I haven't used Easus, but I don't clone much. I deploy systems manually now, but I'm going to be setting up a PXE server and a cloning server this spring when I can get another room in the office building I'm in to house the darn things.
Linux works pretty simply, but Parted Magic isn't a full operating system in the same way that Windows is. Parted is a standalone OS, but all it's really good for is working with hard drives and doing some other minor testing. You wouldn't install it on a PC you wanted to just use like a desktop- you'd want something like Ubuntu for that. But, for hard drives.... whatever you want to do, it can do them.
I have a hunch that you guys wipe differently than I do. What a lot of people do for data erasure is something like dd, shred, or DBAN. Basically, those write 0's over all the data, making it a blank drive. I don't use this method, I use what's called "Secure Erase" (You can read about it here: https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-secure-erase-2626004 ). But, basically, Secure Erase is a command that works from the drive's firmware. It's a lot faster than using a 3 or 7 pass wipe (I don't believe one pass of zeros is good enough), and it's more secure, since the drive itself is doing the wiping, and not the software. You're basically telling the hard drive to blank itself, instead of telling software to do it.
The downside to Secure Erase is that it CANNOT be interrupted. If you have a power outage during a DBAN-style zero wipe, nothing bad happens. You just restart it later. If a power failure happens during a Secure Erase, your hard drive becomes a paperweight. This is where the problem of freezing comes in. The computer is totally responsive- I can move the mouse, open programs, and so-on. But, it doesn't matter since I have to wait for the program to finish it's wiping. When you get a problem drive in the bunch, oftentimes it'll wipe, but your system will "hang" with the dialogue window showing four bars that say "Finished". So, the drives SHOULD be fully wiped and done. But, I don't dare restart the PC. Instead, I just have to leave the PC until it loads the next dialogue. I've never had one that didn't load the next dialogue, but still- I don't like having a PC tied up for hours waiting. It's rare that I have this happen.... except for this last lot.
I've had a really high failure rate on that pallet. The packing of the drives I think is partially to blame, but the client says they've shipped them like that before with no issues (I know, isn't it fun when you get the first problem lot?), so my next thought is the trucking company. Considering that Reddaway had one of the boxes come off the pallet somehow, this really makes me think that they screwed up handling the pallet itself. A lot of the drives that failed are mechanical failures, not sector-based failures. Most drives from this lot that failed will make a buzzing noise instead of starting the motor, or they'll have the click of death, or they don't turn on at all. This really makes me think that something happened in shipping. All I can do is just slowly make my way through the lot and pray that the rest of the boxes do better.
I had a theory about RAM too. Parted shows you a RAM and CPU usage bar on the side of the screen. They say that you can run PM on 1GB RAM, but I run 2GB in my testers (I don't like pushing the limits). With 2GB installed, after taking some off to run graphics (I think 64MB), during a wipe, the OS uses 15% of the RAM. So, we should be good there. But, for curiosity's sake, I upped all the computers to 8GB of RAM. They booted a bit faster (To be expected), but they didn't wipe the drives any faster. It makes sense- the command to wipe is issued by HDD firmware, so you work at the speed of the HDD, not the speed of the software.
This spring, I need to redo a LOT of my facilities- I've grown a lot faster than I ever imagined, and I'm running into growing pains. It's taking me way too long to process hard drive lots, so I'm thinking about adding a server or two like JJinLV mentioned above. For trouble lots like this, they won't work at all. But, for good lots, it shouldn't be a problem. A little tip though: If you do Secure Erase, your PCs must be super stable- crashes kill drives. So, while checking machines, I use 80GB desktop drives. If your machine does fail somehow and eats them, who cares? They're scrap anyways....
Between adding PXE and cloning for deployment of laptops and desktops (Yes, Parted Magic can clone drives, but it's kind of clunky at doing it) and upgrading hard drive testing, it's going to be a heck of a Spring for me....
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