Best Free Windows Driver Backup and Restore

Drivers are an important part of the system. They act as intermediaries between the system, and the hardware devices. They interpret the signals, and facilitate communication between the system and the devices. Without drivers, the devices won't work at all, or won't work properly.

Generally, the drivers come on a CD/DVD, with the hardware devices. As an alternative, they can also be downloaded from the manufacturer's site, and that's the best place to download the drivers, or their newer versions.

But, sometimes, the CDs can get misplaced, or lost, or the drivers might not be available from even the manufacturer's site, because they might have stopped providing support for the hardware. In such cases, the driver backup software are like a boon. These software back up the installed drivers for different devices, and even the drivers that come with Windows.

If you have an old system, and do not have a CD, or cannot get drivers from anywhere, it would be a good idea to backup all the installed drivers on the system, including the Windows drivers. Or, even if you have the CD, or the drivers, I will still recommend backing up the drivers, and storing them at a safe place, just in case. Its always better to be on the safe side.

I will also suggest backing up drivers using more than one software, so that if one program is not successful in restoring them, or misses some drivers, the other ones may still be able to do the job.

In this review, I have tried to cover programs which have the ability to backup drivers, and restore them. Some of them do not have the ability to restore, but still do a good job with the backup, and therefore, have been included. Restoring drivers manually, can be a bit tricky, so I have given preference to the programs which apart from backing up, can also restore the drivers from that backup.

Some of these software also have the ability to update the drivers, but I have not covered that in the review. This review is purely based on the abilities of the programs to backup and restore the drivers, and not updating them. As said earlier, the best place to download new versions of the drivers is from the manufacturer's site.

Not all software listed below have the ability to create a list, or a report of drivers installed on the system. If you want a list of drivers installed on the system, you can use the excellent small utility called DriverView from Nirsoft.

Double Driver has a simple interface, and the program itself is very easy to use. Its noteable feature is that it can backup drivers from even an offline system. This is very useful in cases, where a system is unable to boot, for some reason. This feature, apart from others, gives it an edge over the other software. The only other software to have this feature in the category is DriverBackup!.

For backup, by default, non-Windows drivers are selected in the list. Options are available to invert this selection, to select all, or select none. Users may also select individual drivers of their choice, if they want. Drivers can be backed-up to structured folders(default option), as a compressed folder, or to a single self extract file. For the last option though, Double Driver crashed, when I tried to use it. Its a bug.

One other good thing about Double Driver is that it was able to back up drivers for devices which were not connected to the system at that time. My webcam was not connected, but even then, it backed up the driver files for that.

Restoration is also easy. Select the driver backup location, the folder where they were backed up previously, and it shows the list of drivers which can be restored. Again, options are available to choose which drivers to restore. The restoration process is quite fast too, and I will say its reliable.

Double Driver has the option to save the list of drivers in a text file. Option to print the list is also there. This feature is quite useful, to see which drivers have been installed on the system. The list is quite informational, providing name, version number, date, hardware ID etc.

Overall, Double Driver is simple, and very reliable, with some good features, making it the top choice in the category.

SlimDrivers has a modern and attractive user interface, which is quite appealing. For backup and restoration, it provides a driver list, which is very similar to the list seen in Device Manager. SlimDrivers is a gold certified partner of Microsoft, so maybe that was expected. However, SlimDrivers does not have the option to select non-Windows drivers, or third party drivers, which can be seen as a slight disadvantage by some who want that feature. Individual drivers can be selected, or deselected though, based on the requirement.

One other thing I find as a disadvantage, is that SlimDrivers stores the drivers in folders with names based on generic, or hardware IDs of drivers. If SlimDrivers itself is used to restore the drivers, then it is not a problem. But, if for some reason, SlimDrivers is not used for restoration, then it can be a problem figuring out the drivers for the corresponding devices.

SlimDrivers was not able to backup the drivers for the devices that were not connected to the system at that time.

