Create a Script Manually

R-Drive Image has a very powerful and versatile script language that enables you to create scripts for all your needs.

A script consists of commands and their parameters. All commands, parameter, and their values are case-sensitive.

Parameter values may be inclosed in single (') or double (") quotes. if the value does not contain spaces, the quotes may be omitted.

R-Drive Image ignores spaces in the beginning of a line. R-Drive Image treats multiple spaces as one space, except when they are in a parameter value enclosed in quotes.

R-Drive Image treats lines which the first non-space character is ; or the first non-space character is [ and the last one is ], as comments.

If the last non-space character in a line is \, R-Drive Image appends the next line to it:

If the following characters are to appear in the parameter values, they should be substituted by the following rules:

Note: This is the incompatibility with scripts created for the earlier versions of R-Drive Image.

Command Its Parameters	Optional/ Mandatory	Description and examples
create	Mandatory	Creates an image file. If such file already exists, R-Drive Image will ask whether the file should be overwritten. If the a switch is used, R-Drive Image will not overwrite the file.
append	Mandatory	Incrementally appends data to an existing image file. If such file does not exist, it will be created.
-s=<ImageSource>	Mandatory	Specifies an image source. Examples: for hard drive 1: -s=1 for the second partition on hard drive 1: -s=1:2 for a logical disk: -s=D: for several logical disks: -s="D: F:"
-a=<PathOfNewArchiveFile>	Mandatory	Specifies a path (including its file name) to the image file. Examples: -a=C:\Images\Test.arc or -a="C:\Image Files\Test 1.arc"
-c=<CompressionLevel>	Optional	Specifies compression level (1...11). Example: -c=3
-u	Optional	Backups useful information only. May be used as a Boolean parameter.
-v=<ArchiveSize>	Optional	Specifies image split size. May be in the float-point format. Example: -v=650 or -v='4.5 Gb'
-p=<Password>	Optional/ Mandatory	Specifies an image password. Mandatory if the append command is used and the image file has been already encrypted. It there is a space in the password, the password should be in quotes. Examples: -p=Password or -p='My Password'
-r=<Description of archive>	Optional	Specifies an image description. It there is a space in the description, the description should be in quotes. Examples: -r=Description or -r="Image Description"
-s-xw	Optional	Makes R-Drive Image not to use the Windows snapshot provider.
-s-xr	Optional	Makes R-Drive Image not to use the R-TT snapshot provider.
-s-n	Optional	Notifies system application that a snapshot is being taken.
-s-b0=<AppBeforeBack>	Optional	Specifies an application that will start before the backup operation starts. The application should return a 0 exit code. Example: -s-b0="C:\commands\start.exe"
-s-b1=<AppAfterBack>	Optional	Specifies an application that will start after the backup operation completes. The application should return a 0 exit code. Example: -s-b1="C:\commands\end.exe"
-s-s0=<AppBeforeSnapShot>	Optional	Specifies an application that will start before the snapshot is taken. The application should return a 0 exit code. Example: -s-s0="C:\commands\startsnapshot.exe"
-s-s1=<AppAfterSnapShot>	Optional	Specifies an application that will start after the snapshot is taken. The application should return a 0 exit code. Example: -s-s1="C:\commands\endsnapshot.exe"
-xe=<AppIfError>	Optional	Specifies a command line that will start an application if R-Drive Image fails to perform the specified action. If there is a space in the command line, the command line should be in quotes. Examples: -xe=error.exe or -xe="winamp C:\sounds\error.mp3"
-xs=<AppIfSucc>	Optional	Specifies a command line that will start an application if R-Drive Image successfully performs the specified action. If there is a space in the command line, the command line should be in quotes. Examples: -xs=success.exe or -xs="winamp C:\sounds\success.mp3"
Example: create -s="F: H:" -a="I:\Test Image.arc" -c=3 -u = true -p="My Password" -r="This is a test image" -xe="winamp C:\sounds\error.mp3" -xs="winamp C:\sounds\success.mp3" This script creates an image of logical disks F: and H:. The path and filename for this script is I:\csys.arc, with compression level 3, and only useful information on this disk will be written to the image. This image is protected with the password "My Password", and its description is "This is a test image". If the script action has been performed successfully, the winamp application will play the success.mp3 file, and if an error occurs, it will play the error.mp3 file.
