user manual

AOMEI Backupper User Manual

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AOMEI® Backupper User Manual


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Get Started ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Overview of AOMEI Backupper .............................................................................................. 3 System Requirements ................................................................................................................ 3 Supported Operating Systems ................................................................................................... 4 Supported File Systems ............................................................................................................. 4 Supported Storage Devices ....................................................................................................... 4 Install and Uninstall .................................................................................................................. 4

Backup .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Files and Folders Backup .......................................................................................................... 5 System Backup .......................................................................................................................... 6 Disk Backup .............................................................................................................................. 6 Partition and Volume Backup .................................................................................................... 7 Schedule Backup ....................................................................................................................... 7 Backup to Network Attached Storage (NAS)............................................................................ 8 Backup Management ................................................................................................................. 9 Incremental and Differential ..................................................................................................... 9 Backup using Command Line ................................................................................................. 10 Backup Scheme ....................................................................................................................... 14

Backup Options ............................................................................................................................... 15 Compression ........................................................................................................................... 15 Encryption ............................................................................................................................... 16 Splitting ................................................................................................................................... 16 Email Notification ................................................................................................................... 16 Intelligent Sector ..................................................................................................................... 17 Use VSS .................................................................................................................................. 17 Comments ............................................................................................................................... 17

Restore ............................................................................................................................................ 18 Files and Folders Restore ........................................................................................................ 18 System Restore ........................................................................................................................ 18 Disk Restore ............................................................................................................................ 19 Partition or Volume Restore .................................................................................................... 20 Sector by Sector Restore ......................................................................................................... 21 Edit Partitions .......................................................................................................................... 21

Clone ............................................................................................................................................... 21 Disk Clone .............................................................................................................................. 22 Partition or Volume Clone ....................................................................................................... 23

Utilities ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Check Image ........................................................................................................................... 23 Explore Image ......................................................................................................................... 24 Merge Images .......................................................................................................................... 24 Create Windows PE & Linux Bootable Disc .......................................................................... 25 View Logs ............................................................................................................................... 26 Export/Import Configuration .................................................................................................. 27

Support ............................................................................................................................................ 27


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Technical Support ................................................................................................................... 27 AOMEI Backupper FAQ ......................................................................................................... 27 Glossary .................................................................................................................................. 30

Get Started

Briefly introductions of AOMEI Backupper main capacity, system requirements to run it, support file systems and operating system, support storage media, make it clear to start your experience with AOMEI Backupper.

Overview of AOMEI Backupper

AOMEI Backupper is a free backup and recovery software. It allows you to backup your files, folders, hard disk drives, partitions, dynamic volumes, applications and system drives, and then restore them if disaster occurs. And also it is a disk imaging and cloning tool which could image and migrate your hard disk drive for Windows 8, 8.1, 7, XP, Vista and Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012. Main Features

o Files and Folders Backup o System Backup o Disk Backup o Partition Backup o Schedule Backup o Incremental & Differential Backups o Backup Dynamic Disk Volumes o Backup to NAS o Files and Folders Restore o System Restore o Partition and Disk Restore o Disk Clone o Partition Clone o Create Bootable Disc o More Features...

System Requirements

Minimum Hardware requirements: • 500 MHz x86 or compatible CPU

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• 256MB RAM memory • Mouse or other pointing device (recommended) • In addition, AOMEI Backupper supports creating bootable rescue media so you may need

CD-RW/DVD-RW drive for bootable media creation.

Supported Operating Systems

o Microsoft Windows XP (all editions, 32-bit and 64-bit) o Microsoft Windows Vista (all editions, 32-bit and 64-bit) o Microsoft Windows 7 (all editions, 32-bit and 64-bit) o Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 (all editions, 32-bit and 64-bit) o Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2003 R2 (all editions, 32-bit and 64-bit) o Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 (all editions, 32-bit and 64-bit) o Microsoft Windows Home Server (WHS) 2011 and Windows Small Business Server

(SBS) 2011 o Microsoft Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2(all editions)

Supported File Systems

• FAT16 • FAT32 • NTFS • ReFS • Ext2/3, ExFAT

Note: For ReFS, ExT2/3, ExFAT file systems and other known file systems, the program will image, clone and manage them in sector by sector mode.

Supported Storage Devices

Support almost all storage devices that can be recognized by Windows, such as IDE, SATA, SCSI, SSD, USB external disks, Hardware RAID, Network Attached Storage (NAS) and so on. Besides, AOMEI Backupper supports MBR and GPT disk style and works smoothly with UEFI boot.

Install and Uninstall

To install AOMEI Backupper


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Run AOMEI Backupper setup file, in the popup window click "Next" and follow the wizard to install this program. After the installation process has been completed, you may need to restart your computer to completely finish the installation based on its prompt message. Uninstall AOMEI Backupper You could uninstall the program by clicking Start Menu -> All programs -> AOMEI Backupper -- uninstall AOMEI Backupper. Or you can uninstall the software via Windows control panel -> Programs and Functions. Note: To completely uninstall the software you may need to restart your computer. Of course, you can choose to restart later.

Backup

It is very indispensable to make a copy of your important data to ensure your data security. If your original data corrupted by accident, you could recover it from the backup. AOMEI Backupper, supporting 3 backup types: schedule backup, incremental backup & differential backup, can backup files, folders, disks, partitions, volumes, applications and system drives to a compressed image file.

Files and Folders Backup

This function helps you backup files and folders to specified image files easily. In only two steps you can backup your personal files, working files and other important data. What’s more, in specifying which folders to backup, you can set filters such as a file inclusion/exclusion mask and a folder exclusion mask, and whether to exclude hidden files/folders and system files/folders or not. To backup your files/folders:

1．In the left tab page, select Backup and then select File Backup. 2．First, you can enter a task name for the backup in the "Task Name" box first, like "My

File Backup". Thus could help you distinguish it from other backups. 3．In the Setp1, Click “Add File” or “Add Folder” to select the files/folders you want to

backup. 4．Then click Step 2 to select location as the destination path to store the image file. 5．At last, click the Start Backup button to run the backup process.

Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Do Files and Folders Backup. Tips:




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You could set some advanced options for the current backup task, please learn Backup Options, Schedule Backup and Backup Scheme.

If you need to set inclusion/exclusion mask and folder exclusion mask, after click “Add Folder”, you can expand “Filter Settings” to configure.

Some files may be in use by other programs exclusively, and these files may not be backed up, then AOMEI Backupper will prompt you, you just need to follow the prompts.

System Backup

AOMEI Backupper provides one-click backup system solution. If you need to do system backup, it can help you to backup system drive completely, including applications, drivers, configuration settings, system files and booting files. To backup system drive:

1. In the left tab page, select Backup and then select System Backup. 2. First of all, you can enter a task name for your backup in the box, a special task name

could help you distinguish it from others. 3. Directly click Step 2 to select a destination path to save the image file. 4. Click Start Backup button and wait for the process to complete.

Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Do a System Backup. Tips: Since system backup is a one-click solution, your system partition and system reserved

partition will be selected by default in Step 1. Customize an advanced configuration for current backup task, please learn more Backup

Options, Schedule Backup and Backup Scheme.

Disk Backup

Disk backup will back up all your files on the disk into a compressed image file, including all partitions or volumes on this disk. That means if you back up a system disk, after restoring it, the restored disk can also be booted directly. It supports backing up MBR disks, GPT disks, external hard drives, USB disks, and other storage devices that can be recognized by Windows. To backup your disk:

1. In the left tab page, select Backup and then select Disk Backup. 2. Then, you can enter a task name for the backup in the "Task Name" box first, like "My

system disk backup". This information can help you distinguish it from other backups. 3. Click the Step 1 button, in the popup window select the source disks that you want to

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backup. 4. Click Step 2 to select a destination place to store the image file. 5. Click the Start Backup button and wait for the process to complete.

Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: Disk backup. Tips: You could set some advanced options for the current backup task, please learn more Backup

Options, Schedule Backup and Backup Scheme. When backing disk, AOMEI Backupper allows you backing up several disks at a time, but

the destination place must have enough space to contain the data on these disks. And it will take a longer time to complete through disk backup, if you have a large amount of data on these disks. When restoring this image, it allows you to restore these disks one by one.

In addition, because of the different properties between dynamic disk and basic disk, you could not backup dynamic disks by this option. To backup volumes on dynamic disks you should choose Partition Backup option.

Partition and Volume Backup

If you just want to backup particular partitions and volumes rather than the entire disk, this feature is the best choice. With the help of it, you can backup one or multiple partitions/volumes (including dynamic volumes) to an image file. To backup partitions/volumes: In the left tab item, select Backup and then select Partition Backup. In front of this page, enter a task name in the box, you'd better determine a special name that

you can easily distinction to separate it from others. Click Step1, in the popup window select the partitions or volumes that need to be backed up. Click Step2 to select a destination path to save the backup. Click Start Backup button and wait for the process to complete.

Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Backup Partition/Volume. Tips: You could specify advanced options for the current backup, please refer to Backup Options,

Schedule Backup and Backup Scheme. For ExT2/3, ReFS, ExFAT and other non Windows file systems, AOMEI Backupper will

backup them in sector by sector mode.

Schedule Backup









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AOMEI Backupper is able to backup data for you automatically and periodically after the release of Version 1.5. This will greatly enhance the security of your data. There are three modes to set up a backup schedule: Daily Mode, Weekly Mode and Monthly Mode. Daily Mode 1. Set a time point in the future to perform the backup task only once. 2. Set a time point to perform the backup task once every day. 3. Set a time frame in a day first. Then choose the time interval between each backup. The program will perform the backup at intervals in this time frame every day (the time interval could be 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours or 6 hours). Weekly Mode First, choose the day(s) for backup task from Monday to Sunday. Then set a time point. In this way, the program will automatically perform the backup at a fixed time point at the chosen day(s) in every week. Monthly Mode 1. Choose the day(s) from the calendar to perform the backup task in every month. 2. You can specify one day to perform the backup task in every month. For example, you can let the program to perform the backup on the third Tuesday in every month. You may also check this tutorial How to Use Schedule Backup to learn more details about Schedule Backup with screenshots.

Backup to Network Attached Storage (NAS)

NAS is the acronym of Network Attached Storage, which has been mostly used as file servers by small business users. Backing up to NAS may save users' local storage as well as ensure the safety of the backup image. AOMEI Backupper enables you to backup data to NAS devices easily. Backup to NAS 1. The system, partitions and a whole disk can all be backed up to NAS. Click on "Select other

location as the destination path" bar in Backup option once the source disk/partition/system has been selected.

2. When the window pops up, Click Share/NAS Device on the left-hand side. 3. Click Add share or NAS device button in the lower-left corner. 4. Enter the IP address or name of your NAS. Also, you may input a display name for this NAS

device. 5. After the NAS device has been added, all the folders in the NAS will be listed in the

right-hand side list box. Choose one folder as the destination path then click OK. If you would like to learn more details of backup to NAS, please check the tutorial: AOMEI Free Backup Software for Windows Backup to NAS Devices. It will guide you step-by-step throughout

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the whole process with screenshots.

Backup Management

Intensively manage your image files in this section. If you have created several backups, you could find that all your image files are listed here and here build-in shortcut options to start or manage your backups, including: New Backup, Restore, Backup and Advanced option. Besides, it could list your backups by day, week, month or any other custom time. New backup: After click the button, the program will invoke the corresponding backup wizard. Restore: Click the button and the program will enter into the "Restore" tab page, then the program will let you choose what you want to restore. Backup: After make a full backup, you could do an incremental or differential backup based on the full backup, the Backup button will provide the related options to allow you realize the incremental or differential backup. Advanced: Move your mouse pointer to a particular backup then you can see the "Advanced" button, click it, you can manage your backup files in the drop-down menu, details as follow: Delete Backup: delete this backup file. Check Image: check the data integrity of the backup image; ensure you could successfully

restore data. Explore Image: mount the image file to a virtual partition to explore your data in "My

Computer". Edit Backup: add files/folders to a backup task, or remove from a backup task. Schedule Backup: backup data automatically with Daily, Weekly and Monthly Mode. Locate Image: open the folder where this backup located in. Properties: view the property of this backup, it contains some general information of this

backup, also you can view the backed up contents and set "Backup Scheme" for disk space management.

