Partition Manager 8.5

Since the advent of the computer age the best way to protect valuable information was to store it in form of archives on external media. In case of hard disk malfunction, its contents could be restored from the archive. Then backup soon became a common term to mean making duplications of data for protection purposes.

Nowadays backup has become an essential routine operation for any serious information work. A modern backup archive uses the so-called image, a snapshot of the whole disk system (or its separate partitions). It not only includes the contents of all user-made files, but additionally contains the exact structure of directories, information about file allocation, file attributes and other related data. A backup image Backup Image is an archive of the disk, which includes all the on-disk files and service information on the disk layout. To restore disks from such an archive means retrieving all informational components of the disk (e.g. a hard disk image consists of its partitions, the Partition Table and even bootstrap code). can be copied or moved like any ordinary file.

The user can store backup images on external media (CD/DVDs). This guarantees a high level of data protection as long as the backup media is kept secure. It is possible to store backup images on a local network drive as well. Special server-side software enables to secure and store backup images for the entire network. For this purpose computers named backup servers are used. Such a backup server provides nearly the same level of protection as external media.

However, should the user not have a local network and/or it is inconvenient to record data onto external media, then the backup images can be stored in a specially secured place on the hard disk. This place is referred to as the backup capsule, which has an independent system layout (e.g. a separate partition) that will stay operable should the active file system be damaged. To avoid an accidental removing or unauthorized access of the backup data, this partition is hidden and thus cannot be mounted in the operating system. A single hard disk may contain only one backup capsule. However, the user can attach another hard disk with an existing backup capsule to the computer and restore from that as well without any problems.

It is only possible to browse the contents of the backup capsule by using special software. The system of wizards that is implemented into the program is designed to work with the backup capsule. Thus, by storing disk images in the backup capsule the user obtains a reliable level of data protection.