About O&O DiskImage

Welcome, and thank you for choosing O&O DiskImage!

In today’s digital world, protecting your data is more important than ever. A virus attack, hardware failure, or system crash can occur unexpectedly and put valuable data at risk. With O&O DiskImage, you have the optimal solution at hand to manage these risks effectively and keep your data safe.

Our tool supports not only the duplication and archiving of entire computers and individual drives, but also dynamic disks and RAID systems. Whether you want to create regular backups or full system images, O&O DiskImage can be flexibly adapted to your needs.

Benefit from advanced backup methods that can be individually configured to perfectly match your specific requirements. From complete 1:1 system copies to selective, custom backups – everything is possible. In addition, we offer numerous options for fine-tuning your backups to ensure maximum efficiency with minimal impact on your daily work.

In the following chapters of this help file, we guide you through the various features of O&O DiskImage, explain the basic steps, and provide tips on how to get the most out of the tool.

Enjoy the reliability and security that O&O DiskImage provides, and save valuable time – both at the office and at home. We are convinced that our product will become an essential part of your IT security strategy.

For more information and support, please visit our website:
https://www.oo-software.com

We wish you much success and security with O&O DiskImage.

Your O&O Software GmbH Team

General Definitions

To make working with O&O DiskImage easier, this chapter explains key terms you will encounter while using the program.

Drive / Partition

A drive is a specifically assigned area on a hard disk. A single physical disk can contain several drives. The term drive in this context covers partitions, logical drives within extended partitions, and volumes.

A typical structure for better organization might be:

• Drive C: Operating system and applications

• Drive D: Data such as photos, Office documents, music, etc.

This structure makes it easier to back up system and data separately.

Backup

A backup creates an image of your drives. It contains all information of the original and is stored in a special compressed file format that requires less disk space. Regular backups protect effectively against data loss. If the original data is damaged or lost, you can restore the state at the time of the backup with just a few clicks.

Difference Between File Backup and Drive Backup

• File backup
  Saves only files as data sets and stores them in OBK format (.obk).

• Drive backup
  Saves the used or all sectors of a drive, including the file system, files, and folders. The result is stored in OMG format (.omg).

Backup File

A backup consists of one or more files (*.omg). If the storage space of a single medium is not sufficient, the backup can be split across multiple media. These should be numbered to allow correct restoration or use as a base for incremental backups.

File Formats

O&O DiskImage uses and supports several file formats:

• OMG: Backups of entire systems or individual drives

• OBK: File backups

• VHD: Virtual hard disk, allows mounting of backed-up drives

• VHDX: Up to 64 TB capacity and more robust against file corruption (VHD: up to 2 TB)

Full Backup

A full backup writes all selected data completely and anew to the target medium. It is thorough because it creates a complete copy of the data.

Differential and Incremental Backups

After a full backup, changes can be backed up more efficiently:

• Differential backup: Saves all differences since the last full backup.

• Incremental backup: Saves only the changes since the last backup – regardless of whether it was full, differential, or incremental.

Both methods save disk space and time.

Base Backup

A base backup serves as the starting point for additional differential or incremental backups.

• Differential backups require a previous full backup.

• Incremental backups use the last backup (full, differential, or incremental) as their reference.

Installation, Licensing, and Uninstallation

Installation
Installing O&O DiskImage is straightforward and carried out as follows:

1. Start the computer on which you want to install O&O DiskImage.

2. Log in as a local administrator or with a user account that has equivalent rights.

3. Run the O&O DiskImage installation file that you downloaded from our website or received on CD/DVD.

4. Follow the instructions of the setup program.

5. Restart the computer if prompted.

Note: During installation and use of O&O DiskImage, no other backup or imaging software should be running, to avoid conflicts caused by parallel access to drives.

Entering the License
After installation or at a later time, you will need a valid license key to activate the product. The registration wizard starts automatically when you run the program for the first time or when a license error is detected.

Note: The license key may also be referred to as registration code, serial number, or product ID.

