Clone and copy legacy SCSI drives with multifunctional device solution

Solid State Disks Limited (SSDL) has released DuplicatorPlus, a device for cloning or copying the contents of most SCSI-based drives onto a CF card, networked computer or the cloud.

DuplicatorPlus can be used out of the box, as it includes a power lead and the cables/adaptors required to power and communicate with the legacy SCSI drive being cloned or copied. Also, if it is used to make a clone of a SCSI-based drive onto a CF card compatible with one of the company's SCSIFlash drives, it can be used as a swap-in replacement for the legacy SCSI drive. No modifications are needed to the host computer.

James Hilken, sales and marketing director of SSDL, explains: "In computing terminology, copying refers to making copies of individual files and folders. Cloning, on the other hand, is a block-by-block transfer of the entire image, including hidden folders."

The solution can also be utilised with the company's Windows-based Flash2GUI memory management software to: clone the image of a legacy SCSI drive in its entirety onto a CF card; clone just that part of the legacy drive which is formatted (for example, the host computer may have only formatted half of the legacy drive for use, in which case a lower capacity CF card can be used); copy (only) the data from one CF card to another; or clone the entire contents of one CF card onto another.

"This new product combines and adds to the functionality of two earlier SSDL products, a clone station and a dedicated card duplicator, which customers have used in the past, and which are still supported," continues Hilken. "DuplicatorPlus is just as compact, portable and easy to use as its predecessors, but it is now a multifunctional device."

Available immediately, DuplicatorPlus is compatible with most SCSI-based drives – such as early-generation hard disk and floppy disk drives – with 50-, 68-, or 80-pin connectors, and offers data transfer rates of more than 6Gb/min. It is supplied with a single 32GB industrial-grade CF card, but larger capacity cards are available upon request. A second card must be purchased for card-to-card copying.

Hilken concludes: "DuplicatorPlus is ideal for cloning the image of an electromechanical SCSI drive onto a CF card for backup purposes or, better still, for use in a solid-state-based SCSIFlash drive that can be used as swap-in replacement for the legacy drive. It's an ideal way of improving the reliability and extending the life of decades-old host computers that are still heavily relied upon in the aerospace, defence, telecoms and manufacturing sectors, for example."