O&O DiskImage 17 Review | BestBackupReviews.com (2023)

In this section of my review I will be looking at the usability aspects of DiskImage 17 in more detail, this includes both downloading and installing the software for myself and looking at the main features including disk image backups, file level backups, disk cloning, recovery media support and the one-click imaging tool!

This begins in the next section of this review with the installation of DiskImage 17, if you would like to try the software for yourself then please note that O&O Software offer a 30 day free trial of DiskImage 17 via their own website (and no personal info is required to take this trial).

What’s new in DiskImage 17

The big new feature within version 17 of DiskImage is the support for Microsoft compatible VHD and VHDX file formats when making use of the disk imaging functionality found within the application. Whilst the DiskImage line has for a long time already provided a comprehensive disk imaging solution, this option to now work with your image backups across multiple PCs thanks to these new VHD & VHDX formats been natively supported by modern Windows systems (without the need for any additional 3^rd party software) helps to move things on to a new level.

VHD / VHDX file formats are also very useful when making use of virtual machines for testing purposes, for example, you might want to set up your existing PC as a virtual machine (using software such as Oracle VirtualBox) and then install software updates virtually prior to doing so on your main PC to ensure they work as expected and cause no issues in the process.

Installing DiskImage 17

At just over 2.5MB in size, the DiskImage 17 installer can quickly and easily be downloaded from the official , thanks to this set-up I had the installer downloaded and running on my own PC just a few moments later.

In my instance the installer went on to download approximately 54MB of additional data once running before then prompting me to choose the type of install I want. As can be seen in the image below, we are given three options as to the best type of install to suite own own requirements, these include a ‘typical’ install with the main features of the application included, a ‘full’ install which includes all features by default or the custom option allowing us to specify exactly what is installed (potentially saving disk space by eliminating features which you don’t intend to make use of).

With all necessary options set, the installer will complete the install before bringing us to the registration screen next, from here we can either register the software (if already purchased) or elect to make use of the 30 day free trial. After all registration options are complete we can begin making use of the full version of the software!

NB – O&O offer a 30 day free trial of DiskImage 17 via their official website – simply click on “try now” to download the installer and see the software in action for yourself (also not that O&O require no personal nor payment details to take advantage of this 30 day free trial).

Configuring Disk Image Backups

One of the most useful aspects of DiskImage 17 is its ability to create full disk-image backups of a PC, a very useful type of backup which sees the entire contents of the PC (inducing the operating system, user documents, system settings and any installed software) automatically included as a part of the backup process!

NB – Whilst disk imaging is very useful in that is automatically covers all important aspects of a PC during the backup process, the major downside to this type of backup is that it tends to take more time to complete than simple file-level backups and can also lead to very large file sizes as well.

We can begin the process of creating a new image backup set within DiskImage 17 on the “Jobs and Reports” tab, it is here where we will find the new backup wizard on the main toolbar. On the first page of this wizard we must specify whether we are making a full disk-image backup or, alternatively, an “image of the changes” (which is essentially an incremental disk image backup).

NB – When using DiskImage 17 we cannot make use of the incremental image backup functionality without first completing an initial full disk image. Once created, a full disk image can serve as the base image for an incremental backup plan which will only backup any changes to this original image thereafter.

After selecting to make a full disk image on the first screen of the wizard, we can then select the necessary disk or disks to be imaged on the second (this is as simple as checking the relevant disks as is shown in the wizard below):

Having new selected the source disk to be imaged, we can then (optionally) set a schedule for the image backup to be taken upon. Given that in this example I am simply creating this initial full image for use later on in the backup process, I will simply select “now” to run the task straight away (I will look at scheduling in more depth later on in this review). After selecting to run the task straight away, we can then select the target to store the disk image file upon, this can be on any locally attached drive (such as an external hard drive) or a network / mapped drive.

Next, having selecting the target storage, we can make use of some of the other functionality available to us within DiskImage 17, this includes setting compression and encryption, specifying maximum image sizes, turning on the automatic overwriting of existing files and error handling functionality amongst other things.