At the time of restoration of drivers, I ran across a few errors. However, after the process was over, I found that drivers had been restored successfully. But still, errors are a possibility, and therefore, reliability can be a concern.

One point to mention is that in the Options, make sure to select the same folder for both Backup, and Restore, otherwise, the list of drivers does not appear in the Restore section, because of which, you won't be able to select individual drivers, and will have to restore all of them.

By default, SlimDrivers is selected to run at Windows startup. Users will want to deselect that in the Options. Also, when installed, and run for first time, SlimDrivers will open its home page in the browser. It does not happen for subsequent runs of the program though.

SlimDrivers also has the habit of sitting in the tray, even if you close it. To exit the program fully, it has to be exited from the system tray. I find that an unnecessary feature.

For backup and restoration, SlimDrivers does quite a fair job, and works as it should.

Note : 1. An online installation of SlimDrivers is provided, and not an offline installer. This will be considered quite a drawback for people who like offline installers, myself included. Make sure to select the Custom Installation when the setup is run, so that AVG Security Toolbar, and AVG Safe Search can be opted out.

2. The program can be used as a portable program by copying the program executable from the SlimDrivers folder in the Program Files. Strangely, the program folder does not have any other files in that folder, and seems to work solely from the executable. Wonder why the developers still require the program to be installed. They could have provided a portable version making use of this. Strange that they didn't do so. Though the procedure I have written, is on their forum, still, I won't label this program to have a portable version. But, based on this, once you have installed the program on a PC, the executable can just be copied, and used as a portable program.

DriverMax had a lot of useful options, in the version(5.96) prior to this one, but, since this new version 6.0, all those useful options and features are gone. The new version 6.0 has a new interface, and it dons a Santa cap on its name, since Christmas is coming, but if you are expecting some improved features as gifts inside, you will be quite disappointed. I certainly am.

This free version of DriverMax takes steps backwards in terms of options, and features, which is quite disappointing. Now, there is no option to see, or save a report of existing drivers, a feature which was there in the previous version. The previous version offered options to save Windows drivers, and/or third party drivers. Now, only third party drivers can be backed up. Earlier, drivers for hidden devices, or phantom devices could be selected and backed up too. There are no such options now.

The interface is new, modern and improved, and the delays between operations present in the previous versions is no longer there, which is good, but, these are the only improvements. Seems like they have decided to strip down the free version with this release.

The backup screen shows only third party drivers to backup. There are no visible options, but on clicking the Backup button, the options to backup all, or selected drivers only, can be seen. If you do not choose the option to backup to location of your choice, the drivers will be backed up as a compressed zip archive in the My Drivers folder under My Documents. This is the default location where DriverMax will look for restoring drivers. Good thing is that, the restoration will take place from the zip archive itself, and there is no need to extract contents to any folder.

Restoration process is still slow, much slower than other programs. It might be a tad faster than its previous versions, but its still on the slower side. The restoration is reliable though, and therefore, I will still rate DriverMax higher than DriverBackup! and Driver Magician Lite, despite of this version being a huge disppointment in terms of features compared to previous versions.

Note : 1. DriverMax now comes bundled with AVG Security Toolbar. Please take care while installation, and make sure not to select it for install, unless you want the toolbar on your system. Immediately after the license agreement for DriverMax, the installer presents the license agreement for AVG Toolbar, which can be confusing. Please uncheck the checkbox at the top of the license agreement, so as not to install the toolbar. Be careful as with every few update, they seem to be changing the process to present the toolbar.

2. The program now has the option of starting with Windows turned on by default. Some might want to turn that option off. It has the option of automatically checking for driver updates, on by default too. So, that might need to be turned off too.Also, the program stays in system tray once closed. It has to be exited from the tray to fully close the program.

DriverBackup! has the ability to backup, and restore drivers, but unfortunately, the restore feature did not work for me, for unknown reason. This is disappointing, as I had high hopes with this software, because it has some really good features. DriverBackup! is the only other software in this category, to have the feature of backing up drivers from an offline system, which can be a life saver.

