A program that creates a virtual disk. Virtual disk

Good day everyone!

Regular CD / DVD discs, as sad as it may be, are losing their popularity from year to year (before, they were generally sold on every corner ☻). Still, the development of network technologies is doing its job ...

Meanwhile, there is another side of the coin - the so-called virtual disks - a separate file (s) made on the basis of an exact copy of a physical CD / DVD-disc. They are also called images... The most popular image formats are ISO, BIN, MDS / MDF, NRG, CCD. By the way, now many files are transferred over the network in images (for example, even to create a bootable USB flash drive with Windows, you must first download the installation image with the system from the Microsoft website).

You can't just open such an image, you need (you guessed it) a special virtual floppy drive (or drive. Also called CD / DVD emulators).

In general, I decided to build this article in the form of questions and answers on working with images (of which there are always many). Along the way, I will present the programs that best cope with the task at hand. I think this will make it easier to present the basics for an inexperienced reader. And so, let's get started ...

Most popular questions about working with virtual disks

❶. How to create a virtual disk / ISO image, etc.

First of all, to get started, I recommend installing one program - Daemon Tools (Lite version, it is free and its capabilities for creating and emulating images are more than enough). And in general, in my opinion, it is one of the best (and most popular, by the way) programs for working with disk images. I recommend unambiguously for installation and familiarization.

Daemon Tools (Lite)

This program allows you to mount almost all types of images, and also emulates the simultaneous operation of up to 4 drives. In addition, the program allows you to burn ready-made images to physical disks, convert from one format to another, create protected images and much more (by the way, some of the functions are paid, unfortunately). The program has a pretty good organized storage of images: you can always find the desired disk from your collection.

And so, let's say we have several CDs with music, games that are often used, and you are simply tired of inserting them into the drive (and over time the discs deteriorate, scratch, and make noise when inserted into the drive). Therefore, it is logical, having made the images of these disks once, you can easily and quietly use them.

1) First you need to insert the CD into a real physical drive.

3) After that, you need to specify the drive with the disc, specify the folder where the image will be saved, and the image format (in my example, I chose ISO). To start copying - press the "Start" button.

5) When the image is ready, you will see a message stating that the operation was completed successfully, as in the screenshot below.

In general, that's all. Now you can use this image (only you first need to create a virtual drive, more on that below).

❷. How to create a virtual CD / DVD-Rom drive / emulator

Let's use the same Daemon Tools ...

First, you need to run the program and click "Add drive" (in the left menu of the program).

A new drive should appear at the bottom of the window: in my case, under the letter "F: (empty)".

DAEMON Tools Lite - new drive (F :)!

❸. How to open images: ISO, MDF, NRG, etc. and run the application from them

After the virtual disk drive in Daemon Tools has been created, you can start opening and reading images in it. In general, Daemon Tools opens almost any image: ISO, BIN, MDF, NRG (even archives, format 7z, rar, zip, etc.).

At the bottom of the window - left-click on the virtual drive (which we created in the previous step). See screenshot below.

DAEMON Tools Lite - first left-click on the drive

If the automatic launch of CD / DVD drives is disabled for you (and nothing appears on the screen), go to "My Computer / This Computer": among the drives there should also be a virtual one, with the disc (ie the image) that we opened.

If you are asked whether to allow this application to make changes, answer in the affirmative (at least for familiar disks ...).

❹. How to burn an image to a physical CD / DVD drive

Daemon Tools, of course, can write images to physical disks, but this feature is only available in the paid version of the program. Therefore, it is better to use analogs, especially since there are enough free versions in this segment.

Why not Nero? Because the Nero package is paid, weighs several gigabytes, is very "slow" and unwieldy. Hardly many will use even a tenth of its functions (not to mention the fact that most just need to burn a disc and that's it ...).

CDBurnerXP

CDBurnerXP is a free software for burning CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. The program also works great with ISO-images, allowing you not only to create them, but also to burn them to physical discs. The program supports dozens of languages ​​(including Russian). Works in Windows XP / 7/8/9/10.

Key features:

1. record data (files, documents, pictures, etc.) on any type of disc;
2. recording audio discs;
3. creating and burning ISO images;
4. creation of boot (installation) disks;
5. converter BIN / NRG images → to ISO;
6. the ability to print covers.

