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Back up or restore a drive

O&O DiskImage backs up complete drives and partitions as an image and restores them. In O&O BlueCon you can do this while Windows is not running – before a risky repair, or to restore a computer that cannot be repaired.

Prerequisites:

Back up a drive​

  1. Click Start > Programs > FileSafety > O&O DiskImage.
  2. Start a drive backup.
  3. Select the drives or partitions to back up.
  4. Choose the external drive or the network share as the destination.
  5. Start the backup and wait until it is finished.

Image a failing disk​

If a disk reports errors or contains a damaged file system, create a forensic image of it before you try to rescue data. A forensic image copies every sector, including unused and unreadable areas. You then work on the image and spare the failing disk.

  1. Start a drive backup as described above and select the failing disk.
  2. In the backup settings, set Imaging method to Forensic imaging.
  3. Save the image on another drive and wait until it is finished.
  4. To work with the image, choose Mount drive from image file… in O&O DiskImage. The image appears as a drive; recover files from it, for example with O&O DiskRecovery. Unmount drive removes the drive again.

Restore a drive​

  1. Click Start > Programs > FileSafety > O&O DiskImage.
  2. Start a restore and select the image file.
  3. Select the drive or partition to restore to.
  4. Start the restore and wait until it is finished.
  5. Restart the computer from its disk.
Restoring overwrites the target

A restore replaces all data on the target drive or partition with the contents of the image.

Result​

The image or the restored drive is complete. Save the reports you want to keep on a drive of the computer: the settings and reports of O&O DiskImage in the recovery environment are lost at restart.

Next steps​

Manage partitions