How to make a windows disk image. Let's look at how to create a disk image. Creating a bootable ISO image via CDBurnerXP

Do you know this famous proverb: live and learn? Well, this saying can be a good subtitle for today"s post. I would like to tell you about the useful feature of DAEMON Tools Ultra, which I have discovered recently. It is a very tricky way of and burn discs, using a virtual drive.

Definitely, I don't need to explain you that DAEMON Tools Ultra is well-known image mounting software that creates various types of images. I bet you tried to make some virtual discs from the physical ones. Today I want to describe a little bit different situation. How to create an ISO image from files and folders, which are stored on your PC? How to "burn" not the CD, but the virtual disc? Let's try to find out the answers.

I faced the question about how to create an ISO image from files when I decided to make backups of my immense photo collection. I have 6TB hard disk drive, and it is enough for storing a large amount of data. I don't want to buy discs, so I decided to create ISO images instead to store all my photos. I opened DAEMON Tools Ultra and chose Make Disc Image option. Here I faced a problem - to create a new image, I need an optical disc.

That's a bit ridiculous. I want to create ISO image from files and folders, I don't have a disc with my photos. Well, I can burn my data on CD-RW and then make a disc image, but it makes no sense. DAEMON Tools Ultra should have a better solution, and… it does! Now I "d like to describe, how to create an ISO image from files for those who are also interested in this question.

How to create ISO image from files and folders

At the beginning, let me remind you some copy-book maxims. To start using DAEMON Tools Ultra, download and install this program on your PC. DAEMON Tools Ultra has a 20-day long trial period, so you can evaluate its features - try to create ISO image from files or and , for example, - and then decide whether you need a paid license or not.

Now let's look how this virtual drive emulator will let us burn some data to ISO image.

To open a newly created image, I need DAEMON Tools Ultra or any other software that mounts virtual discs. Look how my photos are presented now:

Hope my post about how to create an ISO image from files and folders was helpful. Would you use this feature? Write me your comments below!

Today we will discuss with you the question of how to create a disk image and the subtleties of this process. We will consider this issue using the example of an .iso image file, this is the most popular format for obtaining a disk image. Now you need to figure out what the .iso disk image is.

An iso disk image is simply an exact virtual copy of a disk, it contains all the data on the disk, the state of the file system, a set of directories, and, very importantly, the boot information of the entire media.

If, for example, we simply copy information from a disk, then at least its boot data is lost, but when creating an iso image, boot data is saved, which is necessary, for example, when obtaining a boot disk or a bootable windows flash drive.

Now let's go directly to the program of which we will create an iso disk image

The program we will be using is called Daemon Tools. We will use it for the following reasons:

Very simple and easy to learn
There is a free version
And as a result of the first two points, it is one of the most popular programs for obtaining disk images.

You can download Daemon Tools from the official or trusted site by typing "download Daemon Tools" in the search engine, go to it and click "Download" below, the entire process of downloading and installing this program is covered in this article.

And we will directly create the image of the .iso file. And so we begin the process of obtaining an .iso image. We take the disk from which you want to make an image and insert it into the cd / dvd drive.

Now we move to the area at the bottom right of the screen, where the icon of our Daemon Tools program is located, although if it is not running for you, then run it:

Now just right-click on this icon and select "Create disk image ..."

We get into the settings menu for creating a disk image:

All you can do here is to make sure that the Drive line is a physical disk drive, and not a virtual one.

And you can also specify the place where your virtual disk image will be saved, despite the fact that when you specify where to save it, you can name the created image file as you wish, and on the last line select the format of the created image, we have this .iso image file:

After you have made the necessary settings, click "Start":

It remains to wait until the image creation process reaches 100% and everything can be sent to the place on the hard disk that you specified in the initial settings and use the image for a long time and without any hassle with disks.

We have discussed with you the question of how to create a disk image, what is needed for this. The main thing is to do everything slowly and consistently and you will succeed. Thank you for your attention.

A disk image is an ISO file that stores all the contents of the original media. There are other formats, but this one is the most popular.