Incremental and Differential

As time moves on, there will be more and more data and files stored on your system drive, data partitions, etc. In order to ensure the data safety, it is of great necessity to back up the changed data regularly. Then, you probably need the help of Full/Incremental/Differential Backup. You can get more information about this by reading the following paragraphs. Also, you can decide your backup plan based on the following information. Tips: Step by step guide with screenshots display how to perform a Incremental-and-differential backup, please click here: How to Do Incremental and Differential Backup.

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Full Backup This means backing up all the data on the selected folders, partitions or hard disks, whether it has been backed up before or not. That is to say, a full backup will always back up all selected data. Moreover, a full backup is the basis of incremental and differential backup. Once you have performed a full backup, you can create Incremental and Differential backups - these are much quicker to create than a full backup of the same data and the images created are much smaller Incremental Backup This method only backup the changed and newly added files based on the last backup, be it a full or incremental backup. The data that have not been changed will not be backed up. All the image files of incremental backup share a close relationship. If any one of the incremental image files has been damaged or missing, the latter image files will be invalid. Differential Backup This option will back up all the changed and new added data based on the last time full backup. So the image file of the differential backup just related to a full backup. If one of the differential backup image file has been damaged or lost, it will not affect others. Compared to incremental backup, differential backup would cost more time. Full Backup + Incremental or Differential With the demonstrations above, you might have found out that the method of "Full Backup + Incremental Backup" or "Full Backup + Differential Backup" will be more convenient than single full backup. Therefore, after a full backup, you can choose whether incremental or differential backup to only deal with the changed and newly added data and files. It will be more efficient. What's more, the way of "Full Backup +Incremental Backup" has been employed more frequently than other approaches. It will only deal with the changed files since the last backup. Therefore, if you need to back up data regularly, this way will be more appreciated and time saving. The way of "Full Backup + Differential Backup" is also a good solution. However, compared to incremental backup, it will cost more time and also it needs more space to store the image file.

Backup using Command Line

Command line backup: 1. Run command line prompt as administrator. There are two methods:

> Click Start, right click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator privilege > Or press WIN+R to open “Run” window and input “cmd” to open it.

2. Navigate to the installation directory of AOMEI Backupper by type in:

cd C:\Program Files\AOMEI Backupper This means open this path--“C:\Program Files\AOMEI Backupper Professional 2.0” which is the installation directory of AOMEI Backupper of your version. Note: the path must match


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the installation directory of the program you installed.

3. Please first learn the instructions below and then choose the right parameter to constitute a full functional command, e.g. AMBackup.exe /b new /t disk /s 0 /d “d:\disk” /n “Backup Disk0” This means command AMBackup.exe to start a new disk backup and backup disk 0, next save the backup file to “D:\disk backup” and name the backup file as “Backup Disk0”

Syntax: {} are the required parameters [] are the optional parameters For a new backup, the required parameters are: Parameters Description {/b} Specify the type of backup, it could be one of the following: new inc dif full

new create a new backup task

{/t} Specify the type of source, it could be one of the following: system disk part system means to backup your system disk means to backup disks part means to backup partitions

{/s} Source for the backup: For Disk backup specify the number of the disk, e.g. /s 0. For partition backup, specify the drive letter, e.g. /s C. For partitions without letter, specify the partition number, e.g. /s 0:1

{/d} Destination path for saving the backup image, e.g. /d D:\Path\File For incremental and differential backup, the required parameters are: Parameters Description {/b} Specify the type of backup, it could be one of the following: inc dif full

inc create an incremental backup based on the last backup dif create a differential backup based on the last full backup full create a subsequence full backup

{/s} Specify the main body for creating incremental or differential backup, e.g. “/s d:\backup\ab.adi” This means creating a incremental or differential backup based on image--“d:\backup\ab.adi”

The following are some optional parameters: Parameters Description [/n] Assign a name for the backup to distinguish it from others [/c] Compression level for the image could be one of the following: 0 1 2

0 no compression


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1 fast standard compression 2 higher compression level, but take long time

[/e] Encrypt image file, e.g. /e "123" means "123" becomes the password for the image file.

[/u] Username; if you backup to network and the username is required to access the network. You may set up the username by using this parameter, e.g. /u “admin”

[/p] Password; if you backup to network and a password is required to access the network; e.g. /p "123456".

[/m] Size in MB for splitting a large image file into smaller chunks. This specifies the maximum size of each part; e.g. /m 1490.

[/r] Backup the disk and partition in a sector-by-sector way or not, it could be decided by one of these two parameters: 0 1

0 means standard backup, is default backup option. 1 Raw backup; This will do a raw (pseudo forensic) sector-by-sector

backup, e.g. /r 1

List the disk and partitions: Parameters Description [/l] List disks and partitions on this computer. Use /l to show ALL disks on this

computer, /l0 or /l1 shows partitions only of disk 0 or disk 1. (Note: there is no space between the “/l” and “0”)

Examples: System Backup 1. System backup and assign a backup name AMBackup.exe /b new /t system /d “d:\sys” /n “Backup System” 2. System backup with no the backup name AMBackup.exe /b new /t system /d “d:\sys” Disk Backup 1. Backup disk 0: AMBackup.exe /b new /t disk /s 0 /d “d:\disk” /n “Backup Disk0” 2. Backup disk 0 and 1: AMBackup.exe /b new /t disk /s 0 /s 1 /d “d:\disk” /n “Backup Two Disks” Partition Backup 1. Backup partition E: AMBackup.exe /b new /t part /s E /d “d:\part” /n “Backup Part E” 2. Backup partition E, F and G: AMBackup.exe /b new /t part /s E /s F /s G /d “d:\part” /n “Backup Parts”


