Hi there!
We prefer also cloning the venue hdīs; mainly for our musical productions we take care of:
When the premiere is done, and the sound designer is satisfied with the setup, we first take a backup of the whole console on a usb-stick, then we clone the harddisk of the FoH-Rack, and put it in an extra caddy, so itīs always ready-to-use. (But luckily we didīt need it, so far...)
In case of really bad software trouble, or hd crash, this is the fastest help in our opinion, instead of re-installing to latest situation.
(And as we all know - such things only happen when you have absolutely no time for!
)
In my opinion, the backup on the usb-stick should be a daily procedure, anyway.
This ensures to keep also the latest changes (if any), and always re-cloning the hdīs for any changes canīt be quite good for the connections of the hd etc.
For touring productions, there might be better ways to quickly reset to the latest state, and the hot-melt glue on the data-cable connector of the hd doesnīt have to be removed.
But in musical situations, where the setup of desks & peripherials are exactly the same each day, I cannot imagine much aspects against this procedure.
What do you think?
Greetings, Tobi