Portable DriveImage XML

This is the portable edition of DriveImage XML, a small and straightforward utility that gives users the possibility of backing up files for safekeeping.

Since installation is not a requirement, you can drop the program files somewhere on the hard disk and run the executable directly.

An alternatiave is to keep Portable DriveImage XML stored on a USB flash disk or similar device, and this way you can run it on any machine without prior installers, as long as you have administrative privileges.

What's more, the tool does not add new entries to the Windows registry, Start menu, or any other part of the HDD. A standard file deletion is suffice to remove it.

The user-friendly interface contains multiple panes dedicated to backup and restore tasks, copying one drive to another, and browsing for XML files.

For each drive available for backup you can check out the label, file system type (Portable DriveImage XML supports FAT12/16/32 and NTFS), total sectors, as well as used, free and total bytes.

The application utilizes Microsoft's Volume Shadow Services to create secure images even from files that are currently in use, delivering them to the XML format, in order to allow third-party applications to process them without encountering any issues.

The restoration operation is as simple as it can get, since you only need to point out an existing backup. This rule applies to drive-to-drive copies as well.

Portable DriveImage XML supplies instructions for scheduling automatic tasks via Windows Task Scheduler, lets you specify a new disk ID, fix boot problems in Windows Vista, as well as enable logging.

The application is to the point and very responsive to commands. It finishes a backup job quickly using low CPU and RAM, so it doesn't affect overall performance or interrupt normal activity.

No error messages were displayed in our evaluation, and the program did not hang or crash. We have not come across any issues. The interface needs some improvements in the visual department, though. To sum it up, Portable DriveImage XML delivers simple and effective solutions to backup and restore data, and it should satisfy all types of users.