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Incremental & Differential Backup 1. Incremental backup: AMBackup.exe /b inc /s “d:\sys\system.adi” 2. Differential backup: AMBackup.exe /b dif /s “d:\sys\system.adi” 3. Incremental backup with password: AMBackup.exe /b inc /s “d:\sys\c-drive.adi” /p “abc321” Backup to Network 1. Backup to the shared network: AMBackup.exe /b new /t part /s E /d “\\192.168.0.100\Share\Imgfile.adi” /n “BackupToShare” /u “admin” /p “123456” 2. Backup to NAS AMBackup.exe /b new /t part /s E /d “\\192.168.0.200\NAS\Imgfile.adi” /n “BackupToNAS” /u “admin” /p “123456” Compression level and split image AMBackup.exe /b new /t disk /s 10 /d “z:\folder” /n “Backup Disk10” /c 2 /m 500 Sector by sector backup AMBackup.exe /b new /t part /s f /d “d:\part” /n “Backup F Drive” /r 1 Encryption Backup AMBackup.exe /b new /t system /d “d:\sys” /e “mypassword” List disks and partitions 1. List the disks in the system: AMBackup.exe /l 2. List the partitions on disk 0: AMBackup.exe /l0 Tips: The command line of AOMEI does not support for file backup yet and also does not support

for restoring operations. Need to run command line prompt as administrator privilege.


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Backup Scheme

If you have done backup many times and there are too many image files, in order to realize disk space management and save your disk space usage, you can use the Backup Scheme (alias Backup Strategy) feature to accomplish the goal. After the next backup finishes, AOMEI Backupper provides two ways, which automatically remove old backups to release more disk space for later backups: • Way 1: automatically delete the old backups saved beyond a stated number of days, weeks,

months or years. • Way 2: the previous N of obsolete versions will be automatically deleted. “N” is a number you

selected. To enable the “Backup Scheme” feature: Method 1: In the process of creating a backup task, you tick at "Schedule On", then you will see a "Scheme" button, click on it to set, as shown below:

Backup Scheme Second 2: Click on the Home page, and select a backup task, and then click on "Advanced" -> "Properties" -> "Backup Scheme" to be set, as shown below:


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"Backup Scheme" in "Properties"

Backup Options

Advanced settings for your current backup task. You can customize your personal parameters when backing up data, including the compression level, encryption, the way the image is to be split to fit the storage media in use, intelligent sector, and VSS.

Compression

Determine a proper compression level for your current backup task. The Normal option was selected by default and it is recommended, but you could also select Higher or None. See more details as follow: None: Data will be imaged without any compression, so the image file size will be equal to

your original data. Normal: Data will be compressed in a moderate level. It is a recommended compression

level. High: A much higher compression level, during the backup, the image file will be smaller

than other levels and it will take a longer time to complete.

Please note some kinds of files are essentially compressed, such as .jpg, .pdf or .mp3. So if your backup contains such files, the generated image file may not significantly decrease even through the High compression level is selected.


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Encryption

Because of the image file can be accessed and restored by anybody, so in order to protect your data from unauthorized access, you could encrypt it by setting a password. Enter your password in the password field to encrypt it, and allows at most 15 characters. 1. Ticket the small box to enable the encryption for backups. 2. Type in your password in the first field and then retype it in the second field to confirm it. Note: You must remember your password otherwise you could not recover your backup, since this

process is not simply setting a password. The program use strong industry-standard AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) cryptographic algorithm, it will totally encrypt all data in the image.

Currently, the program does not support to change the password of a password-protected backup after the backup was created.

Splitting

In order to save a larger image file to some small capacity storage mediums, image files can be split into several files to fit different storage medium. In other words, the program supports automatically to split one image file into several parts during the backup process. Automatic: the split size depends on the file system of the destination storage medium. Customize size: input a proper value and then image will be split in this size. Note that the

minimum file size is 50MB. Choose a predetermined size: find the storage medium type of yours in the drop-down

menu, and then the program will split it to fit your medium.

Email Notification

To play unattended operation, you may concern about the result of backup plans, so this function is very important for you. You can use it to send a report of execution result to the email address you set before. To configure Email Notification: Click Settings in the menu and select Email or before you start the backup, you are able to set email notification by configuring Backup Options. > To: fill in an email address and the program will send execution result to this email address. > Don't use AOMEI SMTP server: In default, this program will choose AOMEI SMTP server to send the report. If you check out this option, then you need to customize SMTP server according to which mail service you use.


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Server Setting: Specify the email SMTP server depending on your mail service. Port: Fill in the port number of this email server, e.g. 25. SMTP authentication: If you check it, you need to enter to your email account info. Notification Settings: Specify the conditions for sending email notification. Test: Verify if your settings are correct or not, if so, AOMEI Backupper will send a test message to your mailbox. Tips: In default, this program will choose AOMEI SMTP server to send you an email report, so

that you don't have to configure Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP) if you are not professional.

Notification Settings is a multiple-choice, so check out all the options, you will get a report no matter the operation complete successfully or failed.

Intelligent Sector

Intelligent Sector Backup: only backup the used sector of file systems and this will reduce the size of image file and backup time. Make an Exact Backup: this method is also called Sector by Sector Mode, it will backup all sectors of the disks or partitions no matter it are in use or not.

Use VSS

VSS is short for Volume Shadow Copy Service. This technology allows the program to backup data without interrupting the work of applications. If don't use VSS, the program will automatically use the built-in technique instead of it for live backup. Choose one of the modes to begin your backup task. Note: We highly recommend you to use VSS service.

