Quick start

In this section we will explain how, after successfully installing O&O DiskImage, you can take images of drives or your entire computer and restore them back to your computer.

Start O&O DiskImage

• Start O&O DiskImage vie the Desktop shortcut or via the Windows menu Start/All Programs/O&O Software/O&O DiskImage/O&O DiskImage.
• For the simplified view select O&O DiskImage Express(Express View).
• O&O DiskImage Tray starts the TrayIcon, which is shown in the info area in the task bar and informs you on the activity status of O&O DiskImage.

You can access the program help by clicking on Help in the menu bar in the tab Help or by pushing F1.

Image individual drives

O&O DiskImage will let you image individual drives (partitions/volumes). This enables you to image system and data drives separately from each other. In case of data loss, it then only becomes necessary to restore the data drive. You don't need to restore your entire computer.

To create an image of one or more drives, please follow the instructions below:

1. In the start page select Drive imaging.
2. Select one or more drives from the drive list. Enable the check next to the drive you want to select.
3. Optionally, you can specify further settings under Imaging options or add the selected activity as Job.
4. To start the imaging process click on Start drive imaging.
5. Enter the target path of the drive on which you want to save the image. You can either accept the suggested default path or select another location. Under Program settings, you can also select individual default paths.
6. The image is automatically named after the date of creation. You can, however, enter a name manually. All information from the image will be saved and can later be accessed through Image Information.
7. Select Start. The image file will now be created.

note

If there is not enough space to store the entire image, you will be prompted to enter a new target path during the imaging process.

Drive lists

Although the drive list in the Professional Edition appears somewhat different than the one seen in the Server Edition, this is only a question of presentation: the functionality of both Editions is here identical.

Image the entire computer

One-click imaging is the fastest and easiest way to create a complete image of all your data and settings. One-click imaging is especially useful if you are using O&O DiskImage for the first time, or have not yet created an image of your computer. Your entire computer including the system partition can be imaged with just one click. The compression method (LZNT1) and the imaging method (imaging used sectors) are set as default.

note

We recommend using an external storage medium, e.g. a USB hard disk or a network drive, as target folder for One-click imaging.

1. Start O&O DiskImage and select Drive imaging on the Start page.
2. Now click the symbol Create one-click image in the activity bar.
3. Check to make sure the target path is set to your desired storage location. The [...] button allows you to navigate to any folder.
4. The image is automatically named after the creation date. You can however enter a name manually.
5. Click Start to begin the imaging process. The imaging process can take some time depending on the size of the hard disk(s).

Restore the entire computer

Restore entire computer
In order to restore your entire computer or system partition, you need to start O&O DiskImage from a bootable medium under Windows PE. Please proceed as described in chapter Start directly from bootable disk .

tip

For the restoration of an image onto a computer with hardware different than the source computer, please consult the notes in chapter Machine independent restoration (M.I.R.).

1. Start O&O DiskImage directly from the bootable medium.
2. Select Drive restoration in the start page of O&O DiskImage.
3. Click Select image in the form field or navigate to the storage location of the image in the browser button.
4. Select the image containing the system partition i.e. all drives of your computer and click Open.
5. All drives included in the image will be shown in the drive list.
6. Check the drives you want to restore from the image. If you want to restore your entire computer, check all drives.
7. Then select the target drive or disk that should be overwritten with data from the image.*
8. Click the Start drive restoration symbol to start the restoration process.
9. After restoration is successful, you can restart your computer.

*Note:
Keep in mind when selecting the target drive that in Windows PE as of Windows Vista, drive letters are different: Drive C: (normaly containing the non-active operating system) will be assigned another letter (for example D).

Clone drives

Cloning is recommended if you wish to replace one disk with a new one. This process combines imaging and restoration in one step. Cloning can be performed file-based or forensically. File-based cloning transfers all recognized data onto the target and this method is fully adequate in most scenarios.

We recommend forensic cloning for scenarios where the disk being cloned has a file system not supported by O&O DiskImage or you need to recover data. This will involve transferring every sector of the source onto the target. Forensic cloning can take some time and does place demands on computer performance.

Entire storage volumes or individual drives can be cloned, which in turn can be used instead of the originals. This function allows you to clone a drive and all its saved data without creating image files. The source disks/drives will be reproduced without any changes.

