Runtime Software Drive Image XML.(Product/service evaluation)

Byline: Terry Relph-Knight

Runtime Software Drive Image XML

Price Free Contact Runtime Software www.runtime.org/dixml.htm

Runtime's Drive Image XML isn't the prettiest of programs, but it's free to download, although to some extent you get what you pay for. All too many commercial utilities look cosmetically wonderful, but have flaws in their user interface and functionality. Runtime says that a drawback of other imaging products is that they use proprietary file formats, rendering backup data inaccessible other than from the imaging product itself. Drive Image XML uses XML for its image files, which can be processed using a number of third-party tools.

Since this is a free utility, service and support are minimal. You can email questions about Drive Image XML to Runtime, but there is no telephone support.

Drive Image XML can only perform backups of logical drives and complete hard disk partitions. If you want to back up a multi-partition disk you will have to perform a separate backup for each partition.

Menu choices on the opening screen are: Welcome, Backup, Restore, Drive to drive and Browse. These are accessed via a vertical row of buttons down the left-hand side of the application window, or from a standard pulldown text menu from the top menu bar. Selecting Backup opens a drive selection panel in the main area of the application window. With a drive or drives selected, clicking on the Next button at the bottom of this panel opens a three-step wizard that displays the selected source partition or partitions on the first screen. The following screen allows selection of the backup destination and setting of the limited number of backup options, such as compression and large file splitting. Progressing to the next and final screen starts the backup and shows progress through a text log and a segmented progress bar.