Datanumen Revealing Disk Cloning Software

DataNumen, Inc. has released Disk Image, a free disk utility that creates a disk image from any Windows drive.

The software clones the raw data of the disk or drive, byte by byte. The cloned data adds a layer of safety to the processes of recovering drives that have bad sectors, recovering files that have been damaged and need to be restored, and performing a forensic analysis on a drive.

As drives get older, they develop more and more bad sectors. If bad sectors have damaged important files so that they can no longer be read properly, it is a common practice to try to recover the files directly on the damaged drive. Often, this practice can create additional problems. The data recovery process itself involves writing new files to the drive, and this can complicate the ability to recover the bad files.

This lets users clone a damaged file and move the clone to a second computer that doesn’t have a problem with bad sectors. If the process of recovering the data then results in additional damage to the clone file, no harm is done. The user can create an additional clone from the original drive, and begin the recovery process again.

More and more of the company’s file recovery applications are able to work with the cloned backup image that Disk Image creates. For example, if a user accidentally reformats a HDD and tries to use DataNumen Outlook Repair to recover the files, it’s possible that capturing and rewriting the Outlook files will result in additional file damage. Outlook Repair can work with a cloned disk image on a second computer to recover the lost Outlook files. The software searches the raw data in the clone, byte by byte, and writes the recovered files on the second computer’s HDD.

The software provides forensic experts with the tool that they need to safely analyze any Windows drive. Rather than risk making changes to the HDD, the forensic professionals can clone the entire drive, and work with the clone on a second computer. In addition to making the e-Discovery and forensic analysis work safer, it also makes the work more convenient. Instead of removing hundreds or thousands of drives each year from computers, and installing these drives on their office computers, forensic experts can simply clone the drives and examine the clones on their favorite desktop or laptop.

DataNumen Disk Image runs on Windows 8.1/8/7/Vista/XP/2000/NT/ME/98/95, as well as Windows Server 2003/2008/2012.

The software can replace damaged sectors with specified data. It can clone multiple disks and drives in a single batch operation.

DataNumen Disk Image is available without cost.