R-Drive Image is a potent utility providing disk image files creation for backup or duplication purposes. A disk image file provides the exact, byte-by-byte copy of a hard drive, partition, or logical disk and allows you to create it with various compression levels on the fly without stopping the Windows OS and therefore without interrupting your business. You can then store these drive image files in a variety of places, including various removable media such as CD-R(W)/DVD, Iomega Zip or Jazz disks, etc.

R-Drive Image Features

A simple wizard interface – no in-depth computer management skills are required.

On-the-fly actions: The system creates image files on-the-fly, eliminating the need to stop and restart Windows. The software stores all other disk writes in a cache until it creates the image. The system restores data from image files on-the-fly as well, except on a system partition. Users can restore data to the system partition by either restarting R-Drive Image in its pseudo-graphic mode directly from Windows or by using specially created startup disks.

Image files compression. Image files can be compressed to save free storage space.

Removable media support. Image files can be stored on removable media.

Startup version. You can use a startup version to image/restore/copy partitions locked by the OS. You can restart the computer into the startup version either directly from Windows or from an external USB device, a CD/DVD disk, or 6 floppies. The startup version can use either a graphic user interface or a pseudo-graphic mode if the system does not support the graphic card. Support for UEFI boot for modern computers.

Device and Media Support

USB 2.0 and 3.0 support in the startup version. As hard drive prices constantly decrease, using an external IDE-USB 2.0 or 3.0 HDD case with an appropriate hard drive provides an ideal (fast and reliable) solution for storing backup files for system and other partitions that can only restore in the startup version. Do not use numerous unreliable CD discs and slow CD/DVD recorders any more. Remember: with the incremental backup, this hard drive is not to be too large.

Network support in the startup version. R-Drive Image startup version supports disk image file creation and restoration over the Microsoft network (CIFS protocol).

Extended List of the supported devices in the startup version. R-Drive Image startup versions have extended the list of supported hardware. You can connect an image file as a read-only virtual disk. You can browse through such a disk and find and copy files/folders.

Individual files and folders restoration. You can restore individual files and folders rather than the entire disk either during the restoring action or from an image file connected as a virtual disk.

Image files splitting. You can split drive images into several files to fit a storage medium.

Image Protection. Disk image files can be password-protected and contain comments.

Advanced Management and Automation

New partition creation. You can restore data from a disk image on any free (unpartitioned) space on a hard drive. You can change the size of the restored partition.

Partition replacement. Data from a disk image can be restored on other existing partitions. R-Drive Image deletes such partitions and restores data on that free space.

Disk to Disk copy. An entire disk can be directly copied on another one.

Image files verification. You may check if your image files are good before you store them or restore data from them.

Scheduler. You can schedule a time for disk image creation and run the process in unattended mode.

Script creation for frequent or unattended actions. You can create such scripts for creating an image file and appending data to an existing image file from the R-Drive Image interface the same way you perform the actual action. You execute scripts from a command line, and you can include such commands in any command file.

Action Report. When you successfully create a disk image or the action fails, the system can automatically send the report over e-mail or launch an external application.

Support for the ReFS file system (Resilient File System), a new local file system Microsoft has introduced in its Windows 2012 Server. All disk actions are supported, except partition resizing.

Full support for the GPT partitioning layout. R-Drive Image can create GPT disks, resize them, and change their partition layout during copy/restore operations.

Support for Windows Storage Spaces (Windows 8/8.1 and 10), Linux Logical Volume Managervolumes, and MacRAIDs.

Creating a Disk Image

Firstly, Download R-Drive Image from here and install in your pc

Now open R-Drive Image and click on Create on Image

Select the drive which image you want to create than click on next

You may select all objects on a hard drive by clicking the hard drive icon. . It will show the marked hard drive.

Select the place on the Image Destination panel to which the image files will be written, specify the file name, and click the Next button

If you try to append data to a password-protected image file, the Password prompts. Message will appear. Enter the password and click on next.

Click on NEXT

Verify that the information on the Processing panel is correct and click the Start button

How to Restore Backup

 Click Restore from an Image on the Action Selection panel

Then, Select the file with the image on the Image File Selection panel and click the Next button

Then, Select the object in the image file on the Image Object Selection panel, select a destination, and click the Next button

Now Click on NEXT

Finally, Click on start the process of restoring will start and the drive stored in your pc.

To learn more about Cyber Forensics. Follow this Link.

Author: Mukul Mohan is a Microsoft Certified system engineer in security and messaging .He is a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist with high level of expertise in handling server side operations based on windows platform. An experienced IT Technical Trainer with over 20 years’ Technical Training experience you can contact him at mukul@ignitetechnologies.in