An ISO file, also called an optical disc image, is an ideal representation of a CD, DVD, or BD. It allows you to accurately duplicate the entire contents of the disk in a single container. This article introduces the ISO disc image and the most effective methods for using it.
Purpose and format
An ISO file is like a box containing parts of something that needs to be assembled, like a disassembled children's toy. A box with individual structural elements is not a real toy, but if you remove and connect them, they will become what you can play.
An ISO file works in much the same way. He himself, if it is not opened, collected and used, is unsuitable for anything.
Disk images do not have a special format. They are a sector-by-sector copy of data on an optical disc stored in binary format. The file contains an image of the file system, including data stored unchanged.
File extension
Some disk images with a UDF file system, rather than ISO 9660, are labeled with the UDF extension.
Images can have other designations. For example, the format of uncompressed IMG files is ISO compliant, so their extensions are interchangeable.
You should be aware that the ISO designation is also used for Arbortext IsoDraw Document files, which are CAD drawings created in the PTC Arbortext IsoDraw application. They have nothing to do with the ISO disc image.
Where can I find ISO files?
Disk images are often used to distribute large-volume programs on the network, since all their components can be written as a single file.
An illustration of this is the free Ophcrack password recovery tool, which contains the operating system and several software products. Everything that the application needs is packaged in one file. The distribution name of one of the versions of Ophcrack looks like ophcrack-vista-livecd-3.6.0.iso.
This, of course, is not the only program that uses ISO files. Thus, many applications of different types are distributed. Most bootable antivirus programs are delivered in ISO format. For example, Bitdefender Rescue CD has the form bitdefender-rescue-cd.iso.
In all these and many other examples, all the necessary components of any executable tool are included in the ISO image. This provides ease of downloading and writing to a disk or other device.
Even Windows 10, like earlier and Windows 8 and 7, Microsoft distributes directly in ISO format. Thanks to this, the operating system can be removed or mounted on a virtual machine.
How to burn ISO files
The most common way to use disk images is to burn them to a CD, DVD, or BD. This process is different from saving music and documents because the software must “collect” the contents of the ISO file for CD, DVD or BD, respectively. Experts advise using this method if you need to install an operating system, install software on many different PCs, or run diagnostic applications. The presence of a physical boot disk provides greater flexibility when installing the OS or checking the operation of the equipment.
Burning an ISO image is not just a way to distribute software. In some cases this is a necessary necessity. For example, many diagnostic tools are used only outside the operating system. This means that before you open the ISO disk image file, you will have to write it to some removable media from which the computer can boot.
All of the above applies to USB devices, which have become much more popular than optical drives.
If you need to perform actions with the ISO file using Windows tools, but its extension is already connected with another application, go to its properties and change the default ISO disk image opener program to isoburn.exe, which is stored in the system folder C: \ Windows \ system32 \ .
Recording software
Windows 10, 8, and 7 let you burn ISO images to discs without using third-party software. Just double-click on the file, and then follow the instructions of the wizard. Owners of other operating systems may need an additional application. Typically, on computers with a CD writer, this software is already installed. If it is not, then, according to experts, the best choice is PowerISO, Active ISO Burner, Free ISO Burner, ImgBurn, ISOBurn, ISO Workshop. All these applications are free, allow you to create intros, menus, sections, and provide high-quality and fast image recording.
How to extract ISO files
Some programs are distributed in ISO format but are not intended to be downloaded. For example, Microsoft Office is offered in this form. The image is designed to be written to an optical or virtual disk, but since it does not need to be run outside of Windows, it will not work from boot.
How to open an ISO disc image if there is no physical copy of it? Most archivers, such as the free 7-Zip or WinRAR programs, can handle this task. They are able to extract the contents of the ISO file into a separate folder. It can be viewed like any other directory on the computer. Although this folder cannot be recorded as an image, the ability to access its contents may come in handy. For example, if Microsoft Office is loaded in the ISO disk image format, instead of transferring it to physical media, you can extract the installation files and then install the program as usual.
Each archiver requires a different sequence of actions. You can quickly get to the contents of a disk image using 7-Zip. To do this, right-click on the ISO file name and select the “Extract to” option in the context menu 7-Zip.
How to create a disk image
There are programs (many of which are free) that allow the user to create a CD, DVD, BD image from a physical medium or a set of selected files.
The most common reason for this is to save a backup copy of the installation disc or movie to DVD or Blu-ray.
One of the best programs to do this is BurnAware Free. The application is free and able to create disk images of all types. After installing and starting the program, select Copy to ISO and the drive. By clicking the Browse button located in the center of the screen, you need to select the image recording location, enter its name and click the Save button. Then, by inserting the copied disk into the previously indicated drive, click the Copy button. The progress of the process will be displayed on the screen. It will end after a message appears stating that the file was saved successfully.
Alternative applications are ISO Recorder, ISODisk, ImgBurn and InfraRecorder.
MacOS and Linux operating systems allow you to create a disk image using the built-in tools. In the first case, the disk utility copies the data to a CDR file, which can be converted to ISO by the terminal command hdiutil convert img.cdr -format UDTO -o img.iso.
On Linux, it is sufficient to run the command sudo dd if = / dev / dvd of = / path / img.iso, where / dev / dvd is the path to the optical disk and / path / img is the path and file name of the disk image.
If the command line is inconvenient to use, then you can use the applications Brasero (for Linux) and Roxio Toast (for Mac).
How to open an ISO image without a disk
Mounting an ISO file that was created independently or downloaded from the Internet is that the application used for this forces the computer to take it for a real drive. Therefore, it can be used as if it were recorded on a real CD, DVD or BD.
Experts recommend mounting a virtual disk if a video game requires you to install the original disk. That is, instead of actually placing the media in the drive, you can use its previously created image.
But how to open an ISO disc image ? This can be done using an emulator. In this case, you will need to select the drive letter that will represent the ISO file. Despite the fact that this letter denotes a virtual disk, Windows considers it real, which allows you to use it in that capacity.
Mount applications
One of the popular free programs to open an ISO disc image file is WinCDEmu. The application is easy to use and comes in a portable version. To the best software of this type, experts also include Pismo File Mount and Daemon Tools.
And users of Windows 10 or 8 will not need to think about how to open an ISO disk image, because its mounting is integrated into the operating system. Just right-click on the name of the image and select the "Mount" option. OC will automatically create a virtual disk and no additional software is required.
Although installing an ISO file is very useful in some situations, keep in mind that opening an ISO disk image is not possible if the operating system is not working. This means that it is completely pointless to mount an ISO file that must be used outside of Windows (for example, to run some hard drive diagnostic tools and memory testing programs).
After you finish working with the virtual disk, you can delete it. To do this, click on it and select the “Extract” option in the “Management” tab. As a result, the disk containing the contents of the ISO image file from the list of available devices will be deleted.