Finally, with all settings in the wizard complete, we will be ready to run this initial full disk image backup, If a schedule has been set during this process the backup will run automatically at the specified time. Alternatively, right-clicking on the newly created job in the “Jobs and Reports” screen (as can be seen below) will set the job running manually at any time:

At this stage in the process, as was mentioned a little earlier on, the DiskImage 17 wizard doest allow us to configure an initial full disk image backup and a scheduled incremental image backup at the same time (as we can do in close alternatives such as Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office). As such, with this in mind, the next step for me here is to re-launch the wizard and create an incremental image backup using the previously created full image as a base (note in the image below, we must start by selecting “Image of the changes” when running the wizard this time around).

The next screen in the wizard (seen below) allows us to set the backup schedule, earlier on I set this to “Now” (as I wanted a single run of my initial full image backup), since I now want my incremental backups to run regularly I can set a schedule managed by DiskImage at this stage:

NB – As can be seen above, a daily schedule is the most frequent interval offered to us via this scheduling tool. For many PC users a daily backup will suffice, however, I would have ideally liked the option to set at least hourly backups at a minimum.

Moving on and it is on the next screen which we can select the full disk image which is to be used as the base image for our incremental backup job (it is at this stage you must also provide your password, if set, when selecting the base image).

Next, with the base image file selected, we can select a target folder to store the incremental backup files in and (optionally) select the naming convention to be use for said files (I would suggest keeping the incremental files in the same location as the base image for convenience). Finally, after selecting the storage location, we will reach the final settings page in the wizard, here we can (amongst other things) enable password protection and compression for the incremental backups:

NB – In the above image we have the option to limit the maximum number of files kept as a part of this job (labelled as “Maximum image file count”). This is effectively our version control tool when using this set-up within DiskImage and, when using a daily backup like I have, the number of files kept will also equal the number of days of file version history which is kept.

At this stage we will have our base image already completed and the daily incremental image job now ready to go when the schedule picks it up. Both jobs can be seen on the “Jobs and Reports” tab at this stage and (optionally) by right clicking on the incremental job we can run it manually at any time.

In the next section I will continue by looking at the process required for making file-level backups (which are potentially much quicker than image backups) and then move on to the process of recovering data within DiskImage 17.

Configuring File-Level Backups

So far in this review I have looked at creating both full and incremental disk image backups, both manually and via the built-in scheduling tool provided by DiskImage. In this section I will look at the file-level backup functionality found within DiskImage 17, a method of backup which focuses only on backing up selected files and folders as opposed to the entire disk (which means it will usually run much quicker and take up less storage space than image backups as a result).

The “File Operation” tab is where we can begin configuring a new file-level backup job, this starts off by selecting all necessary files which are to be backed-up using the file picker (seen below) and then by clicking on “Add as job” towards the bottom left of the screen.

The first thing we need to do in the new wizard is to give this new backup job a meaningful name on the first tab and then, if necessary, set a schedule for the backup to run upon on the second (such as the one seen below):

With the scheduling now set, we can optionally set up email notifications on the next tab and then set the target storage location for the backup files to be saved to on the next:

NB – email notifications are available within DiskImage 17, this feature does, however, require users to provide their own SMTP account and settings in order to make use of it.

At this stage, the new file backup job will be saved and ready to use, before moving on it is worth pointing out that if you want to turn on specific features not covered by the aforementioned wizard (such as encryption and compression) then this must be done under the “Options” box found under the “File operation” tab before completing the new file backup job:

With the new file level backup job now set we can (if applicable) allow the scheduling engine to run it for us or alternatively, via the “Jobs and reports” tab, run the new job manually when required.

All-in-all an effective file backup component which serves as a good accompaniment to the core image backup functionality found within DiskImage 17.

Restoring Data within DiskImage

Having now seen the process required for creating both file level and full disk image backups, we can now have a look at some of the available methods for recovering any data which is backed-up using DiskImage 17.

Starting off with the file level backup which was configured in the previous section, recovery here begins in the “File operation” screen where we can first select a backup file to recover from (when selecting the file, be sure to select the correct date if you require an older version). With the file selected (and password entered if necessary) we will be able to browse all files protected as a part of that backup and then select those we wish to recover (after selecting any such files, we can then choose the restoration location by default, something which is nice to see versus being forced to recover to the files original location):

Next, moving on to the disk image recovery and we have 2x main options available here for recovery, one is mounting an image backup as a virtual drive within Windows (which will allow us to browse for the files we wish to recover and simply copy them across to the working system) and the second option involves restoring the entire disk which has been imaged.

