Imaging software takes a snapshot of a drive and can restore it to the same or new drive, with compressed files that must be unpacked. Some software allows for incremental backups or selective file restoration. Disk cloning creates a twin of the source drive, requiring a separate hard drive but allowing for easy access and no downtime if the primary drive fails. Cloning software can adjust partition sizes on the target drive.
Imaging software is a type of backup software that takes a snapshot of a drive with the ability to restore the image to the same drive or a new drive if needed. The drive image can be compressed to save space, although the compression takes longer for the imaging process. Although an image can be stored on the same drive from which the image is composed, it is safer to store it on a separate drive in the event of a catastrophic failure of the source drive.
Imaging software packages vary in their implementations, but basically the software scans the target drive creating a sector-by-sector map which it stores in a compressed state. Compressed files cannot be accessed directly, just like a compressed file must be extracted before it can be used. Therefore, if it becomes necessary to restore the image, you must use the same software to unpack the image and copy it to the destination drive. This can be a new drive or a damaged drive.
If the recovery process requires your boot drive (the drive that contains your operating system), you need a bootable standalone CD created or provided by your imaging software program. Booting from this CD will allow the user to point the software to the archived disk image, then start the image recovery process on the boot drive. Once the image is restored, the system can be booted from the hard drive.
If the destination is a new unpartitioned drive, a partition may need to be created first before the disk image can be restored. The new partition must be at least as large as the original drive or larger.
In general, disk imaging has traditionally been thought of as an all-or-nothing method of backing up and restoring an entire disk, without the ability to perform incremental backups or selectively target folders or files. However, some imaging software will allow for one or both of these options. For example, Runtime Software’s DriveImage XML Backup©, free for personal use, can mount the compressed image and, using an integrated file manager, allow the user to browse the image and select specific files or folders to restore. Other disk imaging software will allow incremental backups, saving time by not having to image the entire drive with every backup.
Most imaging software packages also offer other backup methods, such as disk cloning. Disk cloning requires a separate, dedicated hard drive, making it a more expensive method than disk imaging, but also more cost-effective and hassle-free. Disk cloning creates a twin or clone of the source drive, right down to the partitions and formatting or file system. Disk cloning requires the imaging software to restart the computer a few times during the cloning process so that the files in use can be copied to the clone.
The advantage of a cloned drive is that if the primary drive fails, you don’t need to restore the clone with proprietary imaging software before it can be used. Instead, the computer can simply boot from the clone with no downtime and zero worries. A cloned drive can also be accessed and manipulated via a file manager at any time, just like a regular drive. This can be useful for manually swapping files or deleting items you no longer need between scheduled backups.
If you like the idea of cloning, you don’t need to have the same size drive as the one you want to clone. Disk imaging software such as Acronis® True Image® can automatically adjust the size of the partition on the target drive, assuming enough space for the data. If a larger drive is used, you can choose to increase the partition or drive size respectively, or keep the configuration of the source drive on the clone. The latter choice simply leaves unformatted, unused space on the larger drive that you can later reclaim and use if you wish.
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