diskdrev

Diskdrev is an open-source software project that provides disk management, imaging, and backup capabilities. It enables users to create disk images of entire drives or individual partitions, manage incremental backups, and restore data efficiently. The project aims to balance simplicity with reliability and is used by individuals as well as small to mid-sized organizations.

Its core features include block-level incremental backups, deduplication, compression, and optional encryption. Diskdrev supports bare-metal recovery, backup verification, and staged restores. Backups can be stored on local disks, network shares, or cloud storage through pluggable backends. The tool offers both a command-line interface and a graphical user interface, plus automation via scripting.

Diskdrev can operate in a standalone mode or with a lightweight client-server setup. It maintains a central index of backup sets and metadata, while images are stored in a format optimized for incremental updates. The design emphasizes safety, with read-only mounts used during verification and integrity checks performed after writes.

Development and reception: Diskdrev originated in an open-source community and has seen ongoing updates since its initial release. It attracts contributions from volunteers and small organizations. The project is positioned as a practical alternative to larger backup tools, offering a focus on ease of use, reliable restores, and transparent data handling.

See also: disk imaging, backup software, snapshot, delta encoding, data deduplication.