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A program for creating a Windows xp disk image. Review of free programs for creating disk images

Good afternoon.

Let me make a reservation right away that this article is in no way aimed at distributing illegal copies of disks.

I think that every experienced user has dozens, or even hundreds of CDs and DVDs. Now storing all of them next to a computer or laptop is not so important - after all, one HDD, the size of a small notepad, can accommodate hundreds of such disks! Therefore, it’s not a bad idea to create images from your disk collections and transfer them to a hard drive (for example, to an external HDD).

The topic of creating images when installing Windows is also very relevant (for example, to copy the Windows installation disk into an ISO image, and then create a bootable USB flash drive from it). Especially if you don’t have a disk drive on your laptop or netbook!

Creating images can also often be useful for game lovers: discs become scratched over time and become difficult to read. As a result of intensive use, the disc with your favorite game may simply become unreadable, and the disc will need to be purchased again. To avoid this, it’s easier to read the game into the image once, and then launch the game from this image. In addition, the disk in the drive makes a lot of noise during operation, which annoys many users.

And so, let’s get down to the main thing...

1) How to create an ISO disk image

An image of such a disk is usually created from disks that are not copy-protected. For example, discs with MP3 files, discs with documents, etc. To do this, there is no need to copy the “structure” of the disc’s tracks and any service information, which means the image of such a disc will take up less space than the image of a protected disc. Usually an ISO image is used for such purposes...

CDBurnerXP

A very simple and multifunctional program. Allows you to create data discs (MP3, document discs, audio and video discs), in addition, it can create images and burn ISO images. This is what we will do...

1) First, in the main program window, you need to select the “Copy disk” option.

The main window of the CDBurnerXP program.

Drive: CD-Rom where the CD/DVD disc was inserted;

A place to save the image;

Image type (in our case ISO).

Configure copy settings.

3) Actually, all that remains is to wait until the ISO image is created. The copying time depends on the speed of your drive, the size of the copied disc and its quality (if the disc is scratched, the copying speed will be lower).

Disc copying process...

Alcohol 120%

This is one of the best programs for creating and emulating images. By the way, it supports all the most popular disk images: iso, mds/mdf, ccd, bin, etc. The program supports the Russian language, and its only drawback, perhaps, is that it is not free.

1) To create an ISO image in Alcohol 120%, in the main program window, click on the “ Creating images«.

Alcohol 120% - creating an image.

2) Then you need to specify the CD/DVD drive (where the disc to be copied is inserted) and click the “next” button.

Select drive and copy settings.

3) And the last step... Select the location where the image will be saved, as well as indicate the type of image itself (in our case - ISO).

Alcohol 120% is a place to save your image.

After clicking the “Start” button, the program will begin creating the image. Copy times can vary greatly. For a CD, this time is approximately 5-10 minutes, for a DVD - 10-20 minutes.

Ultra ISO

I couldn’t help but mention this program, because it is one of the most popular programs for working with ISO images. As a rule, one cannot do without it when:

Installing Windows and creating bootable flash drives and disks;

When editing ISO images (and it can do this quite easily and quickly).

In addition, UltraISO allows you to create an image of any disk in 2 mouse clicks!

1) After starting the program, you need to go to the “Tools” section and select the option “ Create CD image...«.

2) Then all that remains is to select the CD/DVD drive, the location where the image will be saved and the type of the image itself. What is noteworthy, in addition to creating an ISO image, the program can create: bin, nrg, compressed iso, mdf, ccd images.

2) Creating an image from a protected disk

Such images are usually created from game discs. The fact is that many game manufacturers, protecting their products from pirates, make it so that you can’t play without the original disc... That is. To start the game, the disc must be inserted into the drive. If you don't have a real disk, then you won't run the game...

Now imagine a situation: several people are working at a computer and each has their own favorite game. Disks are constantly rearranged and over time they wear out: scratches appear on them, reading speed deteriorates, and then they may no longer be readable at all. To do this, you can create an image and use it. Just to create such an image, you will need to enable some options (if you create a regular ISO image, then when you start the game, it will simply give an error that there is no real disk...).

Alcohol 120%

1) As in the first part of the article, first of all, launch the option to create a disk image (in the menu on the left, first tab).

2) Then you need to select the disk drive and set the copy settings:

Ignores read errors;

Advanced Sector Scanning (A.S.S.) factor 100;

Read subchannel data from the current disk.

3) In this case, the image format will be MDS - the Alcohol 120% program will read the subchannel data of the disk into it, which will subsequently help launch a protected game without a real disk.

