Drive Image FAQs

What is a Drive Image?
FileRestore for Networks provides options for creating and opening Drive Images. A drive image is a single file that contains a copy of the entire contents of a physical drive, logical drive (partition) or removable media.
A drive image is an exact copy of a drive and therefore, unlike backing up just a drive’s data, it also saves the boot data and other important system file data. Creating regular drive images is highly recommended as part of your routine system maintenance. A drive image is a powerful alternative to backup, and will enable a full restore of your data. Routine drive imaging will ensure that all data is available for recovery in situations, for example, where you experience a hard drive crash, and/or your data becomes lost/deleted. If your drive crashes or fails, then a drive image ensures that you already have an exact copy of your drive.

You can use FileRestore for Networks to create drive images, as well as to scan and recover files from such images.

Do I have to create an image of the whole drive?
No, you can create an image of any area (sector range) of the drive. Select “Create Drive Image”, Manual Settings, and the start and last sector values.

If a specific sector range is selected to image, the corresponding image size is shown on the “Creating Drive Image” screen. This is particularly useful if there is limited free drive space available to save the image file to. A smaller image file will also take less time to create and will also take less time to scan subsequently.

I have created only part of the drive as an image, but when I run the Fast Scan, I get an error pop up. Why?
You may have selected an area of the drive that no longer contains the boot sector information. This is required by the Fast Scan mode. Try scanning the drive image again with either the Advanced Scan or the Complete Scan, as the boot sector information is not required with these scan types.

I want to create an image of my drive but there is no drive letter such as C: etc, what can I do?
You can image a drive where the “logical drive” letter is not recognized by Windows. As long as the physical drive is present in the drive dropdown list, then you can image the physical drive (which includes the logical drive data) or select a specific sector range.