O&O DiskImage 17 Pro unveils Windows 11 support, more VM functionality free download - Software reviews, downloads, news, free trials, freeware and full commercial software

Berlin software developer O&O Software GmbH has unveiled its latest major update to its comprehensive Windows backup tool. O&O DiskImage Professional 17.0 provides users with both file-based backup and complete drive imaging for Windows PCs, and this latest release comes with the carpet rolled out for the recently released Windows 11, sporting both full compatibility with the new operating system and a user interface designed to fit seamlessly in with Microsoft’s new design.

O&O DiskImage 17 gives its user interface a Windows 11-friendly new look.

The interface refresh – a common feature for new O&O releases – opts for colourful icons in place of the minimalist look favoured by the previous version. The design and colour scheme follows closely the recent design changes in Windows 11 itself.

Whereas version 16 added improvements to O&O DiskImage’s recovery tools, implementing a recovery partition and the ability to automatically add recovery media to external storage, version 17 focuses on improving the app’s virtual machine tools.

Support for backing up VHD/VHDX virtual machine images has long been a feature of O&O DiskImage. The format is the native file format for Microsoft’s built-in Hyper-V VM system, but can also be used by third-party VM products, including VirtualBox and VMware Workstation Player.

O&O DiskImage 17’s extends its support for both file format by making it possible to create both differential and incremental images of both VHD and VHDX virtual disks. In addition, users can now also merge both types of image to produce a single full image, just as with regular drive images.

In addition, users gain the ability to load both VHD and VHDX images as virtual drives using compatible virtualisation software.

Users should note that version 17 drops support for Windows 7 and 8 (Windows 8.1 remains supported). They can, however, still recover drive images taken with these operating systems in O&O DiskImage 17.

O&O DiskImage 17 combines file-based backup with drive imaging – both physical and virtual drives are supported.

O&O DiskImage Professional 17.0.421 is available now as a free 30-day trial download for PCs running Windows 8.1 or later, including Windows 11. Prices start from $49.95 for a single-PC license, or $69.90 for a 5-PC license.