For backup, DriverBackup! is very good, providing some useful options. When started, it presents a clearly laid out list of drivers, with all installed drivers selected by default. However, if one wants to choose only Windows drivers, or only third party drivers, they can be easily chosen, with just the click of buttons, Oem, and Third parts, respectively, on the interface. The selection can be further refined by selecting drivers with full portability(according to DriverBackup!), or drivers with digital signatures, again by pressing the respective buttons on the interface. Drivers are backed up individually in folders, according to device names. The program also generates a .bki file unique to the program, which contains information on the backed up drivers. This file is used at the time of restoration, to present the list of drivers from the backup folders. Again, the selection of drivers can be refined at the time of restoration too.

DriverBackup! was able to backup drivers for phantom devices, that is, devices which had been connected earlier to the system, but not at that time. Very useful.

The program has a very good help file, explaining how to perform different operations. The program can be used from the command line too.

Although, the program is portable, but it cannot be considered fully portable, because from version 2 onwards, it required the use of .NET 2.0, which if not present on the computer, the program won't work. I consider this as a disadvantage. Versions earlier to 2.0 do not require .NET, but they do not have the option to restore drivers.

Still, feature wise, this program is quite good, and if only it did not fail in restoring drivers, and did not require .NET, it would be a brilliant program.

This program is in active development, and I hope that the future versions will address the shortcomings.

Driver Magician Lite does not have the feature to restore the drivers, but it performs the task of taking backup of the installed drivers very well. It presents a neat list of installed drivers, with the third party drivers(that is, drivers not contained in Windows by default), shown in red, making it easier to distinguish them. Users can select these drivers, or, they can select individual ones, or select all, depending on requirement.

The backup is done in nicely structured folders with clear device names, which makes it quite easy for manual installation of the drivers for corresponding devices.

• DriverGrabber  The program is way too simple, and has no configuration options whatsoever. It only backs up third party software. Windows drivers can be made to back up by editing the .ini file, but that is not a good option for general users. The program is not in development anymore, and the home site is under development too. There is no official report, whether the program will work on Vista, or Windows 7. Same for 64-bit Windows.

• Driver Collector  Does not have a website anymore, and the program is not in development. There are no options to configure the program. There is no option to back up the drivers in batch mode. Instead, individual drivers have to be selected and backed up manually. This defeats the purpose of having a software to make things easier.

• Backup Drivers  Requires Java. Does not work as intended. It just backs up the whole Windows directory, which is really not how it should be done. Not recommended at all.

All testing was done on Windows XP. I only have Windows XP, so, this is the best I can do. But, the software which are indicated to run on Windows Vista, and Windows 7 on their website, should work in the same way as described in the article.

First, backup of drivers of the main running system was taken with each software one by one. The main system has all the drivers installed with the help of CDs, that came with motherboard, and with other hardware devices, such as the web camera, or the network card.

The restore procedure was performed on another hard disk, used on the same hardware system. Same copy of Windows XP was installed fresh on this hard disk, but without the third party drivers. Image of the system in this state was made with the help of a drive imaging software. Each time, before using another software to restore the drivers, the system was returned to the fresh state, with the help of the image taken earlier. The drivers were then restored on this fresh copy of Windows XP, with each program.

You might want to check out these articles too:

• Best Free Drive Imaging Program
• Best Free Backup Program
• Best Free Email Backup Utility

5th February 2012 : Added matter to note for SlimDrivers about AVG extras being bundled with the program.

20th December 2011 : Added matter to note for DriverMax, with release of version 6.11.

9th December 2011 : Review updated with version 6 of DriverMax, a major update.

15th November 2011 : Testing procedure added. DriverGrabber moved to other programs.

6th November 2011 : Major update to the article. Completely rewritten. Double Driver as new top pick.

This software category is maintained by volunteer editor Anupam. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or suggestions they might have by clicking here.

Windows driver, driver backup, free drivers, free driver backup, restore driver, freeware