After starting the program, press the button "Burn ISO Image to Disc" (see screenshot below).

Then specify the ISO image to burn, the physical drive, the write speed (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot below - by the way, do not set the highest speed, errors are possible) and click "Burn disc". In general, this is all - in 10-15 minutes. your disc will be burned!

Burn settings // CDBurnerXP

❺. What other programs can be used to work and read images

Alcohol 120%

Alcohol 120% is an excellent and very powerful imaging program. It does everything: creates images, mounts them into virtual drives, writes, creates a library on your PC (for quick search and reading).

Although the program is paid, there is a free trial period of 15 days (and there is also a free version, with reduced features). In general, I recommend it for review!

Key features:

1. creation of up to 31 virtual drives;
2. creating disc images (support for formats: MDF / MDS, CCD, BIN / CUE, ISO, CDI, etc.);
3. burning from disc images: CD, DVD and Blu-ray;
4. erasing discs: CD-RW, DVD-RW and BD-RE;
5. search and creation of a library from image files on the hard disk of the PC;
6. the presence of an audio converter for working with audio discs.

Ultra ISO

Official website: https://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/

A very powerful program for working with ISO images. Allows you to create them from real disks, burn, emulate in a virtual drive, and, most importantly, edit on the fly. Those. you can open the ISO image, remove the unnecessary file from it (or add) and save the image. Actually, this is done very quickly!

In addition, the program will help you create a boot (installation) disk, USB flash drive. You can also try to compress the current ISO images, etc. In general, everyone who works with ISO - I recommend that you definitely have it on your PC ...

Burn4Free

A very reliable and simple program for working with CD / DVD-disks. Allows you to perform almost the entire range of tasks that may be required by the average PC user. With all this, it takes up very little hard disk space (several megabytes!).

Main advantages:

• burning CD / DVD discs in a few mouse clicks;
• the program is very light and simple, the design is made in the style of minimalism;
• you can copy audio discs of various formats (WAV, FLAC, WavPack, WMA, etc.);
• SCSI support - IDE / EIDE - SATA - USB;
• Russian language support;
• creating and burning ISO images;
• the ability to record MP3 discs;
• support for all Windows versions: 10, 8, 7, Vista, 2008, 2003, XP, 2000, 98;
• support for most drive models (over 4000!).

In general, I will add on my own that this program worked even in those cases when its counterparts refused to either start or see the drive. I recommend having in your arsenal for anyone who often works with ISO or optical discs.

Virtual clone drive

This program is free and designed to create a virtual floppy drive. The program is very simple and reliable. Supports up to 15 virtual drives, fully integrates into Windows Explorer, for easier and faster operation.

In general, in comparison with many similar programs of this spectrum, it stands out noticeably. I recommend to review.

Key features:

1. support for all popular image formats: ISO, BIN, IMG, UDF, DVD, CCD;
2. emulation of up to 15 virtual drives (CD, DVD, and Blu-ray);
3. there is a history of using images (for faster search and reading of the desired file);
4. convenient embedding into the explorer (now any image can be opened with a couple of mouse clicks!).

The instruction is complete ...

Happy work!

CD / DVD-disks are among the most popular external storage media, however, working with them in practice is not always convenient, and there are many reasons for this. These disks must be inserted into a drive and data exchange with them is noticeably slower than with a hard drive. As a result, launching a program from a CD will take noticeably longer. CD / DVD disks stop being read if bad sectors or a lot of scratches appear on them, and this will sooner or later happen during their active use. Another difficulty arises for mobile users - going on a business trip, they have to take with them the entire set of disks that may be required for work, which is also unpleasant, since it increases the size of the luggage. You can avoid such problems by copying information from CDs to a hard drive, but this option will not work for every program. For example, discs with games, licensed databases, tutorials, audio discs, etc. when copying them to a hard drive, they often refuse to work. In such cases, you will have to go the other way - create virtual CD / DVD drives on your computer and place images of frequently used discs in them. Technically, this involves two things. First, you need to create the necessary disk image files (that is, virtual CDs) - this can be done using programs for burning and copying CD-DVDs (such as, for example, Nero Burning ROM) and save these images to your hard disk. And then you will have to use a special program-emulator of virtual drives, with which you will need to create the required number of virtual CD / DVD drives and connect to each of them according to the prepared disk image. As a result, you can work with virtual CDs in the same way as with real ones. Moreover, it will turn out to be much faster and more reliable. Why? Everything is very simple. On the one hand, access to information will speed up, since it will be read from a hard disk much faster than from a CD, and you do not have to insert a real disk into a physical drive to start a virtual disk. On the other hand, the likelihood of losing valuable data as a result of disc failure will decrease, because CD / DVD discs themselves are not inserted into the drive, and therefore their surface does not wear out. Moreover, it will become possible to work with several disks at the same time.