The computer recognizes the virtual image in the same way as a physical disk. Even if related files were stored on the original media, they will work correctly as an image as well. Therefore, most often they create disk images with installation files for games, programs and operating systems.

Modern operating systems read ISO files without additional programs. On older operating systems, you can use utilities like Daemon Tools to do this. You can also open an image and view its contents using a conventional archiver.

Why Create Disk Images

Let's say you bought a DVD/Blu-ray with a game or a movie. Over time, scratches appear on it, which is why you can lose the recorded information. And the disk itself is easy to lose. In addition, it makes noise while spinning in the drive, and the speed of reading data from it is lower than from computer memory. All these problems can be solved by creating a virtual disk image.

If the disk is copy-protected, it will most likely fail to create an image of it.

Another example: you have a Windows distribution disk. It can be used for or OS, but a flash drive is much better suited for these purposes. Moreover, many modern computers do not have disk drives at all. But you can create a disk image and make a .

Ashampoo Burning Studio FREE is one of the most convenient utilities for creating disc images. Its interface is translated into Russian, it takes up little space and is also free. During installation, the program asks for a license key, but you can receive it by mail after a quick account registration.

Immediately after launching the utility, select "Disk Image" → "Create Image". Then insert a physical disk into the drive and wait until the program recognizes it, then click "Next". Then specify the folder in which the image will be created and select the ISO format. Click "Next" again and wait for the copy to complete.

The disk image will appear in the location you specified in the computer's memory.

If for some reason you are not satisfied with this utility, you can use similar free programs like BurnAware Free or CDBurnerXP.

On a Mac, this can be done in the standard Disk Utility, available under Finder → Programs → Utilities. After running it, insert the desired disk into the drive and click in the top menu "File" → "New Image" → "Image from [your disk name]".

In the next window, enter the short name of the future image in Latin. Specify the desktop as the destination and select the DVD/CD Master format. After that, click "Save" and wait for the copy to complete.

The created image will appear on the desktop and will have the CDR extension. If you plan to use it only on , then you can leave this format as well. But in order for Windows computers to read it, you need to convert the CDR file to ISO.

To change the image format, run the Terminal utility. Type the cd desktop command and press Enter. Then enter the second command hdiutil makehybrid -iso -joliet -o [name 1].iso [name 2].cdr , replacing [name 1] and [name 2] with the names of the future ISO file and the already created CDR file, respectively. Then press Enter again - after a while the ISO image will appear on the desktop.

Let's say a CDR file named olddisk was created first. Then we choose for the future ISO image, for example, the name newdisk. As a result, the commands for our case will look like this:

This guide will detail how to create an ISO image. On the agenda are free programs that allow you to create an ISO image of Windows, or any other bootable disk image. We will also talk about alternative options to accomplish this task. We will also talk about how to make an ISO disk image from files.

CDBurnerXP is another handy free utility in Russian that allows you to burn discs and at the same time create their images, including in Windows XP (the program works in both Windows 7 and Windows 8.1). Not without reason, this option is considered one of the best for creating ISO images.

Creating an image takes place in a few simple steps:

As a result, a disk image containing the data you have selected will be prepared and saved.

You can download CDBurnerXP from the official site https://cdburnerxp.se/en/download , but be careful: to download a clean version without Adware, click "More download options", and then select either a portable (portable) version of the program that works without installation, or the second version of the installer without OpenCandy.

ImgBurn is a free program for creating and burning ISO images.

Attention (added in 2015): despite the fact that ImgBurn is still an excellent program, I could not find an installer that was clean from unwanted programs on the official website. As a result of checking in Windows 10, I did not find suspicious activity, but I recommend being careful.

The next program we'll look at is ImgBurn. You can download it for free on the developer's website www.imgburn.com. The program is very functional, while it is easy to use and will be clear to any beginner. Moreover, Microsoft support recommends using this program to create a Windows 7 boot disk. By default, the program is loaded in English, but you can also download the Russian language file on the official website, and then copy the unpacked archive to the Language folder in the folder with the ImgBurn program.