Comments

In this field, you can write a comment for your current backup task and it supports up to 1024 characters, so you can write a detailed description for your backup. Once you need to find the backup, this detailed description could let you remember what the backup is and distinguish it from others.


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Restore

Once you encounter unexpected problems, such as system crash, data loss, disk corrupted and so on, you could restore your data from the backups to get rid of the problems.

Files and Folders Restore

With the help of AOMEI Backupper, if your original files/folders are lost or broken, you can use this feature: File Restore to restore them just before you have backed up them into an image file. To restore files/folders:

1．In the left tab page, select Restore and select the file backup item that you want to restore from the list box, then click Next to continue.

2．Select a point-in-time in the list box, and click the Next button. Here, Backup type, Created time and Backup description are helpful for determining the proper point time.

3．Select the files or folders that you want to restore and click Next. 4．Then, select a destination path to save files, you can also select “Restore to original

location” or “Restore to a new location”, also can tick “Replace existing files” to overwrite the files with the same name. And then, click Start Restore to execute this task. Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Do Files and Folders Restore. Tips: Some files may be in use by other programs exclusively, and these files with the same name

may not be overwritten, then AOMEI Backupper will prompt you, you just need to follow the prompts. You could choose restoring to a new location to solve the problem.

When backing up files, AOMEI Backupper automatically backups the NTFS permissions of files, so you can check the "Restore NTFS Permissions" option in order to make it easier to set file permissions during the restore process.

System Restore

If your system crashed or cannot boot, to restoring your system from system backup is a better solution rather than reinstalling OS. To restore system:

1. In the left tab page, select Restore and then in the left bottom ticket the "Only show system backup" option, your system backup will be list out. Select one and click Next to




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continue. 2. Select a latest point-in-time of your system backup and click the Next button, then you

could recover your system to this state. 3. In this page, the program will ask for you to select the destination system drive which you

want to recover to if the size or location of the original system drive has been changed. If not changed, the program will directly skip this page and enter into the next page.

4. Now, enter into the "Operation Summary" page, preview the operation that will be executed. If you want to adjust the partition size, in the left bottom click "Edit the size of partition". Generally it is not necessary to tick other option, but you could also restore with "Sector by sector mode", or tick at the option "Align partition to optimize for SSD".

5. Click Start Restore and wait for the process to complete, and then click Finish. Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Do System Restore. Tips: If you used to regularly backup system, each backup will generate a point time, so there may

be multiple time points for you choice. The destination drive will be totally overwritten, and you could copy the important data on it

and paste it to other place. During restore the system, the program will prompt you to restart computer, then enter into a

"Restart Mode" for the restore operation.

Disk Restore

When your disk was broken, data loss, partitions loss or physically damaged, you could restore your disk to a right status. To restore disk:

1. In the left tab page, select Restore and select the backup that you want to restore from the list box, then click Next to continue.

2. Select a point-in-time and click the Next button. Backup type and Created time is helpful for determining the proper point time.

3. Select the disks/partitions in the image file that will be restored. • If click the Disk button, it will list the disks that contains in this image, select one

of the disks to restore and click Next to continue. • If click the Part button, it will list the partitions that contains in this image, select

one of the partitions and click Next to continue. 4. Select the destination disk/partition, then the program will restore the selected

disk/partition in the previous step to the destination one, then click Next. 5. Now, enter into the "Operation Summary" page, preview the restore operation will be

executed. If you want to adjust partitions, in the left bottom click "Edit partitions on the destination disk". Other options, "Sector by sector restore" and "Align partition to

http://www.backup-utility.com/help/edit-partitions.html



http://www.backup-utility.com/help/sector-by-sector-restore.html

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optimize for SSD" are optional. 6. Click Start Restore and wait for the process to complete.

Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: Disk Recovery with AOMEI Backupper. Tips: If you used to regularly backup, each backup will generate a point time, so there may be

multiple time points for you choice. The destination disk/partition will be totally overwritten, and you'd better copy the important

data on it and paste it to other location. If there are some applications that are running on the destination partition/disk, AOMEI

Backupper will require that you restart computer and will execute the restore operation in a "Restart Mode".

Partition or Volume Restore

This feature is used to restore particular partition or volume. If the data on the partition is damaged, you can quickly restore it to the normal state with the backed up image file. To restore partition/volume:

1. In the left tab page, select Restore and select the backup that you want to restore in the list box, then click Next to continue.

2. Select a point-in-time and click the Next button. Backup type and Created time is helpful for determining the proper point time.

3. In this page, AOMEI Backupper will list the partitions or volumes that contains in this image file, select one of the partitions you want to restore, and click Next to continue.

4. Select a destination partition or an unallocated space, then the program will restore the selected partition in the previous step to the destination one, and then click Next.

5. Now, enter into the "Operation Summary" page, preview the restore information and confirm the operation will be executed. If you want to edit the partition, in the left bottom click "Edit the size of partition". Other options, "Sector by sector restore" and "Align partition to optimize for SSD" are optional.

6. Click Start Restore and wait for the process to complete, and then click Finish.

Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Restore Partition/Volume. Tips: If you used to regularly backup the partition, each backup will generate a point time, so there

may be multiple time points for you choice. The destination partition will be totally overwritten during the restore process, and you'd

better copy the important data on it and paste it to other location. If there are some applications that are running on the destination partition, AOMEI













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Backupper will require that you restart computer and will execute the restore operation in a "Restart Mode".

Sector by Sector Restore

If you backed up your disks or partitions with sector by sector way before, you can also restore them in sector by sector mode. For sector by sector backup, you could refer to the "Intelligent sector" section in "Backup Options". This backup way will backup all sectors of the disks or partitions no matter these sectors are in use or not, such as some deleted files are backed up too. When restore in sector by sector, also the program will copy all sectors (both used sectors and unused sectors) to destination disks or partitions. Otherwise, only used sectors can be restored, and skip unused sectors. Tips: Make sure that your destination partition or disk size is equal or larger than the source one.

