Image backup with Handy Backup software is an easy, quick and automated action. You can create a hard drive image backup in just a few clicks, as well as restore or even clone a disk to another hard drive, for example, to a new PC. You can use all functions for reliable copying of a disk image on logical level!
Version 8.5.7 , built on September 10, 2024. 118 MB
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Image backup is a process of creating a logical image that transfers a copy of logical-level drive content written into a special file. Handy Backup allows making both Linux and Windows image backup, as well as saving data drive images either from inside a working OS or directly via a USB recovery drive.
For many reasons, taking a copy of a drive image can be the best backup method for any PC or server, as it saves not only data but also system resources, dependencies, links between components of file system etc. However, this method of backup is also bulky and almost unreadable until recovered.
The next table contains a rough comparison of the two backup methods: disk-image and file-level.
Hard disk image backup | File-level backup | |
Typical backup size | Bulky | As a source (plus compression) |
Estimated execution time | Several minutes | According to source size |
Precise data selection | No | Yes |
Data consistency | Full | Depends on user actions |
Easiness of recovery | Moderate to difficult | Very easy |
Partial/granular recovery | No (except when mapping VHD) | Yes, due to native formats |
Key backup features:
Handy Backup fully automates image backup, from making a disk image to using additional tools such as versioned backup or scheduling disk backup tasks by time (for a repeating period from a minute to some months) or by a system event. Feel free with Handy Backup!
Unlike file-based backup, which requires reinstalling an OS and all apps manually, hard drive image backup drastically reduces both time and efforts required for restoration. You can use Handy Backup either as automatic disk image backup software or as a HDD restore utility.
You can effectively utilize disk image backup software for hard drive cloning purposes. For example, you can restore one image backup to several computers to set up multiple identical systems. This is a viable solution for administering server arrays and clusters, heterogeneous networks etc.
Note that the Disk Image backup plug-in allows making not only an image of a full drive but also can write a partition image. To use it properly, please follow the next instruction:
Attention! The full drive image file (located in the Physical drive folder) is used to access all HDD data, i.e. it also includes all objects from the Partitions folder. Therefore, please select no partitions!
With functions of saving drive logical images, Handy Backup can operate as local PC and server backup software in Windows and Linux. Try it by downloading a latest version for a 30-day free trial!
The Disk Image plug-in creates a binary image file for a logical or physical drive or for a partition. You can restore image backup at any time using either the Handy Backup restoration task (for non-system drives) or the Disaster Recovery utility to restore the HDD image backup from scratch.
Here, the term “non-system drive” applies exclusively for all drives except your main system drive (e.g. a disk or a partition containing an OS that governs running of Handy Backup). This means that you can restore an inactive system drive image backup to an original disk without hesitation!
Alternative hard drive image backup software is the System Recovery plug-in. This tool can save only an entire hard drive image backup, but it does it in a comprehensible, readable VHD format, allowing you not only restoring a HDD image backup but also browsing it or using it for a virtual machine!
The System Recovery plug-in does not protect your hard drive image backup from modifications as a virtual drive (this is a deliberate solution allowing using these VHD files as sources for experimenting and cloning)! Therefore, you can lose a consistency of the HDD image backup by writing something on it!
To restore an image of a disk or partition to its original place, or to clone disk image backup to another HDD, you can use an automated restoration task created and scheduled by Handy Backup by just the same way as for backup tasks.
Caveat! Since disk-based approach to backups provides the most effective data protection against operating system crashes, hardware failures, and other disasters, we are highly recommending to do it on a regular base for both home and business environments.
In the next video instruction, you will learn how to back up a hard drive image with the Handy Backup solution for one computer. We will make an image backup by using Handy Backup itself, placing an image onto a local drive another than a system drive, which we will scratch during restoration.
Related to Image Backup:
"My Handy Backup Pro copies an image of my Windows SSD in just a few minutes, requiring no attention from me after initial setting up and scheduling. I do it every week, and it helps me migrating from my old laptop to a new Toshiba without any loss!"
Steven Marshall, a user of Handy Backup
"We have a Server Network edition deployed in our local network, and I wonder that it can copy not only files but an entire hard drive image backup by network! I have no problem to copy or transfer a user PC image to another physical unit, which is especially useful when some hard drive is damaged and replaced with another disk. Handy Backup saves a lot of time for me!"
Ruis Garcia Gomez, a system administrator