How to create a disk image?

A disk image is a virtual copy of a physical disk (floppy disks, hard disks, CDs, DVDs and other types of disks). The disk image was not necessarily obtained from the real disk, but it completely copies the contents and structure of the data that is on the disk.

Initially, disk images were used for only backup of data. Now they are used for distributionfree software (for example, Linux distributions), as storage devices for virtual machines and emulators. System administrators of organizations often use disk images for mass installation of software on a large number of identical computers. To do this, you put the necessary drivers and programs on one computer, you only need to create an image of the disk and install it on the other computers.

The most popular disk image format This is ISO, and the IMG and DMG formats are also used. There are also a number of proprietary formats associated with specific programs: MDS / MDF (Alcohol 120%, DAEMON Tools), NRG (Nero Burning ROM), VCD (VirtualCD) and others. How to create a disk image in one of these formats?

To create a disk image, you will need special program. Most programs allow not onlycreate disk images, but also edit them, write them to physical media, and mount them into virtual drives. Some of these programs are free, as they say, download and use, part - shareware. The free version of shareware programs is limited in functionality, for example, works only during the trial period or does not allow you to work with images of disks larger than a certain size. To get access to all the functions, you need to pay for the program.

One of the most famous programs that allow you to create a disk image is UltraISO. It allows you to create, edit,convert, emulate and burn images of optical and hard drives, flash drives and floppy disks. This program works with more than 30 image formats. But it is shareware, and unless you pay for the full version, you can not work with images larger than 300 MB.

You can also create a disk image using the program DAEMON Tools. This program exists in four versions(Lite, Pro Standard, Pro Advanced, Net). All of them allow you to create and burn disk images, compress images and split them into several files. The Lite version is free for home use, the remaining versions need to be purchased after a 20-day trial period. In principle, for home use, the light version should be enough.

Another popular program for creating images of disks - Alcohol 120%. Like the previous ones, it is shareware. Alcohol 120% allows you to create images of disks in different formats, create virtual drives and mount disks in them, perform direct copying from disk to disk.

application Nero Burning ROM will also help you create a disk image. It can be installed as part of the complete package of Nero products, or separately. The program allows you to copy optical disks and create images in the ISO, CUE, IMG and NRG formats (Nero's own format). Like all the programs described above, it belongs to the shareware category.

Whether there is a free alternativesthat allow you to create a disk image? Of course, although they do not differ in such a variety of functions. One such program - ISO Workshop. It supports popular image formatsdrives and helps to back up data, create copies of disks, convert images to BIN and ISO formats and burn them to optical media.

Also, free disk utilities such as Free Create-Burn ISO Image, Gizmo Drive, Folder2Iso, ImageUSB, etc. can create disk images. Not all of them have a full range of functions. For example, ImageUSB creates only images flash drive, and Folder2Iso creates only images from folders. Therefore, such programs should be used in conjunction with others, complementing the missing functions.

As you can see, there is A lot of programs that will help you create a disk image, the choice is yours.