Edit Partitions

When disk restore, in the "Operation Summary" page, click the "Edit partitions on the destination disk" button, then you can adjust the partitions size or location on destination disk. In the dialog of edit partitions, there are three options is provided for your choice. Copy without resizing partitions: do not do any changes. Fit partition to entire disk: the partitions will be automatically resized to the entire disk, fit

for the disk size. Edit partitions on this disk: manually adjust the partition size and location by dragging a

slider bar.

In addition, when you restore system drive or partition, you can click "Edit the size of partition" button in the "Operation Summary" page, then in the popup window, you could assign a drive letter and set primary/logical to the partition. Meanwhile, you could also drag and move the graphical Partition Bar to change the size or location of the partition on this disk.

Clone

Clone is a very useful feature that designed to migrate or transfer your data directly. It will not compress the data, and you can clone disk or partition directly from one to another.



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Disk Clone

Disk clone can clone a hard disk drive from one to another, also all data on the disk including operating system, applications, configuration settings and all partitions etc will transfer to other disk. So it is very useful, especially when you find that your system disk do not have enough space, you could upgrade disk to a higher-capacity one. And also you could use it for migrating HDD to SSD or making a duplicate of HDD. To Clone Disk:

1. In the left tab page, select the Clone option and then select Disk Clone. 2. Select the source disk that you want to clone and click Next. 3. Select the destination disk which the source disk will be cloned to and click Next.

Attention, the destination disk will be overwritten if it has data. 4. Preview the information of your source and destination disk. In the wizard page, for

advanced settings as follow:

a) If you want to adjust the partitions size or location on destination disk, click the "Edit partitions on the destination disk" button.

Copy without resizing partitions: do not do any changes. Fit partition to entire disk: the partitions will automatically change partition

size to fit the entire disk. Edit partitions on this disk: manually adjust the partition size and location by

dragging and moving the graphical Partition Bar.

b) Sector by sector clone: copy all sectors of the disk to destination disk no matter it is in use or not. The destination disk size must be equal or larger than source disk. c) Align partition to optimize for SSD: if your destination disk is SSD (Solid-State Drive), we highly suggest you to tick at the option for optimizing performance of SSD.

5. Finally, click Start Clone, wait for the process to complete and then click Finish. Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Do Disk Clone. Tips: Note that the destination disk will be overwritten if it has data, so please make a note if it has

important data, you must backup the destination disk before you apply the operation. If the destination disk is locked by other programs or some applications running on it,

AOMEI Backupper will ask for restarting computer, and will execute the disk clone operation in a "Restart Mode".





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Partition or Volume Clone

AOMEI Backupper provides the feature, which can clone single partition, rather than the whole disk. For example, the C: can be cloned to D:, and also E: can be cloned to another disk. To clone Partition or Volume:

1. In the left Tab page, select the Clone option and then select Partition Clone. 2. Select a partition or volume you want to clone as source partition and click Next. 3. Select an appropriate unallocated space or an existed partition as destination partition, and

click Next. 4. Preview the information of your source and destination partition. In this wizard page, for

advanced settings as follow: If you want to adjust the partitions size or location on destination disk, click the

"Edit the size of partition" button. Then, in the popup "Edit the size partition" dialog, you could drag and move the graphical Partition Bar to edit this partition.

Sector by sector clone: copy all sectors of the partition to another no matter it is in use or not. The destination partition must be equal or larger than source partition.

Align partition to optimize for SSD: if the selected destination disk is SSD (Solid-State Drive), we highly suggest you to check the option for optimizing SSD.

5. Click Start Clone, wait for the process to complete and then click Finish.

Maybe the above steps could not clearly. You can see a detailed guide with screenshots here: How to Do Partition/Volume Clone. Tips: The source partition can not be select as a destination partition. The destination partition will be overwritten, so please make a note if it has important data;

you'd better backup them before you apply the operation. If some applications are running on the destination partition, AOMEI Backupper will ask for

restarting computer, and will execute the partition clone operation in a "Restart Mode".

Utilities

To provide you with essential tools that could make your backup and recovery in secure and stable environment controlled.

Check Image

Check the data integrity of the backup image to ensure you could successfully recover data. If the program finds errors during checking process, the image file might be damaged and cannot be





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used for recovery, so by checking image, you could find the errors in time and then find a remedy. To check image

1. In the left Tab, select Utilities and then select Check Image. 2. Select the backup that you want to check. If you could not find the backup from the list

box, click Browseto locate it. 3. Select a point-in-time and click the Next button to start the check. Backup type and

Created time is helpful for determining the proper point time. 4. Wait for the process to complete and then click Finish.

Explore Image

Mount the image to create a virtual drive, it is just like Deamon tool, after mount the image you explore the contents of the image in "My Computer", also can copy files in this virtual drive and paste. To explore image:

1. In the main Tab page, select Utilities and then select Explore Image. 2. Select the backup that you want to explore in the list box, click Next to continue. 3. Select a point-in-time and click the Next button to explore the backup at this time point. 4. Assign a drive letter to the partition in the image and click Next to mount the image. 5. Wait for the process to complete and then click Finish. Now you could explore the data in

the created virtual partition in "Window Explorer" or "My Computer".

To detach image: After you mount the image, the program will create a virtual drive in Windows Explorer. If all your necessary operations have been completed, it is advisable to detach the virtual drive.

1. In the main Tab page, select Utilities and then select Explore Image. 2. Your previous virtual drives will be list here, ticket the box and click Detach and then the

virtual drive will be cancelled immediately.

Tips: If you do not detach the virtual drives, they will automatically disappear when reboot the computer.

Merge Images

When you have finished a full backup once, maybe you want to do an incremental backup based on the full backup later. However, you must know that there will be created a new image file after you have done an incremental backup every time. So it will be more and more image files over time and made it hard to manage.