restore	Mandatory	Restores data from an image to a specified disk place
-s=<ImageSource>	Mandatory	Specifies an image source. Examples: for hard drive 1: -s=1 for the second partition on hard drive 1: -s=1:2 for a logical disk: -s=D: for several logical disks: -s="D: F:"
-d=<ImageDestination>	Mandatory	Specifies a destination disk:partition on which the data is to be restored. Examples: for hard drive 1: -d=1 for the second partition on hard drive 1: -d=1:2 for a logical disk: -d=D:
-a=<PathOfArchiveFile>	Mandatory	Specifies a path (including its file name) to the image file from which data is to be restored. It there is a space in the path, the path should be in quotes. Examples: -a=C:\Images\Test.arc or -a="C:\Image Files\Test.arc"
-k=<"PartitionStatus">	Optional	Specifies a status (primary/active) for a partition to be restored. Settings: +p is a primary partition -p is a secondary partition +a is an active partition -a is a non-active partition Please note that the combination "-p +a" is invalid. If this parameter is not specified, the data from the image will be used. Examples: -k="+p+a" the partition will be primary and active. -k="+p" the partition will be primary. Information in the image will be used to make the partition either active or non-active.
-t=<TimeSliceNumber>	Optional	Specifies which incremental data will be used to restore the data from the image. If the TimeSliceNumber is not specified or specified, the first data in the image will be used. -1 specifies the last incremental data in the image. Examples: -t="2" specifies the second incremental data in the image will be used to restore data.
-lr=<DiskLetter>	Optional	Specifies a disk letter. This parameter is case-insensitive. Examples: -lr="k" or lr=k.
-sz="<PartitionSize>	Optional	Specifies a partition size. May be in the float-point format. Example: -sz=512 or -sz='0.5 Gb'
-of="<PartitionOfset>	Optional	Specifies an offset from the beginning of the destination. May be in the float-point format. Default is 0. Example: -of=512 or -of='0.5 Gb'
mail options	Optional	Sends e-mail messages if the action fails or succeeds and specifies e-mail parameters. If a personal firewall is installed on your computer, you should allow the r-driveimagecl.exe application to get access to the e-mail server.
-me	Optional	Sends an e-mail message when R-Drive Image fails to perform the specified action. May be used as a Boolean parameter.
-mx	Optional	Sends an e-mail message when R-Drive Image successfully performs the specified action. May be used as a Boolean parameter.
-ms=<SMTPServer[:port]>	Mandatory/Not used	Mandatory if the -me or/and -mx option is used. Specifies an SMTP server and port (optional). Examples: -ms=mail.example.com or -ms=mail.example.com:25
-ma=<SenderEmail>	Mandatory/Not used	Mandatory if the -me or/and -mx option is used. Specifies a sender's e-mail address. Example: -ma=rtt1@example.com
-mr=<RecepientEmail>	Mandatory/Not used	Mandatory if the -me or/and -mx option is used. Specifies a recipient's e-mail address or addresses. Example: -ma=rtt2@example.com
-ml=<Login:Password>	Optional	Specifies a login and password at the SMTP server. Example: -ml=rtt1:password
mail	Optional	Specifies all mail options globally for the entire script
Example: mail -ms=mail.example.com -ma=rtt1@example.com -mr=rtt2@example.com -ml=rtt1:password -me -mx This script sends e-mails confirming success or error of the action from rtt1@example.com to rtt2@example.com via the mail.example.com SMTP server using the default (25) port with the rtt1 login and password password.
list	Optional	Returns a partition list for a local disk
list -a="archive_name" [-t="time_slice" -p="password"]	Optional	Returns a partition list for an image file

They may be used as keys (example: -u) or as parameters with values (example: -u=true).

Entities may be used as variables to create various text strings. They are start with & and end with ;.

You may use this entity, for instance, set a command creating files with their date of creation as the file name:

If the date when the script has been run is February 1, 2007, Thursday, this command will create an image of the logical disk C: and write it to the D:\archive\February-01-07.arc file.

Please note that the set command defines the entities rather than specifies their value. The actual value of an entity will be determined each time the entity is used. Example:

R-Drive Image will create two different files with different file names, each representing the time of file creation.

After this command the creat_date and creat_time entities cannot be used and cause R-Drive Image to generate an error if they appear further in the script.