R-Drive Image Hard Disk Backup Software

Quick facts

• Version: 7.3 (build 7314)
• Platform: Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, XP and 2000, plus Windows Server editions, including 64-bit
• Price: from $44.95
• Trial: free 30-day trial; the vendor says all features work during the trial, including from startup disks
• Download size: about 128 MB

Back up a running Windows system without a restart

Images are created on the fly, so you keep working. The program uses volume snapshots to make consistent point-in-time images. You can save them to removable and network drives, or to Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox and Amazon S3. FTP(s)/SFTP and WebDAV servers also work.

Compress, encrypt and verify your images

Image data can be compressed, password-protected, encrypted, commented and split into several files. You can check an image for errors afterwards, and the program can do this automatically after each new image is created.

Restore a whole disk, or just a few files

Restore to the original drive, a new drive, another partition or free space on a hard drive. Partitions can be resized during the restore. For a single file, mount the image as a read-only virtual drive and copy what you need out of it.

Clone a disk to move to a new drive

Disk-to-disk copy converts one disk into another, which suits a move to a bigger drive or an SSD. Partitions can be resized, moved or deleted along the way. The same approach lets you set up many identical computers from one finished image.

Schedule backups and script repeated jobs

The built-in scheduler runs tasks unattended, for example overnight. It can send reports by e-mail or launch external programs when a task finishes. Scripts can be run from a command line for creating, appending, restoring and checking images. Rotation schemes combine full, differential and incremental backups and replace old sets after a set time.

Boot from a USB drive or disc when Windows won't start

The startup version restores system and other locked disks. It comes in Linux-based and WindowsPE-based types, supports UEFI startup including Mac computers, and fits on a USB pen drive or CD/DVD. Scheduled actions and scripts are not available in it.

Handle many file systems and partition layouts

It supports FAT/exFAT, NTFS, ReFS, HFS/HFS+/APFS, XFS, UFS1/UFS2 and Ext2/3/4. Basic (MBR) and GPT layouts, dynamic volumes, Windows Storage Spaces, Linux LVM and mdadm RAIDs are covered. A built-in partition manager can create, delete, wipe and resize partitions.

Pros

• Backs up while Windows is running
• Wide file system, cloud and server storage support
• Scheduler, scripting and rotation schemes
• Full-featured 30-day trial
• Partition manager included

Cons

• The installer is large, about 128 MB
• VMDK and VDI image creation, custom rotation schemes and some cloud services are limited to higher license types
• The startup version can't run scheduled actions or scripts
• One user on the vendor's feedback page says the help file's names no longer match the current interface

"The clean user interface makes this product so easy to use." (Dan Carey, R-Drive Image feedback page)

"Dependable, easy; it just plain works!" (John Reid, R-Drive Image feedback page)

The feedback page lists 72 reviews with a 4.6 out of 5 rating.