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For example: you create a task about backuping D:\work everyday, and then there will be 30 image files a month later. Every image file is a different version (also named point-in-time), but you rarely use the 30 versions. Now, through this function, you can merge these all of backup versions into one to manage image files easier than before. To merge image files：

1．In the left Tab, select Utilities and then select Merge Images. 2．Select a backup task that you want to merge. If you could not find the backup from the

list box, click Browse to locate it, and then click the Next button to the next step. 3．In this step, you can view all versions of the backup task, which are about to be merged

into one, and click the Next button. 4．Then, select a location to save the new image file. Usually, you could save to original

directory or specify a new directory to save it. 5．At last, click the Proceed button to merge the image files and wait for the process to

complete. Tips: If a backup task is only one version (one image file), the program will not merge it. During the process of merging, AOMEI Backupper won’t delete the old image files and the

merged backup task. We suggest you tick “Create a task item for this merging operation”, thus, after merging, in

the left tab, select Home and then you will be able to see this new backup item. "Merge Images" can only merge all versions of incremental backup. If this backup task

contains the version(s) of differential backup, AOMEI Backupper will prompt you that you can't merge them when you intend to do it.

Create Windows PE & Linux Bootable Disc

AOMEI Backupper allows you to create both Windows PE (WinPE) and Linux kernel based bootable disc easily while you would like to create a rescue media for emergency usage. Note: To create bootable disc, you need to prepare a blank CD/DVD-R/RW discs, USB media or external hard disk which can be written. To create bootable disc, please click "Utilities" tab and then select "Create Bootable Media". In the pop-up window, there are two bootable disc types: Windows PE and Linux. For your information, we suggest you create bootable disc based on Windows PE, which provides more flexible and convenient operations than Linux bootable disc. Create Windows PE Bootable Disc 1. Select "Windows PE" and click "Next" button. Then, AOMEI Backupper will check whether

your system meets the corresponding requirements. If not, you may need to install Windows


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AIK. Learn more about Windows AIK and how to install it. 2. Click "Next" button to continue. 3. If you want to select a USB device or CD/DVD as the bootable media, please plug it into the

computer in advance. You can also choose "Explore ISO File", which enables you to create an ISO image file. Then, click "Next" button to create Windows PE bootable disc.

4. Wait for the process to complete and then click "Finish". Create Linux Bootable Disc The way to create Linux bootable disc is just the same as the steps of creating Windows PE bootable disc. The only difference is that you can create this kind of bootable disc without meeting any requirement, no need to download and install Windows AIK. As mentioned above, the compatibility of Linux bootable CD might be a little bit poorer. Tips: AOMEI Backupper allows you to manually add additional drivers when creating Windows

PE bootable disc. If you choose creating ISO image file, please remember the path where you saved the image

file. So that you can find the file when you need it. After you complete creating the ISO file, you can manually burn it to CD/DVD/USB device

(Windows 7 integrates burning utility, right click this .iso file > Open With > Windows Disc Image Burner). Or you can use 3rd-party burning software and follow the tutorial how to burn ISO file to CD/USB to burn this iso file.

View Logs

This function is to show you the log information of what operations this program has done. It displays the operation type, the result of operation, error code etc, so you can determine what the error is and send it to us for help. To view the logs: 1. In the left Tab, select Utilities and then select View Logs. 2. In the log page, you will see several buttons as below:

>Log List: to display the detailed information of your backup operation. >Display by date: In the lower left corner, you will see a drop-down menu. Select one of the items to list your operations created during this period.

Tips: If you want to clear the logs, please go to “C:\Users\All Users\AomeiBR” or “C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\AomeiBR” and then delete “brlog.xml”, but don’t touch other .xml files. If you don’t where is brlog.xml, you can search “C:” drive to find it.

http://www.backup-utility.com/help/aik.html

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Export/Import Configuration

The configuration file recorded all your valid backup tasks. Usually, these tasks have been listed in the Home page of AOMEI Backupper. By exporting/importing it, you are able to save the record to a safe place and in the case of you lost your backup history, you are able to recover all your backup tasks to AOMEI Backupper. To export/import configuration file: 1. In the left Tab, select Utilities and then select Export/Import Configuration. 2. There are two options:

>Import task: Import your backup records to AOMEI Backupper from the configuration file you saved before. >Export task: Export the configuration file to another place.

Support

Technical Support

If you cannot find what you are looking for and need further help, please do not hesitate to send an email [email protected] or visit http://www.backup-utility.com When you encounter a problem, there is a "log" folder in the installation directory of the program, you could make it as a ".zip" file and send to us so we can help you more efficiently. Also, you could refer to tutorials at: http://www.backup-utility.com/features/

AOMEI Backupper FAQ

Any matters need attention when you backup by using Command Line with AOMEI Backupper? A: There are four things to note: 1. It doesn’t support backup data to disc (CD/DVD) by using command line. If you want to

backup data to disc, please use AOMEI Backupper GUI to realize. 2. When you backup dynamic volume(s), but the dynamic volume has no drive letter, so you

should assign a drive letter for it first, then you can backup it by using command line later. 3. AOMEI Backupper command line program must be run by a user with administrator

privilege. If you are a non administrator user, an authorized window will pop up, in which you need to enter the correct account information to finish the backup process.

4. When you backup data to shared network or NAS, there must be a folder name behind IP

mailto:[email protected]

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address, such as "\\192.168.0.10\foldername", thus you can visit the network path.

Any matters need attention when you backup files/folders with AOMEI Backupper? A: There are five following things to note: 1. In order to avoid backing up temporary files, garbage files and other useless data, we suggest

you do a data cleaning first and backup later. 2. Files and folders in the Recycle Bin can’t be backed up. 3. For some files like NTFS compressed files or EFS encrypted files, AOMEI Backupper can

backup up very well, but the files no longer having NTFS properties after restorations. 4. AOMEI Backupper can backup NTFS files with its security permissions automatically, and

also supports restoring the file’s security permissions together with the file. 5. We suggest you put the files you plan to backup to the same folder first, then backup this

folder to backup the whole files. In this way, you only need to add one backup source or several backup sources to Backup List (Note: every item in the backup list called one backup source), thus makes the management of backup more convenient. However, we don’t suggest you add too many backup sources to backup list (e.g. the backup source has reached 2000 or more).

