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Note: The current version has a limited support for dynamic disks or other non-MBR/GPT partition layouts. See Support for Various Disk Partition Schemes and File Systems for details.
To create an image:
1 | Click Create an Image on the Action Selection panel |
R-Drive Image will start analyzing the computer disk configuration, the Progress... message showing the progress. Then the Partition Selection panel will show the configuration.
Disk Configuration
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S.M.A.R.T. warning for a hard drive
If a hard drive has S.M.A.R.T. warnings, a color mark will appear on its left-top corner. Drugging the cursor over the drive will show a tooltip explaining that warning.
Warnings will also appear in confirming e-mails for scheduled actions . * ===================[S.M.A.R.T.]=================== ! ST3000DM001-9YN166 (2.72TB #1): Health Status: CAUTION [05] Reallocated Sectors Count: 64736 ! ===================[S.M.A.R.T.]=================== S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a technology widely-used in hard drives and solid-state devices that monitors their reliability conditions to predict possible hardware failures. |
2 | Select the objects you want to backup on the Partition Selection panel and click the Next button |
Selected Objects
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You may select all objects on a hard drive by clicking the hard drive icon .. It will show the marked hard drive .
Use the Refresh button if your computer disk configuration has been changed (when you connect a USB disk, for example).
3 | 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 |
You may select any place including connected network drives, supported CD and DVD Recorders , or any other devices with removable storage.
If you try to overwrite an existing image file, the Imaging Mode panel will appear. You may either overwrite the file or add to the existing image.
Append changes differentially to the existing image |
Appended changes will be those between the saved full image and the current state. If there is no full image, it will be created instead. When restoring data, you will need the full image and ONLY the differential file created at the instant to which you want to restore data. |
Append changes incrementally to the existing image |
Appended changes will be those between the last saved changes and the current state. If there is no full image, it will be created instead. When restoring data, you will need the full image and ALL files (both incremental and differential ones) created to the instant to which you want to restore data. |
Minimum file sizes: If you need to keep only the latest backup instant, you may use the Append changes differentially to the existing image option and delete all previous differential files. If you need to keep all instances, you may use the Append changes incrementally to the existing image option to keep overall file sizes smaller. Data safety: If any of the differential file is damaged, data will be lost only for that backup instant. If any of the incremental file is damaged, data will be lost for all subsequent backup instances starting from the damaged file until the next full of differential backup. |
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Replace the existing image file with a new one |
All data in the image file will be replaced with the current one. |
If you choose to overwrite the file, the You are about to overwrite an existing image file... warning will appear on the Imaging Mode panel. You may either overwrite the file or select another file name for the image.
If you try to append data to a password-protected image file, the Password prompt... message will appear. Enter the password and click the OK button.
4 | Specify image options on the Image Options panel and click the Next button |
You may specify image options on this panel.
Options |
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Image name: |
Shows the file name for the image. You cannot change the file name on this panel. |
Check the image file immediately upon its creation |
Select this option if your want R-Drive Image to check the newly created file image for its consistency. This may be useful for storing image files with critical data. Please note that this operation requires additional time. |
Image compression ratio |
You may compress the data in the image to save space. Please note that the smaller size you select the more time will be spent to create the image file and vise versa. |
Backup type |
You may store in the image either the exact Sector by backup copy of the object or Backup useful information only , that is, you do not have to store empty space of the object in image files. See Support for Various Disk Partition Schemes and File Systems for the list of supported file systems. |
Estimated size |
Shows the estimated size of the image file. An actual image size depends on how much empty space is on the selected partition and what file types are there . |
Image split size |
You may set this option to Automatic and let Windows decide how to split the image file. This mostly depends on the file system on the destination disk. You may also either explicitly specify the split size, or choose a preset for various devices with removable storage. Select Fixed size for that. |
Password |
You may protect your image file with a password. Note: This feature provides a relatively moderate protection against conventional unauthorized access. |
Image description |
You may attach a text description to the image for annotation. Maximum length of the description is 255 characters. |
5 | Specify backup options on the Backup Options panel and click the Next button |
You may specify backup options on this panel. They are used to create consistent point-in-time backups.