DAEMON Tools 4.30.0305

Developer: DT Soft Ltd.
Distribution size: DAEMON Tools Pro Advanced and DAEMON Tools Pro Standard - 11 MB; DAEMON Tools Lite - 7.4 MB
Spreading: Shareware DAEMON Tools is one of the most attractive solutions in terms of functionality for emulating virtual drives. This package is presented in three editions: DAEMON Tools Pro Advanced, DAEMON Tools Pro Standard and DAEMON Tools Lite. DAEMON Tools Lite has the most modest capabilities - it does not have a graphical interface (access is made through the system tray) and allows you to create up to four virtual drives and mount images on them. The other two versions already have a convenient graphical interface and provide the creation of 16 to 32 virtual SCSI devices, and DAEMON Tools Pro Advanced can also emulate two virtual IDE devices, which is important for connecting a part of copy-protected CD / DVD disks. As for the images themselves, all three solutions provide for the creation of images from CDs, and not only from ordinary ones (formats Audio CD, Video CD, Mixed Mode CD, CD-Extra, Video CD, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio ), but also from copy protected ones including SafeDisc, SecuROM, LaserLock, RMPS, Hide CD-R, CD / DVD-Cops, ProtectCD, StarForce and Tages. At the same time, almost any image file formats are supported (B5T, B6T, BWT, CCD, CDI, CUE, ISO, MDS, NRG, PDI, ISZ). If desired, images can be easily password protected. The Pro versions also provide image editing, which allows you to add files to the image, as well as replace or delete them in it. Working with images is implemented very conveniently - you can add them to the collection either by specifying them manually or by choosing from the list of those found during automatic search (images created in the program itself are added to the collection automatically), and in the collection itself it is allowed to place images in subdirectories (this is more convenient for further orientation). When creating images, their compression is provided, which will be very useful with a large number of images on the disk, however, you can compress only MDS images - images in other formats will first have to be converted to MDS format (possibly only in DAEMON Tools Pro Advanced). Demo versions of the program (there is a Russian-language localization) are fully functional and workable for 20 days. The cost of commercial versions is different - for DAEMON Tools Pro Advanced it is 39.90 euros, for DAEMON Tools Pro Standard - 16.90 euros, and for DAEMON Tools Lite - 14.90 euros. At the same time, the version of DAEMON Tools Lite for non-commercial use is free. Since the DAEMON Tools Lite utility is the easiest to use, we will start with it. It does not have a graphical interface, so all operations in this utility are carried out through the system tray. Connecting virtual drives to DAEMON Tools Lite is as easy as shelling pears. First, you will need to install the required number of virtual devices - right-click on the program icon in the system tray, select the Virtual CD / DVD-ROM command and specify the required number of drives.

And then, sequentially for each of the drives, mount a virtual disk by simply specifying the corresponding image files on the hard disk for them (command Virtual CD / DVD-ROM> "Drive ..."> "Mount image"). To remove an image from a virtual drive, you will need the "Unmount Image" command.

The technology for working with DAEMON Tools Pro is somewhat more complicated. The window of this utility is implemented in the form of three panels - an information panel and two windows: a window for images and a window for drives. The images window is designed to perform various operations on images, and the drives window allows you to manage physical and virtual CD / DVD devices.

The first step in DAEMON Tools Pro is to create a collection of images. If the images were created earlier and you have not yet managed to forget which specific folder on the disk they are located in, then you need to click on the "Add images" button and immediately place them in the collection. If you do not remember where they are, you will have to use the automatic search mode (the "Search for images" button).

