Greetings,

I've started cloning my drives in my DAW a few years back to preserve my system. I use Acronis cloning software. But for the life of me, I can't figure out why when I clone from one hard drive to an exact model duplicate hard drive (that has the same size), I always have to re-authorize all of my IK multimedia plugins and a host of others.

I know that these usually scream for you to re-authorize if it thinks your system/hard drive configuration has changed. So that must mean that these plugins are looking for some hardware serial number embedded in the drive somewhere.

So my question is, does anyone know of any utilities/tools that lets a user assign the same drive serial numbers to a cloned drive, so that the plugins don't see different system configuration?

It becomes a pain, because companies like IK Multimedia dock you each time you re-authorize. You are give, I think 5 authorizations to start with. But after that, I guess you have to buy the software again once your authorizations run out.
I can understand companies that do this to prevent piracy. But for the honest user that simply wants to back up his system regularly, this is unfair.

Anyway, your help is very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

(Sidebar note: I guess this is why I am one of the few people who actually doesn't mind using dongles. At least when I backup/clone my system, I don't have to re-authorize things, since dongles are USB peripherals)

So I'm assuming that the only time you use clone instead of system restore is when you upgrade/replace your system drive for some reason, correct?
Do you do this often?

Just curious.
I use True Image (and superduper on Mac) to make full system images, rather than cloning and switching drives when I need to restore.
Only clone when I absolutely must change disks, something I avoid unless a drive falls over on me.

As to your question:
Whatever is used to differentiate one hard drive from another is very likely hidden in the firmware or something, and therefore not accessible to the backup software.
Doubt you can do anything about it.

However, I definitely agree that it's silly.
The hard drive, IMO, is not a good thing to tie into copy protection.
Plenty of reasons why you might switch hard drives in the same machine (failure, more space, or simply moving them around on the bus), and plenty of other ways to tell if software is actually now on a different machine and requires re-activation (the reason they do this anyway). A hard drive is not static enough to use the way it's typically used. Never understood that bit.

Anyway.
I wish you luck.

- zevo

So I'm assuming that the only time you use clone instead of system restore is when you upgrade/replace your system drive for some reason, correct?
Do you do this often?

I use Acronis True Image. When you say make full system images vs. clone, for failure prevention reasons, I clone the disk to another disk. I then put the disk on the shelf for emergencies. But the last time I did this was at least 5 to 6 months ago. Since then I have acquired new software and added more samples. Because I don't have time to do re-installs of everything in the event of an emergency, I simply want to be able to just plug in the new drives and keep on moving. Hence the reason, I just try to clone everything (data and all).

Although, The first time I did it, it was because I was going to larger hard drives. Now I just need to buy the exact same drives and clone them to shelve for emergencies/catastrophe.

Thanks for your help

If I am not mistaken it's not a matter of the serial # of the drive, but registry keys and even folders hidden to the Windows API. So normal programs can't copy them. Rootkits and trojans use the same trick, basically.

You are given, I think, 5 authorizations to start with. But after that, I guess you have to buy the software again once your authorizations run out.

I've asked IK about this since I have some plugins authorized 3-4 times and some of those authorizations are for computers that no longer exist. They assured me that 5 is the limit they will do automatically. After that you need to contact them to get more.

Many programs use the Volume ID of the drive in combination with a licence key.

If you run up a command window and type vol<ENTER> you'll get to see what each disk's label is

Each drive has a manufacturer code, a BIOS version and a unique serial number that cannot be duplicated. In addition to that, some copy schemes hide information on the disk in a file that is not seen by the operating system. One way to do that is to store the information in a sector and then add that sector to the bad block file. It will be forever ignored by the OS. When you clone or backup a disk, it won't copy the bad block file. That would be silly, because the new drive won't have the same bad blocks on it. The registration information isn't copied, then. Some of the newer, more insightful copy protection schemes can tolerate hardware changes, such as adding more memory, upgrading the CPU, adding/replacing a disk drive and so on.

Hi, there, I recently heard about a software named Easeus todo backup which can copy an indentical hard drive of the previous one. And the software is easy to use, with the step-by-step instruction. I have tried for onece, it turned out satisfying. When you plan to for future use, Easeus todo backup is the best choice.

Hi, there, I recently heard about a software named Easeus todo backup which can copy an indentical hard drive of the previous one. And the software is easy to use, with the step-by-step instruction. I have tried for onece, it turned out satisfying. When you plan to for future use, Easeus todo backup is the best choice.

I clone everything and also spend 6 months in AZ, 6 months in MN. I pull the drives and pop them into the other computer when I move. The hardware isn't exactly the same so windows 7 makes me activate again but it just takes a couple seconds on line. 
 
Couple years ago IK would go nuts when I moved and I would have to email and then CALL them and use up another activation every time I moved. Since then nothing happens... I get no complaints when I clone or switch computers. I have no idea what I did to deserve this special treatment but it is great.
 
John