ShadowImage

ShadowImage is a straightforward application that enables you to capture a disk drive as an image, which can be later restored. This is a backup measure in case you lose or accidentally delete important files and folders.

An important aspect about this tool is that it can create drive images while you continue working on the PC, without affecting its performance.

The program isn't packed in a setup kit. However, it was built using .NET Framework, so make sure your PC is equipped with this software framework, otherwise it won't run.

There's nothing much to be said about the interface, since it's clear that ShadowImage preferred to focus on the functions, adopting a standard .NET Framework form and without adding any graphical elements of its own.

There are two tabs available for capturing and applying (or restoring) a drive image. From a dropdown list, you can pick the drive you wish to process, then write or type the full path the saving directory and name of the new image. It shall have the WIM format.

Unfortunately, there are no buttons implemented for indicating the output directory and filename using a file browser. During the image recording job, you can study the log of activity. Once it's over, you can visit the output folder to spot the new WIM file.

To restore a drive image, all you have to do is go to the second tab, enter the WIM path, pick the drive you want to overwrite with the image contents, then click "Apply!". However, you should know that this doesn't work if the file is already used by another process.

Although ShadowImage hasn't received updates for a long time, we didn't have any trouble getting it to run on newer Windows versions. It may have a rudimentary-looking interface but it offers a fast and easy solution for backing up and restoring disk images.