Casper vs OSFClone

Casper creates system backups for Windows PCs, including bootable point-in-time disk images. Those images can restore selected files or folders, or an entire system drive. Backups run from within Windows, while SmartClone differential block imaging creates incremental images and updates bootable backups. SmartSight checks before imaging, and automatic copy verification checks data during imaging. Users can schedule backups daily, weekly, monthly, or at a chosen frequency, and use automatic retention management. Casper also lists enterprise scripting and automation support and Group Policy administration. Its Secure Tech Edition is designed for disks encrypted with Windows BitLocker or Symantec (PGP) Drive Encryption. Restore-point and image-file backups require Windows 7 or later; SmartResume works only on NTFS volumes. Casper has a free plan and offers a fully functional 30-day trial; after that trial, it automatically reverts to Casper Free Edition. The platform is Windows. Home licenses include a one-computer license for 59.95 USD once and a five-PC pack for 89.95 USD once; technician licenses are also listed.

OSFClone is a free disk-imaging utility that boots from CD/DVD or USB and creates or clones disk images without relying on the installed operating system. It supports raw images and AFF, EWF, and dc3dd formats. The maker says images preserve unused sectors, slack space, file fragmentation, and undeleted file records. Users can compare a clone with its source using MD5 or SHA1 hashes, compress images, and attach forensic metadata such as case and evidence numbers, examiner name, description, and checksum. The product page describes cloning FAT, NTFS, and USB-connected drives. Its listed current download is a 373 MB ZIP for version 1.4.1000; USB installation needs a drive of at least 2 GB. The maker cautions that hardware, driver, and disk-state differences may contaminate evidence, and flags possible superblock changes when ext2/3/4 evidence drives are connected during startup. Some UEFI systems may not boot OSFClone. The software is licensed under GPL v3.0; its images can be mounted with PassMark OSFMount and analyzed with PassMark OSForensics.