NB – When recovering an entire imaged disk we are limited in that we cannot recover the disk which has the OS installed upon it and is actively in-use. In such cases where we need to recover the working (in-use) system we must boot into the DiskImage recovery media first (media which can be created within the DiskImage application itself).

Starting off with the virtual drive mounting approach and we find the necessary “Mount drive” tool under the “Tools” tab as can be seen below:

As above, once the drive mounting tool is open, we can select the necessary disk image file to mount and then (optionally) select to mount the entire drive or a single partition found within it (note that we can also specify the drive letter which will appear in Windows should we need to make use of a specific letter). Finally, clicking on “Mount drive” towards the bottom left of the box will perform the drive mounting operation, once finished with the drive, we can simply unmount it by right-clicking on the drive in Windows explorer and selecting the unmount option provided by DiskImage.

Finally, should we ever need to recover our entire system (e.g. due to hardware filature, malware issues and the like), we can create a bootable system recovery disk. This starts by having access to the DiskImage recovery media which can be created via the “Create bootable disk” button found (again) on the “Tools” menu as is seen below:

As can be seen above, we can not only create a physical disc for booting into, but also a recovery partition on an existing system disk as well as a bootable USB flash drive as well (all options require the WinPE environment be installed in some way and the tool will guide you to the correct download locations should you not already have such media installed).

Once the recovery disk (or recovery disk partition / USB flash drive) has been created, we can then boot into the DiskImage 17 recovery environment ans choose to recover (re-write) the entire system disk to an earlier point in time!

Creating “One-Click” Disk Images

One of the most prominent and useful features of DiskImage 17 is the inclusion of the “One-click image” tool, a tool which makes the process of creating a full system image of a PC very quick, easy and with the minimal of fuss!

As can be seen above, accessing the One-click imaging tool is very straightforward given its tile is available on the main start page which is shown when DiskImage 17 first loads up. Once this tool is loaded up, it will immediately open up the “Drive operation” tab with all system disks selected and a pre-determined configuration already in place. All that is left to do at this stage is (optionally) change the location the image file will be saved to and click on “Start” to begin!

As we have already seen earlier on in this review, DiskImage 17 provides lots of additional settings which can be applied to our image backups (e.g. compression, encryption, SMTP notifications etc.). In contrast, the One-click tool simply sets up a basic configuration allowing DiskImage users to very quickly get a full image backup of their entire system with just a single click. This means if you are not computer literate and want piece of mind all of your data is safe or simply need to protect an entire system in a hurry, one-click imaging is an ideal addition to the software!

Other Tools & Features

So far we have seen DiskImage 17 in action and taken a closer look at some of the main backup related features it has to offer, besides core features such as file level and image level backups, DiskImage 17 also includes many additional tools which further enhance the usefulness of this suite.

As can be seen above, the “Tools” tab is where we can find a multitude of additional tools within DiskImage, these include the following (notable) additions:

Mounting Tools:

Given that DiskImage has the ability to save disk image files in either their own imaging format (OMG files) or the standardised VHD / VHDX Microsoft compatible format, it is great to see they have included the ability to mount either format (as well as ISO files) as virtual drives within Windows.

To mount an image file created by DiskImage (and be able to browse its contents) simply make use of the relevant mounting tool (as is highlighted in the image above) and select the image file to be mounted. Unmounting these virtual drives is also very straightforward and simply requires right-clicking on the virtual drive in Windows (an option will exist to unmount the drive) or by making use of the included unmounting tool which is also in the “Tools” tab.

Image File Merging & Converting:

Two other potentially useful utilities included within DiskImage 17 are the tools for merging multiple incremental images into a single file alongside the tool for converting existing image files from one format into another (for example, converting from the default “OMG” format to either “VHD” or “VHDX”).

Disk Cloning Utility:

Also included within DiskImage 17 is a fully functional disk cloning utility, a tool can be used to clone (make an exact copy of) an existing system disk onto a new disk, ideal for times when you might want to upgrade or replace an existing hard disk which is already in use (without having to re-install Windows).

NB – DiskImage 17 will automatically detect if either mechanical or SSD drives are in use and automatically optimise its processing to suit either technology.

Furthermore, thanks to the inclusion of Machine Independent Restoration technology (M.I.R), the disk cloning tool included within DiskImage 17 also supports cloning to disks which will be used on different (new) PCs when this special option is switched on. This means the tool is not only ideal for updating an existing PCs hardware but also migrating an existing system to completely new hardware!