Please keep in mind that a clone requires much more free space than an image.

Unlike images, there are no incremental or differential clones possible for reducing the data volume of successive "Clone drives"clones. In addition, a clone cannot be compressed or encrypted compared to an image.

Restore drives

To restore one or more drives from an image, proceed as follows:

1. If you want to restore one or more drives from an existing image, click Drive restoration on the O&O DiskImage start page.
2. Select the image you want to restore in the DropDown list of Select image. If the proposed images (*.obk) are not the ones you want to restore, check your drives and enter the path to the image file.
3. Select the image file (*.omg, *.vhd or *.vhdx) from the browser and click on Open.
4. All drives contained in the image will then be displayed.
5. Click the drive that you want to restore ("play back").
6. Then, select the target drive for restoration by checking the box next to it. You can either replace an existing drive or create a new one: for example, in an empty sector.
7. Optionally, you can specify further settings for the restoration under Restoration options.
8. Whenever you have specified all settings, click on Start drive restoration to start the restoration.

warning

During restoration, the image overwrites your selected drive with the data of the drive contained within the image. All data saved on the target drive is thereby lost and replaced by that of the image.

note

If your image is split among various disks, all these disks will be required for a restoration. If you have created an incremental image, all images - from the last complete image to the last incremental image - will be needed.

note

If you have a imaged an entire hard disk and the restoration is run on a different hard disks, then the new hard disk must possess at least as much space capacity as the source hard disk.

note

If you want to restore an entire system or system partition, you'll need to start your computer with the O&O DiskImage bootable medium and perform the restoration from there, seeStart directly from the bootable disk. If you should run a restoration of the system partition to different hardware, read chapter: Restoration on different hardware.

O&O DiskImage RecoveryPartition

O&O DiskImage saves the recovery environment on the computer itself, so that in the event of system failure the system can be started directly from there. - including, of course, the last system image.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20XdhlTpZVI

Thanks to the integration into the system, the O&O DiskImage RecoveryPartition can be accessed immediately so that the last system image can be restored directly. If the Windows operating system does not start or faulty drivers must be uninstalled, with the integrated recovery environment, all O&O tools are available to get the system up and running again as easily as possible.

More information can be found here: Create a new O&O DiskImage RecoveryPartition

Image the changes only

If you only want to store the changes since the last image, you can create an Image of the change.

To create an image of the changes, you need to have created at least one complete image of the drives or folders involved.

Differential/incremental imaging

As a base image you can use either the complete image created using the “Used sector imaging”, “Forensic imaging” or “Direct forensic imaging”, or by using a previously created incremental image/differential image.

Follow the instructions below:

1. Please make sure that the drive containing the base image is connected to your computer.
2. Start O&O DiskImage and select Image of the changes on the start page.
3. Select your base image in the explorer window and click Open.
4. Now you can either select the recommended target folder for saving the image, or enter a new target path. For the sake of clarity, we recommend saving the base image and any subsequent images in one folder. The image is automatically named after the creation date. You can however enter a name manually.
5. Now click More options (if you want to specify further settings) or on Start to initiate the imaging process.

note

When creating an image of the changes, O&O DiskImage compares each sector of the existing image with the corresponding sector of the (source) disk being imaged. This might require more time than a complete image. The image of the changes, however, takes up much less space than a complete image.

note

The option Compare data with checksums is set by default. The last incremental image is all you'll need as a base image for creating a new incremental image Use checksums to administer unchanged data is not set, you will need the last base image and all the incremental images previously created, because all of them must be accessed for creating the new image.

Backup changes in a file

A complete image or a previously created image of the changes can be used as base image.

Follow the instructions below:

1. Please make sure that the drive containing the base image is connected to your computer.
2. Start O&O DiskImage and select Start File backup on the start page. Now select File backup of the changes.
3. Select your base image in the explorer window and click Open.
4. Now you can either select the recommended target folder for saving the image or enter a new target path. For the sake of clarity, we recommend saving the base image and its subsequent images in one folder. The image is automatically named after the creation date. You can however enter a name manually.
5. Now click More options (if you want to specify further settings) or Start to initiate the imaging process.