What ImgBurn can do:

Create an ISO image from disk. In particular, with the help you cannot create a bootable Windows ISO from the operating system distribution kit.
Easily create ISO images from files. Those. You can specify any folder or folders and create an image with them.
Burning ISO images to discs - for example, when you need to make a bootable disc in order to install Windows.

PowerISO - advanced bootable ISO creation and more

The PowerISO program, designed to work with boot images of Windows and other OSes, as well as any other disk images, can be downloaded from the developer's website https://www.poweriso.com/download.php. The program can do anything, although it is paid, and the free version has some limitations. However, consider the possibilities of PowerISO:

Create and burn ISO images. Creating bootable ISOs when there is no boot disk
Create bootable Windows flash drives
Burn ISO images to disk, mount them in Windows
Creating images from files and folders, from CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays
Convert images from ISO to BIN and from BIN to ISO
Extract files and folders from images
Support for Apple OS X DMG images
Full support for Windows 8

These are not all the features of the program, and many of them can be used in the free version. So, if creating bootable images, flash drives from ISO and constantly working with them is about you, take a closer look at this program, it can do a lot.

BurnAware Free - Burn and Create ISO

You can download the free program BurnAware Free from the official source http://www.burnaware.com/products.html. What can this program do? Not much, but, in fact, all the necessary functions are present in it:

Writing data, images, files to disks
Create ISO disc images

Perhaps this is quite enough if you are not pursuing some very difficult goals. Bootable ISO also burns perfectly, provided you have a boot disk from which this image is made.

ISO recorder 3.1 - version for Windows 8 and Windows 7

Another free program that allows you to create ISO from CDs or DVDs (creating ISO from files and folders is not supported). You can download the program from the website of the author Alex Feinman (Alex Feinman) http://alexfeinman.com/W7.htm

Program properties:

Compatible with Windows 8 and Windows 7, x64 and x86
Create and burn images from / to CD / DVD discs, including the creation of bootable ISO

After installing the program, in the context menu that appears when you right-click on the CD, the item "Create image from CD" will appear - just click it and follow the instructions. Burning an image to disk occurs in the same way - right-click on the ISO file, select "Write to disk" (Write to disk).

Free ISODisk program - full-fledged work with ISO images and virtual disks

The next program is ISODisk, which can be downloaded for free from http://www.isodisk.com/. This software allows you to perform the following tasks:

Easy to make ISO from CD or DVD discs, including bootable image of Windows or other operating system, computer recovery discs
Mount the ISO on the system as a virtual drive.

Regarding ISODisk, it is worth noting that the program copes with creating images with a bang, but it is better not to use it to mount virtual drives - the developers themselves admit that this function only works adequately in Windows XP.

Free DVD ISO Maker

Free DVD ISO Maker can be downloaded for free from the website http://www.minidvdsoft.com/dvdtoiso/download_free_dvd_iso_maker.html. The program is simple, convenient and no frills. The whole process of creating a disk image takes place in three steps:

Run the program, in the Selet CD/DVD device field specify the path to the disk from which you want to make an image. Click "Next"
Specify where to save the ISO file
Click "Convert" and wait for the program to complete its work.

Done, you can use the created image for your own purposes.

How to Create a Windows 7 Bootable ISO Using Command Prompt

Let's finish with free programs and consider creating a bootable Windows 7 ISO image (may work for Windows 8, not tested) using the command line.

You will need all the files contained on the disk with the Windows 7 distribution, let's say they are in the folder C:\Make-Windows7-ISO\
You will also need The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows® 7, a set of utilities from Microsoft that can be downloaded from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5753 . In this set, we are interested in two tools - oscdimg.exe, by default located in the folder programFiles\WindowsAIK\Tools\x86 and etfsboot.com - a boot sector that allows you to create a bootable Windows 7 ISO.
Launch command prompt as administrator and enter the command:
oscdimg -n -m -b"C:\Make-Windows7-ISO\boot\etfsboot.com" C:\Make-Windows7-ISO C:\Make-Windows7-ISO\Win7.iso

Note on last command: no space between parameter – b and specifying the path to the boot sector is not a mistake, it is necessary.