If there are no images on the disk yet, then you need to create them. To do this, insert the coveted disc into the CD / DVD-ROM, click on the "Create image" button, select the appropriate physical drive (understandably, if there are several drives) and, if necessary, change the disc reading settings on the "Drive" tab. And then on the tab "Catalog of images" enter the name of the image and indicate the output format, then click on the button "Start" and in a couple of minutes get the desired image.

After the collection is filled with images in one way or another, the required number of virtual drives is installed, the corresponding number of times by clicking the "Add SCSI Virtual Drive" button - the connected drives appear in the program's virtual drives window. It should be noted that one virtual drive is created automatically during the installation of the program.

A virtual image is then installed on each of the virtual CD / DVD devices. To carry out such an installation, activate the first image and use the "Mount Image" command from the context menu, followed by specifying the required virtual drive. After that, a similar operation will need to be carried out with all other images. If it is necessary to remove an image from a virtual drive, use the "Unmount" command from the context menu.

Alcohol 120% 1.9.8.7612 and Alcohol 52% 1.9.8.7612

Developer: Alcohol Software
Distribution size: Alcohol 120% - 12.3 MB, Alcohol 52% - 11.5 MB
Spreading: shareware Programs Alcohol 120% and Alcohol 52% represent one of the most popular solutions for creating virtual CD / DVD drives. Alcohol 120% includes all the functions of Alcohol 52% and additionally allows you to burn CDs and DVDs from image files or "on the fly" - from source CDs. It is possible to record on several drives at once. With regard to emulation of virtual drives, the capabilities of the programs are identical. With their help, it is easy to connect up to 31 virtual drives on your computer and mount virtual CDs on them in almost any image file format. Source images are added in the image search mode or automatically - the latter if they are created in the Alcohol environment. Support for many CD formats (CD-DA, CD + G, CD-ROM, CD-XA, Video CD, Photo CD, Mixed Mode, Multi-session CD, DVD-ROM, DVD-Video and DVD-Audio) and a variety of protection systems including SafeDisc 2/3/4, SecuROM NEW 4/5/7, LaserLock, Starforce 1/2/3/4, VOB ProtectCD V5. When emulating, you can ignore the media type, the physical signature of the recordable disk (RMPS), the presence of bad sectors, etc. The demo version of the program (there is a Russian-language localization) is operational for 15 days and has a limit on the number of created virtual devices (there can be only six of them). The cost of the commercial version of Alcohol 120% is $ 50, Alcohol 52% - $ 27 In addition, there is also a completely free version of Alcohol 52% FE 1.9.5.4, which allows you to create up to six virtual devices. The Alcohol 120% and Alcohol 52% window is implemented as one vertical and two horizontal panels. The vertical panel is located in the left part of the main program window and is a panel of operations designed to quickly launch the main components of the program. The horizontal panels located in the right part of the main program window are working windows of the database browser that provide management of images, virtual drives and physical CD / DVD devices.

Emulating virtual CD / DVD drives in Alcohol 120% and Alcohol 52% programs requires three steps. At the first, a collection of images is formed. If the images already exist, they can be connected directly, simply by right-clicking in the free area of ​​the browser window, calling the "Add Images" command from the context menu and specifying the necessary images. Well, if you do not remember where exactly the images are located on the disk, then you can use the search for images (the "Search for images" operation in the "Basic operations" group), and only then connect the images.

If the image files do not exist on the disk, then they will have to be created. It is not difficult to do this in Alcohol 120% (or in Alcohol 52%). To do this, you just need to activate the "Create images" operation, select a physical drive (only if there are several drives), define the data type and, if necessary, adjust the disc reading settings, and on the next screen enter the name of the image and press the "Start" button.

After the formation of the collection of images, virtual drives are connected - this is the responsibility of the "Virtual disk" operation from the "Settings" group, after which you will need to determine the required number of virtual devices. It will also be possible to enable / disable the checkboxes "Remount images on system reboot" and "Mount image on Device 0 by double-clicking". Enabling the first checkbox will ensure that the virtual disks remain in their virtual drives after restarting or shutting down the computer. Enabling the second will allow you to mount the image file by double clicking on it to the first free virtual drive. After that, you will still need to activate the "File Associations" subsection and mark those image file extensions that are supposed to be mounted in virtual devices. The result of these manipulations will be the appearance in the lower right pane of the program, in addition to the physical CD / DVD devices, of the list of virtual drives that have appeared. By the way, right there it is worth noting that one virtual drive can be created already during the installation of the program, unless, of course, you uncheck the corresponding checkbox during the installation.

