lots of time. Hddsuperclone has evolved over the years.
Yes day by day operational cost has increased many fold.
I suggest instead of giving totally free , if you could charge some small amount like $ 49 , thousands of copied will be sold as it is affordable. Only licensed version will get updates .
This will cover your development cost. This lite version will be having only basic cloning functions.
More advanced version will cost $99 . Forensic version having capability to calculate hash alongwith many other reporting features will cost $ 499 + Dongle .

First of all I would like to thank your for your great software!

Regarding firewall you can get the latest RIPE GeoLocation database from https://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/stats/delegat ... ncc-latest and update firewall rules to block all hostile countries, you will not lose too much

It would be a huge loss if you give up HDDSuperClone support. You have already spent a lot of time to create very useful software competing with the largest DR products. You shouldn't lose this capital for free making it OpenSource. I'm affraid no one will have sufficient knowledge, attitude and free time to develop HDDSuperClone as OpenSource instead of you. When you open the sorce there is a good chance that your ideas in HDDSuperClone will be used by other DR companies and sold by them as a "new feature" and your will not get any cent from it.

LiveUSB ISO Linux distribution compatible with HDDSuperClone may be the only software distribution channel. You'll be sure that every change to a single line of code will work the same way for all your customers, so you won't have to spend time researching strange software behavior in one client and "chasing a rabbit" after a new Linux kernel is released. You will have time to focus on HDDSuperClone development (and earnimg the money from it )

When it comes to software activation, the license server is not the most cost-effective solution for a single developer. You can sell the license as an activation code generated semi-automatically or even offline. Activation can be be tied to PC hardware or pendrive serial number like DMDE did it - and it is a great idea. Activation code can be saved in text file on pendrive with LiveUSB, as well as other tools like DMDE or R-Studio in Linux packages accessible within LiveUSB system. Of course, there is a risk that someone will make a crack for your software, but companies that operate in the DR business won't risk installing crack with a surprise like Trojan horse when dealing with customer data. Furthermore, it's better to sell less software licenses due to pirated versions then giving your whole hard work for free!

Don't give up!

Whick Linux version has issues, since 20.04 or 22.04?

I would like to add that this isn’t about money. It is about the amount of time required to keep up with even minimal support. Unless there was some magic way I could make enough money from it to quit my full time job (not going to happen), then I must focus on my full time job, and my life outside of that. Dealing with the software is all is my spare time. All the little things add up. Keeping up with making it work on new Linux kernels (major changes are a pain, and I struggle to understand what needs to be done unless I can find help online, many hours and days of searching and work). Keeping the website functional (it sucked when Google when to shit and I had to completely redo the site, lots of time spent on that). Keeping up with bugs has also sometimes been a challenge, but I think that I have been on top of that and there should not be any major bugs.


The licensing server is only for purchase, and connects with PayPal to verify purchase, and then emails the license. And don’t get me going on PayPal automation issues that have caused me much troubleshooting time for issues on their end. Activation is totally separate and has a much more robust and easy way. My method for activation is outside the box thinking, and is something I am proud of enough that some others may find useful from the source code.

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

22.04 has major changes with the virtual driver that I am not sure I can overcome, and don't plan on spending the time trying. There is also something with the USB library even with the free version, for which I am not sure how easy or hard to resolve, and also don't feel like spending the time on.

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone

And another thing about time, the LiveCD is still based on Ubuntu 18.04. I want to get it updated to 20.04, but everything takes time... if only I had a time machine to get things done without taking up all of my time...

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http://www.hddsuperclone.com
Home of HDDSuperClone