I’ve just received an Email from O&O software. I’ve subscribed to their news letter following downloading a couple of software’s recommended here. Anyway, they are giving away a disc imaging application called O&O Ds Image 3. You can download it by following the link to the download page and then following the link you’ll find above the release information:
http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/products/oodiskimageexpress/
or
http://www.oo-software.com/home/en/download/current/oodiskimageexpress/registered.html?
The following is relevant information about the software that I’ve copied from the O&O software site. I think the company is German.
1. What is an Image?
An Image is a “copy” of your drive or partition. This “copy” contains all information taken from the original. A special feature of an image is that the file format is especially compressed and takes up much less disk space than the original. The more often you create images of your drive, the less you need worry about data loss. Should data on the original drive be lost or damaged, you can restore your last image with all its data onto your computer. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can recover the original status of your drive before the last imaging.
2. What is a drive?
A drive is a reserved area of the hard disk. Multiple drives can be found on a hard disk. In the following text, the term “drive” will be used to depict (single) partitions as well as logical drives in expanded partitions. Drives are used, for example, to separate documents from programs. A division in two partitions has become generally accepted.
• Drive C: for operating systems and programs
• Drive D: for documents, e.g. photos, Office documents, music, etc.
This makes it easier to image data using data imaging products such as O&O DiskImage.
3. What do I need an Image for?
In the event of an emergency, many users try to protect their digital photos, office files or videos by simply making a copy of the data and saving it to an external hard disk, CD or DVD. Problems then arise in the course of time when folders are changed and items deleted in the false assumption that a copy exists elsewhere.
The huge advantage with an Image is that it takes up much less space than a copy of your data. Using special algorithms, it is also able to recognize and save just the changes made since the previous image - so-called follow-up images. This way you can easily manage your Images and when disaster strikes, simply restore your lost data with a few mouse clicks.
4. Where should I save the O&O DiskImage Express program folder?
It is recommended you save the O&O DiskImage Express program folder on an external hard disk and the image too. This avoids saving the image to a drive you later wish to restore. You cannot restore a drive storing the image or parts thereof, as this will be completely overwritten during a restoration and all the data on it will be replaced by the image.
5. How can I find out which drives (partitions) my data is stored on?
For imaging and restoring, it is important to know which drives (partitions) your data is saved on. Generally you can find out over the context menu of a folder or file under Properties, e.g. D:\My files\Holiday.
• Note: Data saved on your Desktop are normally on drive C:\, the system partition. Please be aware that you are unable to restore a system partition with O&O DiskImage Express. If you wish to image data from the Desktop with O&O DiskImage Express, please move the data to another partition, e.g. your data partition.
• Note on the shortcut symbol: The arrow symbol indicates a shortcut, meaning the data itself is not stored at this location, rather the symbol acts as a “link” to the data. In the context menu you can see where the content of the folder is stored, e.g F:\Fotos.
If you delete the symbol, you only erase the shortcut to the data, and not the data itself.
6. When and how often should I make Images?
• You should image an intact system
• We recommend regular imaging (once a month minimum). The more regular you carry this out, the more up-to-date the data is contained within those images
7. Which drives should I Image?
• System drive (Windows), mostly Drive C:
• All remaining data drives where private and business data, e.g. customer data, photo collections or music is stored.
8. Where should I store my Image?
• Not on the same hard disk where the imaged drive is located
• Ideally on an external hard disk
• DVD
9. Can an image be restored onto any computer
• Restoring data drives is not a problem
• We do not recommend a complete restoration (incl. operating system) onto another computer with different hardware, as this can lead to a system crash
10. Do I have unlimited use of all functions with the trial version?
• The trial version is fully functional and has no restrictions
• You should however note that restoring a system partition is only possible with the bootable O&O DiskImage CD, included when you purchase the product
11. When do I need the bootable CD from O&O DiskImage?
• For restoring the system partition.
• When your operating system will no longer start.
12. How do I save an Image to CD/DVD?
1. You must create an image file(s) and save it to your hard disk before you can write it to CD/DVD
2. When creating the image, you should restrict the image file size to the size of the intended removable medium where it will be saved, under Image Options/Image Properties/Split
3. Should the image exceed the chosen maximum file size, it will be split into several image files
4. You can then write the image files to CD/DVD
5. Simply click on Tools on the start page, then on Write Image File(s) to CD/DVD and follow the instructions
13. What do I do when my Image is too big for a CD/DVD?
1. If you already have an Image saved to your hard disk that is too big for the removable storage medium, then you can of course still split the image file.
2. Under Tools, open up Convert Image File
3. Select the Image you wish to change by using Add
4. Then select Split and enter the required maximum file size of the individual parts
5. During conversion, one copy of the Image is made, whilst the original remains unchanged
14. I have split the Image and saved it to various storage media (CD/DVD).
I want to:
• restore this Image
• display drives from the Image
• use the Image as a Base Image for Incremental Imaging purposes
• merge Incremental Images
• convert the Image file
Before you go ahead with any of the above named steps, we strongly advise you to save all parts of the Image in a folder on your hard disk. Please ensure the folder is not on the drive to where you wish to restore the Image. Once you have done this you can complete the steps outlined above by simply following the instructions under the respective chapters in the User’s Guide.
15. Can I carry on working during the imaging procedure?
O&O DiskImage does not block drives by default during imaging. You can therefore continue working and make changes. The working memory buffer is however restricted. You can see how much is available in the Cache Status Display. See Chapter “Creating Consistent Images”.
Note: To maintain the maximum available working memory buffer, please close all applications before and during the procedure, for example defragmentation or copy processes.
Important: Should you go over the available working memory, the current changes will be written direct to the source drive. This makes the image inconsistent and may render it unusable. In such cases you should load the image after the procedure is finished and check it for errors.
16. Can I still change the image retrospectively?
Under Tools you can find the function Convert Image File. This enables you to change certain properties and content of the image retrospectively – see Chapter “Convert Image File”.
17. Can I just extract certain parts from an Image?
Example: I have created an image of several drives but want to create a separate image of just one of those drives. Follow the instructions below:
• Under Tools select Convert Image File.
• Select the image using Add and then select the drive you wish to separately image.
• After confirming, click Start.
A new image will now be created. The old image remains unaltered.
regards
Stephen
