PCclone

PCclone was a software application developed by PC-Soft that allowed users to create exact replicas of their personal computer systems. It functioned as a disk imaging and cloning utility, enabling the user to capture the entire contents of a hard drive, including the operating system, applications, user data, and partition structure, into a single image file. This image file could then be used to restore the original system to the exact state it was in when the image was created.

The primary use case for PCclone was system backup and disaster recovery. If a hard drive failed or the operating system became corrupted, users could boot from a PCclone recovery disk and restore their system from the last created image. This saved significant time and effort compared to reinstalling the operating system and all applications from scratch. PCclone also facilitated system deployment and migration. Businesses could use it to quickly set up multiple identical workstations by cloning a master system image. Similarly, users upgrading to a new hard drive could clone their old drive's contents onto the new one, ensuring a seamless transition without needing to reconfigure everything. The software typically supported various imaging methods, including full disk images and incremental backups, and offered options for compression to reduce the size of the image files.