By the way, the size of the image during such copying will be larger than the actual disk space. For example, based on a game CD of 700 MB in size, an image of ~800 MB in size will be created.

Nero

Nero is not just one program for burning discs, it is a whole range of programs for working with discs. With Nero you can: create any discs (audio and video, with documents, etc.), convert videos, create covers for discs, edit audio and video, etc.

Using NERO 2015 as an example, I’ll show you how an image is created in this program. By the way, for images it uses its own format: nrg (all popular programs for working with images read it).

1) Launch Nero Express and select the “Image, project ...” section, then the “Copy disk” function.

2) In the settings window, pay attention to the following:

On the left of the window there is an arrow with additional settings - check the box " Read subchannel data«;

Then select the drive from which the data will be read (in this case, the drive into which a real CD/DVD disc is inserted);

And the last thing you need to specify is the drive source. If you are copying a disc to an image, then you need to select Image Recorder.

Setting up copying of a protected disc in Nero Express.

3) When you start copying, Nero will prompt you to select a location to save the image, as well as its type: ISO or NRG (for protected disks, select the NRG format).

DAEMON Tools is the best program for creating virtual disks and mounting them (emulating), which significantly reduces disk space and allows you to create backup copies of all necessary files. The main difference between this program and many other similar ones is that the developers of the utility put the interests of their users much higher than everything else. This is evidenced by the constantly updating versions of the program, which is becoming more and more convenient to use and universal in application. The main advantages of the utility include:
- the ability to create images (CD/DVD/Blu-ray) as a file and mount them.
- the ability to replace physical wear of all types of disks.
- a convenient and clear interface will make absolutely no one use the program for all categories of users.
- allows you to use all possible image formats.
- provides the ability to copy boot disks, and also makes it possible to protect saved files with a password, which will ensure complete security for file storage.
In order to be able to use the program, you need to take the following steps.
First you need to download and install the program on your personal computer:

After this, select the desired program components to use and determine the program installation folder. Installation will take just minutes.

After installation, you need to launch the program and select the image creation tab, after which a window will open in which you need to select the disk drive parameters, writing speed, and location of the new disk image. Select the file for the image and its format. It is advisable to specify the maximum reading speed and, if necessary, you can specify a protection password.

When you have finished selecting the parameters, you need to click on the start button and the image will be created automatically in the previously specified folder.
A fairly convenient interface and ease of use are the main advantages of this program, which is designed to greatly secure and expand the range of capabilities of your disk images to 4 different units, which will replace the need to save disks and fear their failure.

Using special programs. Creating a virtual image is a very important point when you do not have a CD/DVD recording disc, with the help of such images, in order to play some game you do not need to have a disk, we will create emulation using a program, then mount it into the drive.

Today there are a huge number of programs for creating an ISO image, many of them are both good and bad, but we will, of course, analyze workable and popular programs. Some of them are free and may be as good as the paid versions, let's now see what programs we are talking about.

ISO Disk Image Creator – CDBurnerXP

The CDBurnerXP utility is very powerful and works with almost any image. Using it, you can both write and overwrite data, as well as erase it. The product is free, so there are no restrictions. CDBurnerXP will easily create a virtual disk with an ISO extension. Works on all Windows operating systems. What do you need to create a disk image?

• Download CDBurnerXP here this link. The site is official, there is no need to be afraid of viruses. When installing, pay close attention to all buttons. One of them "More options", there you can disable the installation of additional software, such as Amigo, or Yandex Browser. It's better to choose the portable version.

• Now that you have installed the program, launch it. In the window that opens, you will see many options. To create an ISO you need to select the item “Creating ISO images, burning data discs...”. If you need to create an image from a disk, then select “Copy disk”.

• So, a window will open in which you select any files to create the image.

• Having selected the files, we need to save our virtual image. To do this, click on the “File” button and select "Save project as ISO image".

Creating an ISO Disc Image Using ImgBurn

The next program on our list is ImgBurn. Its interface is very clear, so you can figure out what and how without my help, but I’ll write everything down just in case. To begin with, I want to say that the installation file also contains the installation of unwanted software, therefore, when installing, keep an eye on all the checkboxes and items. Here is the official website from where you can download this program.

So, the ImgBurn utility is, of course, functional and has a simple interface. When you first install and launch the program, you will see the interface in English, but you can change it to Russian in the settings. True, to do this you need to first download the crack from the official website, and then put the file in the Language folder.

You don't need much to create a virtual image. You just need to click on one of the provided icons in the main program window, add the necessary files and save the image.