_______________________________________________________________________________ Have you received the prompt: “If the program is unable to restart the computer or failed to

enter into Restart Mode, you could…” How to resolve? A: If some files or partitions are occupied by other programs, the restore operation will be performed under Restart Mode. However, AOMEI Backupper may fail to enter into Restart Mode automatically because of some unknown errors. The solution: click "Utilities" -> "Create Bootable Media" to make a Windows PE bootable disc based on legacy boot mode (not UEFI boot mode) or make a Linux bootable disc manually, and then boot your computer from the bootable disc to restore data.

Have you seen the prompt: “When failed to create a bootable USB drive or disc directly, you could…” How to resolve? A: When you create bootable disc, you use the “Burn To CD/DVD” or “USB Boot Device” option, then you may encounter unknown errors during creation process which caused fail to make a bootable USB drive or bootable disc. You can solve it by another solution: In the "Select Bootable Media" dialog box, choose "Export ISO File" instead of "Burn To CD/DVD" or "USB Boot Device", and then use third-party burning tools to burn the ISO file to USB, CD or DVD.

Have you seen the prompt: “after completing the bootable disc, if it is unable to boot the computer, you could…” How to resolve? A: When you complete creating a bootable disc, use it to boot your computer, but failed to boot (which may be caused by some errors in the process of creating the bootable disc). You can solve it by another solution: you need to make a Windows PE bootable disc based on legacy boot mode (not UEFI boot mode) or make a Linux bootable disc, then in the "Select Bootable Media" dialog box, choose "Export ISO File" instead of "Burn To CD/DVD" or "USB Boot Device", and then use third-party burning tools to burn the ISO file to USB, CD or DVD.




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_______________________________________________________________________________

Does AOMEI Backupper support to backup and restore a UEFI based system drive? A: Yes, it completely supports UEFI boot backup and restore, while ensuring your system bootable after restoration. Click here to learn more information.

Does AOMEI Backupper support to backup and restore dynamic volumes? A: Yes, you may backup and restore dynamic volumes in the same way like backing up and restoring partitions on basic disks. If you are going to restore the system partition on a dynamic disk, the system is ensured to be bootable when it is restored to its original position.

Have you received the prompt: “Because the image file exists in a dynamic volume, you need to make a bootable CD based on Windows PE...” How to resolve? A: If there are programs still running on the destination partition during the restore process, the program will automatically restart the computer and run AOMEI Backupper from Linux Bootable CD or WinPE Bootable CD to complete the restore process. Since the image file in a dynamic partition cannot be recognized by Linux Bootable CD. To solve the problem, way one: Copy this image file to a basic partition and then restore again. Way Two: Click Utilities -> Create Bootable Media to create a WinPE Bootable CD (because image files can be recognized by WinPE Bootable CD in a dynamic volume), then run AOMEI Backupper on the desktop or use this CD to complete the restore process. Click here to learn how to create bootable media.

Have you received the prompt: “Because the image file exists in a share/NAS network, you need to make a bootable CD…” How to resolve? A: In case you keep the image file in a share folder or a NAS device, you will receive the above message if there are programs still running in the target partition and hard to close (the programs in system partition cannot be all closed). To solve the problem, you only need to click Utilities -> Create Bootable Media to create a bootable CD then use this CD to boot your computer to complete the restore process. Click here to learn how to do a system restore by using Bootable CD.

Have you received the prompt: “Because the system partition exists in a dynamic disk, you need to make a bootable CD…” How to resolve? A: There are two methods available to deal with this problem. The first one is to click Utilities -> Create Bootable Media to create a bootable CD based on Windows PE. (Not a Linux Bootable CD) Then open AOMEI Backupper on desktop to try again. The second method is to either create a Linux Bootable CD or a Windows PE Bootable CD first. Then choose this created CD as the first bootable device in BIOS. In this way, AOMEI Backupper will run automatically when the computer is turning on. Here you can click Restore button in the main interface then click “Path: Browse a path to select an image file and restore data from the file” to complete the restore process. Click here to learn how to restore by using Bootable CD.

http://www.backup-utility.com/features/UEFI-restore.html

http://www.backup-utility.com/features/create-bootable-disc.html

http://www.backup-utility.com/features/system-restore-from-disc.html

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Glossary

Backup Backup refers to coping data into an image file, which can be used to restore it to the original state if there is any data loss. AOMEI Backupper supports to create image files for disks, partitions and volumes etc. Incremental backup Incremental backup only back up the changed or new added data based on the last backup. Compared to full backup, the image file of incremental backup is much smaller, and the operation will cost less time. In addition, it can store multiple backup versions at different time point, which allows users restoring data by any version based on their needs. Recovery Recovery is a process of restoring files, system, partition or disk to a previous state if there is a disk problem, such as, system crash, hardware and software failure, data loss, virus and hacker attack, etc. Disk/Partition clone Clone refers to create a duplicate of the source partitions/disk by coping it to a destination disk/partition in sector by sector, then the destination disk/partition possesses the same content as the original one. What's worse mentioning here is that the process of clone will overwrite all the previous data on the destination partition/disk. Sector On a hard disk, each track can be divided into a number of sections. And each section can be called a sector. It is the smallest storage unit on a hard drive, and each one stores a fixed number of data. A sector is equal to 512 bytes, 1024, 2048 or 4096 bytes. Bootable media Bootable media can be a CD, DVD, USB external drive or flash drive, which consists of a standalone version of AOMEI Backupper that can be booted. This bootable media can be used to restore system and partitions when your system is unable to boot. As long as the operating system has been booted from the media, users can carry out the operation of restore by AOMEI Backupper.