Chronos Backup & Restore (WIP)

A Windows desktop app (WPF, .NET 8) for making full-disk image backups with a simple, modern UI. It drives the separate ImagingUtility CLI under the hood and shows live progress, speed, and ETA. After backup, it can verify the entire set for integrity.

⚠️ Work-in-progress: Expect sharp edges. Use on test machines/disks first. Running as Administrator is required for disk access and VSS. Data loss is possible if misused.

Goals

Ultimately, this project aims to create a performant, portable tool for computer technicians and home users. The image file format is based on open standards and is fully open-sourced. Multi-threading support is in its initial stages but already backups are fairly fast compared to a raw disk image copy.

Images should be able to be mounted and read directly without using third-party software. Currently, images can be mounted as a WebDAV share and used as a network drive. Alternatively, if space allows, they can be converted into VHD images and attached via Disk Management.

Images should be verifiable. The backend application imaging-utility already has this functionality and has proven to be reliable.

This project needs testers.

What it does today

• Full physical disk backup via the ImagingUtility CLI
  • Uses VSS snapshots when possible to capture a consistent view of NTFS volumes
  • Used-only NTFS imaging to reduce size/time (implemented in the CLI)
  • Zstandard compression with chunk-level SHA-256 and a manifest for set verification (implemented in the CLI)
• Friendly progress in the UI
  • Percent complete, current speed, and ETA parsed from ImagingUtility "plain" output
  • High-level, noise-free on-screen log for the main steps
  • Progress bar reaches 100% at the end (success or failure)
• Optional verification
  • Runs a set-level verification (verify-set) after the backup completes
  • Supports a quick vs. full verification mode
• Cancel behavior that respects the tool
  • Requests a graceful cancel first
  • If the process doesn’t exit, force-terminates after a short timeout to avoid hanging

Not done yet (roadmap, subject to change)

• Restore workflows and UI
• Partition-by-partition progress display
• Settings surface for tuning behaviors (e.g., cancel timeout)
• Packaging/installer and signed releases
• Broader filesystem support beyond NTFS (depends on the CLI)

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 on x64 or ARM64
• .NET 8 SDK to build
• Administrator rights to run backups from the app (needed for disk access and VSS)
• ImagingUtility source available locally to build and bundle, or prebuilt binaries

Building

This repo expects a sibling folder layout by default:

<root>
├─ skz-backup-restore/   # this repo
└─ imaging-utility/      # sibling repo (the CLI)

1. Build and copy the ImagingUtility binaries into the WPF app:

• From this repo root (PowerShell):

./build-imaging-utility.ps1

• If your imaging-utility folder is elsewhere:

./build-imaging-utility.ps1 -ImagingUtilityPath "C:\\src\\imaging-utility"

This publishes ImagingUtility for win-x64 and win-arm64 as single-file executables and copies them to SkzBackupRestore.Wpf/ThirdParty/ImagingUtility/<rid>/.

2. Build the WPF application:

• Debug build (fast inner loop):

dotnet build .\skz-backup-restore.sln -c Debug

• Release build (includes bundled CLI in output/publish):

dotnet build .\skz-backup-restore.sln -c Release
# or
dotnet publish .\SkzBackupRestore.Wpf\SkzBackupRestore.Wpf.csproj -c Release -r win-x64

Note: The WPF project is configured to include any EXEs under SkzBackupRestore.Wpf/ThirdParty/ImagingUtility/** into the Release output/publish. See README-build.md for more details.

Running

• Run the app as Administrator (right-click the EXE → Run as administrator) so the wizard can enumerate and read physical disks.
• Open the Disk Backup wizard, select a disk, pick a destination, and choose whether to verify on completion (Quick or Full).
• Start the backup. The UI shows status, speed, and ETA. A friendly, high-level log appears under the progress.
• Cancel: Press Cancel to request cancellation. The app waits briefly for a graceful exit; if the tool won’t stop, it force-terminates after a short timeout. A partial backup set may remain—delete it before retrying.

Troubleshooting

• CLI missing: If starting a backup fails because ImagingUtility isn’t found, (re)run build-imaging-utility.ps1 to bundle the CLI, or place the appropriate ImagingUtility EXE(s) under SkzBackupRestore.Wpf/ThirdParty/ImagingUtility/<rid>/.
• Progress not updating: The app runs the CLI in "plain" mode and parses stdout. If a custom ImagingUtility build changes its output format, update the parser in the UI accordingly.
• Access denied: Ensure you’re running the GUI elevated and that any antivirus or endpoint protection allows raw disk reads.
• Hung cancel: If cancel appears stuck, the app will force-terminate after its timeout. You may need to clean up any incomplete backup set and retry.

Project structure (high level)

• SkzBackupRestore.Wpf/ — WPF app, ModernWpf-based shell and disk backup wizard
  • Views/DiskBackupWizard.xaml(.cs) — main wizard UI and process orchestration
  • ThirdParty/ImagingUtility/ — holds ImagingUtility binaries per RID (win-x64, win-arm64)
• build-imaging-utility.ps1 — builds and copies ImagingUtility into the WPF project
• README-build.md — additional notes about building/bundling the CLI

Credits

• ImagingUtility CLI (separate project) provides the core imaging, compression, hashing, and verification
• ModernWpf for the app’s look and theme integration

Disclaimer

This is early software provided without any warranty. Use at your own risk. Always test on non-critical systems and keep independent backups. Contributions and feedback are welcome while this is still taking shape.