|
Review by Chris Empey
 I
was recently given the task of reviewing Drive Image 4.0 by PowerQuest.
Going through frequent rebuilds on my systems this seemed like
the ideal utility for me.
The installation of Drive Image went without any problems. In
order to run Drive Image the computer must be restarted in DOS
Mode and uses Caldera Dr.Dos 7.0 as a boot loader to load the
software. Drive Image warns you of the transition to DOS mode
when you try to run the executable.
The test system was setup as follows:
- AMD Athlon 1000
- 640 MB of RAM
- 30GB HDD
- 10 GB partition (NTFS)
- 20 GB partition (NTFS)
- Windows 2000 Professional
My intention was to create an image of the smaller (also my boot)
partition on the larger partition. I would then make a change
in Windows, exit back to Drive Image and restore the original
image. The image was created fine, I uninstalled MS Office from
the OS and attempted to restore the image only to find out it
was a corrupt image. After some further reading in the manual
I learned Drive Image can read and recreate an NTFS partition,
but it cannot write an image to an NTFS partition.
After adding an old external 2 GB SCSI drive I had lying around
and uninstalling enough software I could create an image small
enough to fit on the drive, I began the process again. Writing
to the FAT formatted SCSI drive, I was able to secure a good image
for the restore. Back in Windows, using the Drive Image File Editor
I was able to extract files from the image. There is a known issue
I encountered extracting some files from the image; only the root
of a directory may be restored if the path and file name contain
more than 32 characters. Subsequent files within the path must
be restored manually.
I made a few changes within the operating systems and begun to
restore the system. Prior to the restore I was warned I would
be restoring to a partition that extended beyond cylinder 1024
and the drive may not be bootable upon completion. An hour later,
I was left with an unbootable computer.
After another clean install of the OS I found a support document
geared to Power Quest Partition Magic that discussed BIOS limits
and certain file system limits for large hard drives, as well
as another document addressing another known issue with W2K that
may prevent logon to the OS after a restore. I proceeded to make
a new image and once again tried a restore.
During the subsequent attempt at restoring the image, I choose
to resize the destination partition to just less than 7.8 GB.
I was once again presented with the warning that the drive may
not be bootable, I was prepared to attempt a Windows 2000 Master
Boot Record repair as outlined in the second support document.
The restore was successful without the need to rebuild the MBR.
Options used in creation of the 1.64 GB image were all default
options:
- Level of Compression: None
- Under Advanced settings:
- Check for File System Errors: ON
- Verify Disk Writes: ON
- Disable SmartSector Copying: OFF
- Verify Image Contents: OFF
- Image Shield Password Protect Image File: OFF
- Split into multiple files: OFF
The process of writing the image took 52 minutes and an additional
7 minutes to verify the image.
Options used in restoration of the image were also default options:
- Fast Mode
- Under Advanced settings:
- Check For Errors: ON
- Skip Bad Sector Check: ON
- Verify Writes: Off
- Hide Partitions after Restore: OFF
The process of writing the image back to the drive took about
14 ½ minutes with an additional 2 minutes to verify the
image.
I feel the setbacks I encountered in the review of Drive Image
were quite substantial. I am confident having been through the
process that subsequent images and restore will be completed with
incident, however, for an inexperienced user, the problems I encountered
could be very frustrating and possibly expensive if the user is
required to pay someone to help rebuild their system. I was also
disappointed that the included scheduler only prompts you to begin
a backup of a system, but does not automate the process.
I have had enough experiences where a new piece of software has
rendered my system unusable so I keep all of my drives and installation
disks close and up to date. There are many users who don’t
know to do this though. For experienced users, Drive Image 4.0
is an excellent utility to add to their collection, but for those
less experienced, hold out for 5.0 which is sure to fix some of
these known issues.
NOTE: After this product was obtained for review, a new version
was released, which has indeed addresses many of the issues
the review faced. Hopefully the new version will arrive for
review as well.
You can read more about Drive Image at http://www.powerquest.com/driveimage/.
Drive
Image 4 and Drive
Image 5 can both be purchased from many retailers for around
$60 US.
Return to FreeHelp Software
Reviews Home Page
Return to the FreeHelp Headquarters
Return to PCIN.net Home Page
|