Snapshot provider |
A snapshot provider is a service R-Drive Image uses to read the disk content while creating its image. R-Drive Image uses the snapshot providers in the order specified on the tab. If it fails to use the first one selected, it tries to use the second one, and so on. |
Windows Volume Snapshot Service |
If this check box is selected, R-Drive Image will try to use the Windows native snapshot provider. This snapshot provider is able to notify system applications that a snapshot is being taken. If this option is selected, pagefile.sys and hibernate.sys files are excluded from the image of the system disk. |
R-TT Volume Snapshot Service |
If this check box is selected, R-Drive Image will try to use R-TT snapshot provider. This snapshot provider is not able to notify system applications that a snapshot is being taken. |
Notify system applications |
If this check box is selected, the snapshot provider, if it supports this feature, notifies system applications that a snapshot is being taken. |
Process priority |
These options specify how much computer resources R-Drive Image will consume during a backup process. |
Backup Process Priority |
Specifies the priority of the backup process. Similar to that specified in Windows Task Manager. |
Use CPU cores |
Specifies how many processor cores R-Drive Image will use for the backup process. |
Ignore disk read errors (bad sectors) |
If this check box is selected, R-Drive Image will ignore possible read errors when it tries to read data from bad sectors. R-Drive Image works with disks with bad sectors in the following way: It reads a certain part of disk (predefined by Windows) and • If read errors are ignored, the entire part with bad sectors will be filled with zeros. • If read errors are not ignored, R-Drive Image reads that part sector by sector and shows a warning message for every bad sector with two options: skip the sector or try to read it again. In this case only the bad sectors will be filled with zeros, but all that requires manual actions and extremely slows the imaging process. Please note that R-Drive Image is developed for the work with normally functioning disks. If you need to image a malfunctioning disk, use R-Studio , a data recovery utility. It has more controls for imaging, and can create R-Drive Image -compatible images even in its demo mode, that is, without registering. |
Backup AUX applications |
R-Drive Image is able to make applications run before and after all backup operations. Please note that those application should return a 0 exit code. Leave these fields blank if in doubt. |
Before |
An application R-Drive Image starts before the backup operations starts. If you need to start several application, you may use a command file. Example: "cmd.exe /c example.bat" |
After |
An application R-Drive Image starts after the backup operations completes. If you need to start several application, you may use a command file. Example: "cmd.exe /c example.bat" |
Snapshot AUX applications |
R-Drive Image is able to make applications run before and after taking the snapshot of one or several volumes. Please note that those application should return a 0 exit code. Leave these fields blank if in doubt. |
Before |
An application R-Drive Image starts before it takes the snapshot of one or several volumes. If you need to start several application, you may use a command file. Example: "cmd.exe /c example.bat" |
After |
An application R-Drive Image starts after it takes the snapshot of one or several volumes. If you need to start several application, you may use a command file. Example: "cmd.exe /c example.bat" |
Save as default |
Click this button to make the current settings default. |
Reset |
Click this button to reset the current settings default. |
Restore defaults |
Click this button to restore default settings. |
See Creating consistent point-in-time backups for more details.
6 | Verify that the information on the Processing panel is correct and click the Start button |
You may also create a script for this action. Click the Script to Clipboard button and paste the script to any text-processing utility.
> | R-Drive Image will start creating the image file(s) |
The Progress bar will show the progress of the current operation and overall process. When the image is created, the Image created successfully. message will appear. You may cancel the current operation by clicking the Cancel button. The Operation canceled by user message will appear.
If there is not enough space on the destination place, the Not enough space message will appear. You may select another place for the rest of the image file or cancel the operation
If you select a CD/DVD drive to write the image file, you will see the Media Options panel You may create a system recovery disc(s) for your system if you select the Include R-Drive Image bootable version option on this panel. You may start your system up using such CD/DVD disc and recover the data using the R-Drive Image startup version . Then select appropriate CD/DVD Media Options . Leave Use ISO caching selected unless you have problems with data recording on a disc. When you click the Start button, R-Drive Image will open the CD-R/RW drive tray and the Insert a blank CD-R/RW disc... message will appear. Insert a blank CD-R/RW disc and click the OK button. Each time R-Drive Image fills the disc, the Insert the next blank CD-R/RW disc... message will appear. Insert the next blank CD-R/RW disc and click the OK button. If you mistakenly insert a non-empty CD-R/RW disc, the CD-R/RW disc is not empty... message will appear. Change the disc to another empty CD-R/RW disc and click the OK button. Supported CD and DVD Recorders . Other devices with removable storage When the removable disk in the device is full, the Disk is full... message will appear. Change the disk and click the OK button. Follow the device instructions on how to change its disks. |
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Disk/file structure for CD-R/RW discs and other devices with removable storage If you specify the filename.rdr file name for the image file, R-Drive Image will create the following disk/file structure: |
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Disc |
File name |
The first disk |
filename1.rdr |
The second disk |
filename2.rdr |
The third disk |
filename3.rdr |
... |
... |
It is recommended that you mark the disk accordingly. You will start restoring the data from the last disk. Go to the Restore Data from an Image topic for more details. |
When R-Drive Image encounters a bad sector, the IO Error message will appear. You may either cancel the current action or fill the bad sectors with zeros. IO Error Options
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The Disk Actions chapter explains basic disk actions.
The Startup Version chapter explains how to perform disk actions using the R-Drive Image Startup Version .
The Technical Information chapter gives technical information on Supported CD and DVD Recorders and List of Hardware Devices Supported in the Startup Mode and another useful technical information.
Follow this link to obtain R-Drive Image Contact Information and Technical Support