R-Drive Image is a disk imaging and backup program for Windows from R-Tools Technology. It copies whole drives, partitions or selected files into image files. These files can later be restored, mounted or deployed to other machines. The program also handles disk-to-disk cloning and partition management. A bootable startup version covers computers that no longer start Windows. R-Drive Image is commercial software with a 30-day trial and several license types.
Creating disk images while Windows runs
An R-Drive Image image is a byte-by-byte copy of a hard drive, a partition or a logical disk. The program stores it in its own .rdr format. Windows does not need to restart. The program takes a volume snapshot and images that frozen state. This keeps the result consistent while applications keep writing to the disk.
Options for the output file include imaging only areas that contain file data, a compression level and splitting into parts sized for the destination media. They also include a password with AES-XTS encryption, a comment, and an error check right after creation or later.
Images can go to other internal disks, USB drives, CD/DVD recorders, network shares, FTP, FTPS and SFTP servers, and WebDAV storage such as Nextcloud. Cloud destinations include Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox and Amazon S3. Only the Corporate, Technician and Commercial licenses support Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
Incremental sets and rotation
After a full image, R-Drive Image can add incremental or differential images holding only changed data. File-level backups copy only changed files and can delete files from the destination when they disappear from the source.
Rotation schemes group a full image and its follow-up images into a backup set managed as one unit. The user limits the total space the set may use, the number of image files to keep and how long to retain data. Predefined schemes are available in every license; custom schemes need Corporate, Technician or Commercial licensing.
Replication saves extra copies in the same job. It writes the main image to a fast location first, then copies it to other disks, network drives or cloud storage.
Restoring and mounting images
A restore can return an entire image or only chosen files and folders, to the original drive, a new drive, another partition or unallocated space. During the restore, R-Drive Image can resize the restored partition and delete, move or resize existing partitions on the target. R-Drive Image can automatically fit a whole-disk image to a larger or smaller drive. The startup version restores locked system partitions.
Mounting presents an image as a read-only virtual drive. Windows Explorer can open it, and users can copy out a single folder without a full restore.
Disk cloning and system deployment
The disk-to-disk copy moves a full disk or selected partitions directly to another drive, with the same resize and move options as a restore. Raw mode copies every sector; a faster mode copies only used data. This suits moving Windows to a larger drive or an SSD.
For many identical computers, users image one configured machine. They restore that image to each target, possibly from a shared network location. Users can copy a job built in the interface as a script. They can rerun it from the command line with only the target disk changed.
Partition manager and secure wipe
R-Drive Image creates, deletes, moves and resizes partitions, including on a blank disk. Planned changes appear in the disk layout first. The program applies them only after the user reviews the operation list and starts it. A wipe function erases drives before disposal or transfer. The partition manager works without the usual trial restrictions during the trial period.
Scheduler, scripts and reports
Tasks can run unattended on a schedule, or users can start them manually. When a task ends, the program can email a report with S.M.A.R.T. disk warnings and launch an external program. Scripts cover creating, appending to, restoring, checking, mounting and unmounting images.
Startup media for unbootable systems
The startup version of R-Drive Image boots from a USB drive or CD/DVD in a WindowsPE-based or Linux-based form. It supports UEFI boot including on Macs, and transfers over CIFS network shares. Imaging, restoring, cloning and partitioning work there; the scheduler, scripts and cloud services do not.
File systems and image formats
Supported file systems include FAT, exFAT, NTFS, ReFS, HFS+, APFS, XFS, UFS and Ext2/3/4. R-Drive Image also supports MBR, GPT, BSD and Apple partition schemes, Windows Storage Spaces, Apple RAID and FileVault volumes, and Linux LVM and mdadm RAID. Partition resizing applies to NTFS, FAT and HFS/HFS+.
| Format | Available in |
|---|---|
| .rdr, VHD/VHDX (create and restore), DMG (restore) | All licenses |
| VMDK, VDI (create and restore) | Corporate, Technician, Commercial |
| E01, AFF (restore) | Commercial and OEM kit |
License types
Standalone covers one workstation, not a server; Corporate covers one workstation or server. Technician covers any number of computers, but it may not run on more computers at once than the number of licenses purchased. Commercial is for service providers working on customers’ machines. The OEM kit adds recovery media that returns a computer to its factory setup.
