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I re-addressed the question of drive cloning today - EaseUS seems to be getting some recommendations but the company is based in Chengdu, China and it comes cheap at $20 or less for their home Disk Copy software. I'm somewhat leery of using this kind of tool - I remember when they started showing up at the top of Google search results a few years ago and I was skeptical then, too (i.e., they may be paying reviewers to promote their software). Macrium Reflect X looks like a decent tool - it's not as cheap as EaseUS but they have a long history and a good reputation (Windows only). Acronis True Image may also be good - they add anti-ransomware tools which you may not need and some reviews noted a slower system startup (Windows and macOS). Both offer free trials and they start at about $50/year - subscription only. You can also use Clonezilla, which is free and open source. It was developed by Steven Shiau and the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) in Taiwan and it's been around since 2007 (Windows, Intel macOS, Linux, Unix). The Clonezilla interface is definitely more technical and less beginner-friendly than the other software. In my opinion, Windows is more of a serious candidate for drive cloning. Many tools exist at the enterprise level for backup and data management, but your average home/small business user doesn't do a good job of backup or disaster preparation. You can use these software tools along with an inexpensive drive/NAS to fully backup your system in case of data loss or hardware failure. Apple's macOS has built-in tools for backup (Time Machine), data migration (Migration Assistant), and disk encryption (FileVault 2). I've found that these tools work extremely well for most users - enterprise admins have more expensive and sophisticated MDM (mobile device management) software like Jamf Pro, Kandji, NinjaOne to run their Macs. Backblaze, a large cloud backup company, just released their quarterly drive stats for Q2 2025: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-drive-stats-for-q2-2025/ It's reassuring to see that most hard drives across the board have lower than 1% failure rates, with a few exceptions. Backblaze uses consumer SATA hard drives rather than more expensive enterprise drives, so your mileage may vary. It's also important to note that these are failures in operation - if Backblaze received a dead-on-arrival drive from their supplier, that's not going to go in their metrics.

Part Two of *mumble* The Wenlock Barracks apparently.   It's a dog photo with some background people and vehicles.     That's a lot of square trucks.  Time for some pointy ears. What we have here is a Corgi 90 and a Corgi 110, though looking now he might even be a Corgi 130.  At the time my (sainted, octogenarian) mother commented that the fella in the foreground was "first to the food bowl."  There's a case to be made for the parallels between Corgis and Land Rovers.  Both originate from the British Isles.  Both are expensive and high maintenance for what they are and can be a bit ...temperamental at times.  Both also have loyal (and in some cases, royal) fans who swear on their virtues vs other breeds/brands.  Also, both are quite photogenic.  Woof.

Just too fucking cute! When I was in my early teens, we got a cat that was originally named Skittles, but my mom renamed her to Skeeter (she had another cat by that name and she looked similar she said). In later years, I started reverting to calling her Skittles, and she would come to me when I called.  She also was not a lap cat so much, but loved to lie next to me and lean into me on one of our couches.  Such a sweetie....  

Skittles playtime!! IMG_3930.mov