Block Level Backup Software
Block level copying allows saving a logical structure of a hard drive (either HDD or SSD), instead of file-level copying. Handy Backup software for blick level backup utilizes this technology for making drive images, providing the Disk Image and System plug-ins that are copying block patterns from a drive or a partition.
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Version 8.5.3 , built on March 5, 2024. 116 MB
30-day full-featured trial period
What Is Block Copying?
For block copying, Handy Backup always saves only the blocks used by file system on a hard drive. It allows saving both backup time and storage space, preventing from keeping empty or scratch blocks as common data.
Block-level copying works with data as not consistent, complete structures allocated here and there as named and attributed files. Instead, the technology of block copying views a drive as a sequence of logical blocks, each has the same size as others. These blocks may or may not contain the information.
Block-level file copying saves a sequence of these blocks as a file. This file is, literally, a logical image of a hard drive or partition. It is much simpler to copy blocks instead of files, but it also denies some actions, such as file compression or selecting files by attributes.
Plug-ins for Block-Level Copying
Handy Backup provides the two plug-ins for data block copying: System Recovery and Disk Image. The purpose of both plug-ins is to copy an image of a hard drive (including SSD, USB and memory cards) on a logical level, instead of file structure.
The Disk Image Backup plug-in allowing copying block patterns from a drive or making a block-based partition backup into a binary file that a user can recover later using the Disaster Recovery utility or Handy Backup itself.
System Backup and Recovery plug-in provides block copying only for entire physical drives, making a readable, mountable VHD virtual disk file. A user can either recover this image, or mount it as a drive for a virtual machine or to an existing OS, accessing all its content as for a common disk.
Both plug-ins allowing user to clone hard drive, recover a system on bare metal after crash, or just to save a copy of a drive to use it later by some way. Block-level file copying saves not only files but also an entire file structure, links between data, system settings on a disk, etc.
Recommended Solution
$89 per license
Handy Backup Professional
The Professional edition contains both plug-ins for block-level copying out of the box, as well as provides access to the built-in option of creating a USB drive with the Disaster Recovery utility.
