Hard drive manipulation software is PowerQuest's forté, as this new version of Drive Image proves. The purpose of this utility is quite simple: to allow the user to back up complete hard drives without worrying about files, directories, registries and so on. It achieves this task by backing up entire partitions, rather than the files stored on them. All logical drives (C:, etc.) are stored on partitions - they are the lowest order of data structure on a hard drive. Regardless of whether your system is running Unix, Windows 95, DOS, OS/2 or Windows NT, the data is stored on one or more partition.

Drive Image 2.0 provides the user with a simple interface that is akin to that of Windows 95, and is a lot more user-friendly than the previous version. You simply choose which partitions you want to back up, where you want to back them up to, and the level of compression required. There is also the option of password-protecting the backup files, which is new to this version, as is the improved compression algorithm and the SmartSector function which can skip empty sectors on some types of partition.

The program must be run under DOS (this includes the Command Prompt option under the Windows 95 boot menu). PowerQuest has provided its own boot disk maker and a version of Caldera OpenDOS for users who don't already have access to another DOS, but you may need to tweak your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to get the drivers for your chosen storage drive working.

Backup files can be stored on any drive that has a drive letter under DOS (excluding tape drives and CD-R/RW drives): a Jazz drive or similar removable storage device makes a good destination, particularly since the disk-spanning function has been improved for this version of Drive Image. When restoring partitions, they can be expanded to fill the space available if necessary. PowerQuest also includes two utilities for the transfer of applications between partitions and the re-assignment of drive letters.

For the corporate power-user, it's likely that a good backup package and a DAT drive will be more suitable than Drive Image 2.0, purely in terms of speed and capacity. But for the average user wanting a quick and painless way to ensure the safety of their data, the simplicity and ease of use of Drive Image 2.0 make it worthy of consideration.