After entering the command, you will observe the process of burning a bootable Windows 7 ISO. Upon completion, you will be told the size of the image file and write that the process is complete. Now you can use the created ISO image in order to .

How to create an ISO image in UltraISO

UltraISO software is one of the most popular for all tasks related to disk imaging, flash drives or creating bootable media. Making an ISO image from files or disk in UltraISO is not much of a problem, and we'll walk through the process.

Launch the UltraISO program
At the bottom, select the files that you want to add to the image, by right-clicking on them you can select the "Add" item.
After you have finished adding files, from the UltraISO menu, select "File" - "Save" and save it as an ISO. The image is ready.

Creating an ISO on Linux

Everything that is required to create a disk image is already present in the operating system itself, and therefore the process of creating ISO image files is not difficult at all:

On Linux, launch a terminal
Enter: dd if=/dev/cdrom of=~/cd_image.iso- this will create an image from the disc inserted in the drive. If the disk was bootable, so will the image.
To create an ISO image from files, use the command mkisofs -o /tmp/cd_image.iso /papka/files/

How to create a bootable USB flash drive from an ISO image

If for some reason the methods and programs listed here were not enough for you to do what you wanted and create a disk image, pay attention to this list: Imaging programs on Wikipedia - you will certainly find what you need for your operating system.

Disk images are a handy file that can contain several other files or even folders. Its main convenience lies in the fact that the image imitates an optical drive, as if deceiving the system. You can run the image and install the program as if you were doing it from a disc via a floppy drive. Such files can be created independently through special programs. In this article, you will find a detailed guide on how to create a disk image with files or from an existing physical disk in your drive. Try to create your first image along with the article.

Which program to choose to create a disk image

On the Internet you can find a large number of specialized programs, for example:

UltraISO;
alcohol;
Daemon Tools;
ISO Creator.

This article will use the Daemon Tools program, as it is easy to use and has many different versions for any user. You can choose another program that suits you better, but their principle is about the same.

Go to Daemon Tools official website to download the program https://www.daemon-tools.cc

How to make a disk image from files

To create your own disk image from existing files and folders on your computer, follow this algorithm:

Finish downloading and installing Daemon Tools Lite. You need the Lite version because it is designed for a narrow range of tasks and is easy to use, the rest of the versions are designed for more advanced users.
Installation will not take you much time.

Once installed, you will find the program in the start menu of your computer.

Once Daemon Tools opens, find and click on the New Image tab.

In the window that appears, click on the "Create image with data" field.

This is where the customization of your image takes place.
First of all, select the files that will be inside the image. To do this, click on the plus sign in the upper right corner.

Check all files on your computer that should be placed in the image.

Their list will appear in a small window in the middle of the screen.
Once you've completed your selection, select your image format. If you do not know which one is better to choose, then give preference to ISO - this is a standard and universal image.

Now click on the “Save as” field and specify the folder where the finished image will be saved. It is from there that you will take it and use it.

When all the setup is done, you can click on “Start” to start creating the image.

Wait until the image has finished its creation and validation. After that, you can take the finished ISO file in the folder you specified and use it.

How to create an image from an existing disk

Creating an image from files is very convenient, however, when you already have a disk with data, it will be easier to create an image from it, rather than transfer the data to a computer and use the previous method.

In the "New Image" menu, you can see the "Create image from disk" field. This is exactly the method that will come in handy in such a situation.

The setup is fast enough: you need to select your optical drive in the "Drive" field. It should already have a data disc inserted.

In the "Format" field, select the desired format for the future disk image.

You can protect your image so that it can only be opened with a password. To do this, check the box next to the words “Protect”, and then enter the password twice. Don't forget it and don't share your password with anyone.

Also in the program advanced settings are available at the very bottom of the window.

They are suitable for advanced users who need to set their own speed and profile settings. If you do not understand what it is, then it is better to put aside such a setting and not open this option.

Click "Start" and wait for the recording to finish. Do not touch the drive at this point and better take care of your personal business. Once the image is complete, you can use it.