Drive Snapshot 1.51Disk imaging for Windows
Drive Snapshot backs up entire partitions to an image file. No reboot, no installation, and you keep working while the backup runs.
Backing up a running system has a catch: programs keep writing while the backup is in progress. In the end, the file contains part of the state from the start and part from the end. That is why classic imaging programs reboot into DOS, and classic backup programs simply skip open files.
After it starts, Drive Snapshot spends a few seconds gathering information about the drive and flushing cached data to disk. Then it freezes that state. If a program wants to write after that, Snapshot first backs up the old data and only then lets the program continue.
The image reflects the state at the start of the backup, plus about ten seconds. Anything you delete, change or install after that is not included.
F.1
One partition, several, or the whole disk. The file is compressed and contains only used sectors, so the image is about half the size of the used space. PAGEFILE.SYS and HIBERFIL.SYS are left out, since they hold nothing useful after a restore.
The target can be a local disk, a network drive such as \\Server\Backups, or an FTP server. If you like, the image can be encrypted with a password.
F.2
After a restore, the drive is identical to the backed-up state, including the file system and all NTFS attributes: permissions, compression, encryption, mount points, streams and quotas.
You restore other partitions directly under Windows. Windows always keeps the system partition open, so it is written back at the next reboot. You can also restore a complete disk with all its partitions and their layout.
Restore step by step
F.3
Instead of extracting individual files from an archive, Snapshot turns the image into a virtual drive, such as Z:. You work with it in Windows Explorer or any other program: search, compare, copy back via drag and drop.
The drive has the same security settings as the original. Up to five images can be mounted at the same time.
More about the Image Explorer
F.4
Every function can be called without a single click, from a batch file or the Windows Task Scheduler. Since Snapshot needs no installation, you can copy it to as many computers as you like and run it there.
C:+D:+E: creates a simultaneous shadow copy of several drives. You need this when related data is spread across different partitions.
sicherung.bat
REM three drives, one after another, to the server
SNAPSHOT C: \\Server\Backups\C-Drive.sna
SNAPSHOT D: \\Server\Backups\D-Drive.sna
SNAPSHOT E: \\Server\Backups\E-Drive.sna
REM then fully verify the image
SNAPSHOT \\Server\Backups\C-Drive.sna -TSnapshot accesses the drive through Windows. Whatever Windows can read, Snapshot can back up, including software and hardware RAID.
| Windows | XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10, 11 |
|---|---|
| Windows Server | 2003, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025 |
| Other environments | Windows PE, x64, ARM64 (separate build) |
| File systems | FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, ReFS Linux: EXT2, EXT3, EXT4, ReiserFS, XFS |
| Hardware | all local disks (IDE, SCSI, USB …) with 512-byte or 4K sector size, any RAID configuration |
| Requirements | Administrator rights, 3 MB of disk space for installation |
| Not as a source | Network drives. They do work as a backup target. |
| Older systems | Version 1.49 is available for Windows NT4 SP6 and Windows 2000. |
To test the software, order a free 30-day trial license at shop.ondeso.com. After these 30 days, only restore and the Image Explorer keep working; backup does not. So your images remain readable even if you do not buy.
Snapshot runs without installation. It copies no files into the Windows directory and makes no changes to the system configuration. If you prefer a classic installation, use Setup.exe.
Running it requires administrator rights.
32-bit, runs on any Windows. Download, run, done.
For pure 64-bit environments such as Windows PE, BartPE or 64-bit setup DVDs, where the 32-bit version does not run.
Native ARM64 version. It cannot restore the system partition at reboot; boot from Windows PE media for that instead.
Classic installation: program folder, Start menu, help, file association for .SNA files.
The manual, for printing.
Version 1.49 for Windows NT4 SP6 and Windows 2000.
The license you need depends on the operating system: Workstation for Windows desktops, Server for Windows Server. Commercial covers any business use and includes updates and e-mail support. The Private license applies only to personal computers and includes updates but no support.
| Commercial12 months | Commercial36 months | Private60 months | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workstationone Windows workstation | €20.23 net €17.00 | €54.74 net €46.00 | €39.00 incl. VAT |
| Serverone system running Windows Server | €45.22 net €38.00 | €120.19 net €101.00 | €89.00 incl. VAT |
Tom Ehlert founded Tom Ehlert Software in October 2000 to experiment with real-time disk imaging. The result was Drive Snapshot, released to end users in the third quarter of 2002.
Since 2026, Drive Snapshot has been part of the product family of ondeso GmbH in Regensburg, Germany. ondeso acquired the software together with the Everfield Group after a long-standing technical partnership. Licenses are available in the ondeso Shop.
ondeso GmbH
Osterhofener Str. 16
93055 Regensburg