ISO image creation program – UltraISO

I don’t want such a wonderful program as UltraISO to be in last place. Yes, it is paid, but it is powerful, it works with all types of images, a large number of files, it can create virtual disks and write data to real optical disks.

The demo version of the program allows you to record an image of 300 MB. Not very much. You can download it from this site. If you need the full version to record large files, you will have to either purchase or find “Activation” on the Internet. It's a dishonest way, but you can try.

Creating an ISO Image Using ISO Workshop

Here is another program for creating virtual images - ISO Workshop. The interface is very simple, nothing superfluous. In addition to the ISO format, the program can also work with .CUE. This is a format that works with album images.

The program can record images and extract them, as well as check disks for errors. Here is the official website of the program, download and use it.

Ashampoo Burning Studio

And the last program on our list is Ashampoo Burning Studio. The program is free and has a nice interface. In addition to the ISO format, it supports many others. Works with almost any disc. If you decide to use this utility, then you can use it to write data to various disks, rewrite them several times, and copy disks. You can download the program from the official website. Have you noticed that I mostly give only official sources? Some unscrupulous people try to sneak in their products or provide viral sources to steal your data. Before downloading from dubious sites, it is better to study it in more detail.

Once you have installed and launched the utility, you will see a nice window in front of you:

The program is in Russian, so everything is clear. To create a disk image you need to hover your mouse over the tab "Image Creation". A menu of 3 items will appear. First option - "Burn image" allows you to write data to an optical disk already prepared for this purpose. Second point "Create an image" allows you to create an image from a disc already inserted into the drive.

To create an ISO image from files, we need a third option - “Create an image from files”. This way we can create our own ISO images.

Let's say you have already selected this item. A window will appear before our eyes in which we need to select the ISO format. In addition to this format, there is also the native format of the program itself and the CUE/BIN format.

That's all, these are not all programs, there are a lot of them on the Internet, both well-known and those that have just appeared. Each has many advantages and disadvantages, but with the help of the programs we have discussed, you can easily create a virtual image and, if necessary, write the necessary files to a finished disk.

UltraISO is an indispensable program for working with images on Windows computers.

ISO images are images of CD/DVD discs. To work with the .ISO format you need to download UltraISO for Windows. Your OS can only write data to disk if you have a disk drive, but it won't be able to work with images unless you have additional software. The program's developers are not the inventors of the format, but they are the developers of the product that has become the most popular tool for working with this format. The software needs to be downloaded not only by those who have a disk drive, but also by those who do not have a disk drive, but need to create an image or work with virtual disks, as well as interact with boot disks/flash drives.

A convenient tool for working with images.ISO

You can download a disk image with some program, or create this image yourself. To interact with this format you need to download the software. These programs are distributed free of charge, but you can not only download the software for free, but also continue to use it. There is also a paid version of this utility (costs 1,400 rubles), but for everyday purposes you will definitely have enough free options. They are limited only by file size, but the free version is definitely enough to create a bootable USB flash drive.

The program interface is very similar to the standard Explorer interface in Windows, so you should not have any difficulties in working. In addition to this, UltraISO is in Russian, which means everything is as simple and clear as possible without any translation. The latest version of Ultra ISO allows you to work with the structure of the disk image to save space both on the HDD, when storing the ISO disk, and to reduce the size on optical media. This is not the only advantage of the latest version, here are several innovations and improvements:

• Working with boot sectors of hard drives;
• Interaction with Daemon Tools;
• Ability to create a boot floppy disk;

Boot sectors of hard drives and floppy disks are the lot of not only computer professionals, but also ordinary users who use UltraISO. You can configure the HDD the way it suits you. This feature appeared only in the latest version of the utility. You can also work with boot sectors of optical disks and floppy disks.

Floppy disk support is not a relic of the past. For example, this support will allow you to write a bootable floppy disk with legacy operating systems, for example, you can create a bootable floppy disk for DOS OS. Of course, there is support for bootable disks and even bootable flash drives. You can create a bootable USB flash drive in both standard mode and dual mode – USB-HDD and USB-ZIP. You will learn more about creating such flash drives from the video:

For those who want to use software to create virtual disks or floppy drives, we recommend using this utility in conjunction with or. And although these utilities have different developers, the software supports both utilities for working with virtual disks. You can use a tandem of these utilities to bypass disk protection.

UltraISO in Russian runs not only on Windows 32 bit, but also on the x64 version; in our archive you will find an installer for both versions of the OS. To run the utility, just install it. You will not need activation and an activation code until you decide to burn a large disc or flash drive. Reviews show that the free version is sufficient to handle 99% of the tasks of the average user.