To activate your license:

1. Enter the license information you received when purchasing the product (download or boxed version).

2. Make sure not to confuse letters and numbers and do not enter spaces.

3. Click Next to complete registration, or Cancel to abort.

If you encounter problems, please contact our support.

Licensing Information
You can test O&O DiskImage free of charge for 30 days. The remaining trial period is displayed each time the program starts.

Online Registration
Registration offers you several advantages, including:

• Improved customer service

• Recovery of lost license keys

• Information about products and updates

• Discounted upgrades to new versions

How does online registration work?

• If you purchased the product via our online shop, registration is performed automatically.

• For other purchase channels, you will be asked after entering your license data whether you would like to register.

You can register or update your data using our registration form.

Uninstallation
To remove O&O DiskImage from your system:

1. Open the Control Panel and select Programs (or Programs and Features / Software, depending on Windows version).

2. Select O&O DiskImage from the list of installed programs and click Change/Remove or Uninstall.

3. Follow the instructions of the uninstall wizard.

Updates
O&O DiskImage automatically checks for available updates. You can also manually check for updates via:

• Menu Tools → About O&O DiskImage

Important: When using O&O DiskImage in a network environment, authentication data should be backed up before performing a major update, so that it can be restored afterwards.

System Requirements

Price
49.90 EUR incl. VAT

Basic Requirements

• The minimum system requirements of the respective operating system must be met.

• 64-bit support is required.

• Supported operating systems:

  • Windows® 10 (all editions)

  • Windows® 11 (all editions)

  • Windows® Server 2016 through Windows® Server 2025 (all editions)

Edition Compatibility

Note:
Booting from the bootable medium requires at least 4 GB RAM.

Note:
Ensure that all storage controller drivers of your operating system are up to date. If in doubt, perform a driver update.

Note:
Dynamic disks are supported only within the capabilities provided by Microsoft Windows. Since Microsoft does not guarantee bootability of dynamic disks in every scenario, we cannot guarantee successful duplication or restoration of systems to/from dynamic disks.

Permissions
Local administrator rights or equivalent permissions are required for installation, configuration, and activation of O&O DiskImage.
Domain administrators usually have sufficient rights.

Differences Between the Various Editions

O&O DiskImage is designed for both desktop PCs and server environments, ensuring comprehensive data protection across different platforms. To support organizations of all sizes, we also offer volume-licensed packages at reduced prices—called Combi Packs.
For tailored advice, please contact our sales team: sales@oo-software.com or an authorized O&O partner.

Premium Edition
The Premium Edition is designed for home users. It offers all essential features for backing up individual PCs, including system backup, disk cloning, and hardware-independent restoration. It is ideal for classic desktop environments in private households.

Professional Edition
The Professional Edition is intended for business customers who manage multiple desktop or workstation systems. It offers all Premium Edition features along with enhancements for professional use—such as improved management options, higher performance, and optimized workstation compatibility.
This edition is not suitable for server operating systems.

Server Edition
The Server Edition includes all features of the Professional Edition and extends them with specialized capabilities for server environments. It supports all common server operating systems, optimized performance for large data volumes, enhanced network backup options, and additional functions required for professional server backups.

Enterprise Edition
The Enterprise Edition is designed for larger companies and extensive IT infrastructures. It enables the deployment of O&O DiskImage across many systems with centralized management, flexible distribution, and advanced provisioning features. It is the most comprehensive solution for complex, heterogeneous environments.

For companies with multiple installations
Volume licensing provides a cost-effective way to deploy O&O DiskImage across several devices. Benefits include:

• central management

• simplified deployment

• lower cost per device

• higher flexibility in larger environments

Supported File Systems

O&O DiskImage supports a wide range of commonly used file systems to ensure broad applicability across different storage devices. The most important supported file systems include:

Note:
With O&O DiskImage, you can create backups of used sectors for all supported file systems.

If a volume or partition uses an unknown or unsupported file system, O&O DiskImage automatically performs a forensic backup, meaning all sectors are backed up.

To perform a forensic backup manually, choose the option for full sector backup (instead of used-sector backup) in the backup settings.