Software license legality

[N E Day Pc Repair]

I've searched around the forums and have a vague idea about this but I want to make sure before I do somthin that could be conceived of as illegal.

I finally have space enough to set up a bench machine and the following scenario is what my questions are about.

Example, customer gets a bigger harddrive, I want to clone that drive and place on the new with say acronis bench, its $75.00 per license. Could I without breaking license get 1 for my bench machine and just hook drives up to it without paying for extra licenses?

I just don't want to break the law and get shut down.

 

[16k_zx81]

Why not just email some of the major imaging software providers and see who has a EULA that will do what you want?

There are heaps of imaging and disk management programs around. They all do the same thing. If you need universal restore, theres Sysprep, which comes with MS OS license.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_disc_image_software

And if you dont want to pay anything, theres Clonezilla, which, I think, is free for commercial use. However its a boot environment, so will not run from windows (vm maybe?)
http://sourceforge.net/projects/clonezilla/

Redo is free for commercial use and will run on bench machine in windows
http://redobackup.org/

Theres also Microsoft ImageX - its part of AIK which is specifically for OEMs to use so should be fine for bench machine (someone please correct me if this is wrong)

.

 

[N E Day Pc Repair]

Thank you for your reply.

The reason I ask is, I hear you all mention the different free/paid ones to use, but no mention really on if you just use it on the bench and swap out the drives or get extra licenses and pass the cost off on the customer.

I had just been going over it in my head today and the reason I picked acronis was it was one of the most mentioned, so I called them and asked about their license and they have no tech license just $75.00 per computer, which is why I decided to ask what you all thought/or do.

 

[Larry Sabo]

My understanding about Acronis, is you can install and run it on one computer, but can connect others' drives to image/clone/restore. I suspect that using the boot CD to use the program with other computers than the one it's installed on, violates the EULA.

 

[16k_zx81]

Thank you for your reply.

The reason I ask is, I hear you all mention the different free/paid ones to use, but no mention really on if you just use it on the bench and swap out the drives or get extra licenses and pass the cost off on the customer.

I had just been going over it in my head today and the reason I picked acronis was it was one of the most mentioned, so I called them and asked about their license and they have no tech license just $75.00 per computer, which is why I decided to ask what you all thought/or do.

...which is why I replied that there are other companies with different licensing agreements and some free options.

Acronis is not the be-all-and-end-all of drive imaging solutions.

.

 

[N E Day Pc Repair]

Thanks all, I was just using acroniss as an example cause it had been the only one i had time to call

And thanks for the suggestions

 

[bertie40]

I use Redobackup quite regularly.

It's a Linux based boot disk with a few useful additions built in, and it's free to use commercially. Its open source software.

Maybe not the fastest imager, but "gut feeling" has a lot to do with this type of software choice.

It's a matter of confidence.
I just "feel" that this performs reliably.

I use to use clonezilla, and never had any problem with it, but I just welcomed the simplistic GUI that redo uses.

I had some bad experiences with acronis which put me off them for life. The software grew too big.
Regards

 

[N E Day Pc Repair]

Very true, I have that one, just haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I was mainly trying to find out how you all handle the single licenses as Larry said.

I am just trying to find out wether using a single license on a bench machine is a technicality or a violation. And I don't just mean acronis, that was an example.

Please chime in as I would like all of your opinions on this.

 

[Larry Sabo]

I think you can only answer the question by thoroughly reading the EULA for each, or sometimes their features comparison where they compare the Technician version with other versions. Might have to contact them, too.

 

[16k_zx81]

I think you can only answer the question by thoroughly reading the EULA for each, or sometimes their features comparison where they compare the Technician version with other versions. Might have to contact them, too.

Now there's a clever idea

...........

 

[AlaDes]

I checked into Acronis almost two years ago because I was wondering the same thing myself. According to their sales rep, they do not offer any type of technician's license nor did they plan to. However, they will allow you to become a reseller for them and sell you the licenses wholesale at about $20.00 each, provided you purchase several licenses at once (I think the minimum was 10 or more per order). You can clone the computer using your bench machine but must license the computer you cloned with their software (kind of wierd but that's what the rep told me).

 

[Altster]

"OPEN SOURCE", think OPEN Source Software....

Do a Google search and start getting acquainted with Open-Source (free) software. You will be glad you did!