Well, now all that remains is to mount virtual CDs to virtual devices using the "Mount to device" command from the context menu. You can mount the image even faster - just by double-clicking on it, however, this is only provided that the "Mount image on Device 0 by double-clicking" checkbox was not disabled when connecting virtual drives. To remove an image from a virtual drive, use the Unmount Image command.

Virtual CD 9.3.0.1

Developer: H + H Software GmbH
Distribution size: 56.4 Mb
Spreading: Shareware Virtual CD is one of the most multifunctional (but also the most difficult to learn) solutions for emulating virtual CD / DVD-ROM devices, managing virtual CDs and organizing network access to them. The program allows you to create up to 23 virtual drives and connect image files to them in a fairly wide range of formats. These images can be created directly in the Virtual CD environment, connected according to the results of an automatic search, or directly manually. Working with collections of virtual CDs is implemented in the program taking into account the fact that their number can be large - therefore images can be divided into categories, sorted, grouped, searched in the library, etc. When creating images (formats CD-ROM, DVD, Video CD, Super Video CD, Photo CD, Audio CD, CD-Text, CD-Extra, Mixed Mode CDs are supported), their compression is possible, and very efficient. In addition, images can be converted to VC4 format and password protected if necessary. Editing of images is also provided, in which it is easy to add new files or delete unnecessary ones - this function can be useful not only when using image files on virtual drives, but also in the process of testing them before burning them to a real CD. The latter is also implemented in Virtual CD, in addition, the program can directly copy data from disc to disc and delete data from rewritable CD / DVD. The demo version of the program (no Russian localization) is fully functional and operational within 30 days, the cost of the commercial version is $ 39.95.Virtual CD is a combination of two interface modules - Toolbox and CD Management (both modules are called from the system tray, and Toolbox can also be launched from the start menu). The Toolbox module provides direct access to all the main functions of the program.

The CD Management module provides virtual CD and image management.

In Virtual CD, it is more difficult to deal with the options responsible for creating a collection, since they are scattered across different modules, and the total number of various settings is large. If we are talking about adding existing image files to the collection, then this can be done both through the Toolbox module and through the CD Management module. In the first case, open the Main Tasks in Virtual CD tab and launch the Find Virtual CDs automatic image search function.

In the second, the Add command is called from the context menu and specific images from the folder are indicated.

There are also two ways to add a new virtual drive - using the Add / Remove Virtual Drives command, by activating it from the system tray, or in the CD Management module, by calling the Drive Editor command from the context menu. In both cases, a device selection dialog box opens, where additional drives should be enabled. By the way, if no more than four drives are required, then these operations will not have to be performed, since by default the program automatically adds four virtual drives to the system during its installation.

Mounting virtual CDs is easier, since this is done by simply dragging and dropping the image onto the drive in the CD Management window, or by installing a virtual CD to the drive via the system tray. The Eject command is responsible for removing an image from a virtual drive.

It should be noted that many operations in Virtual CD require the sequential opening of multiple windows (and this slows down the process) - you can speed up the work by assigning a number of actions to hot keys, as well as the active use of system tray commands, duplicating the basic operations of the Toolbox and CD Management modules.

MAME is an absolutely free product that will help to reproduce on a modern computer old games that were supplied by developers for game consoles and slot machines. Literally the abbreviation stands for, Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. When used in conjunction with disc images of the original arcade games and disc data, MAME attempts to reproduce this game as accurately as possible on a more modern general-purpose computer. MAME can currently emulate several thousand different classic arcade video games from the late 1970s to the present.

DAEMON Tools Lite - lightweight on features and some functions, free edition of the program, the purpose of which is to create virtual drives in the operating system. One of the main features of the application is the ability to create disks, more precisely, to emulate virtual disk images. The application can safely create CD images as well as DVD discs. DAEMON Tools support for many modern or popular, in general, widespread image formats, allows this software to be as ...

VirtualDVD - a small program, as the name of the application implies, creates a virtual disk drive in the Windows operating system. It is distributed by the authors completely free of charge without restrictions, both in terms of functionality and time. This emulator has support for the Russian language, both during installation and in the interface, if I may say so, since there is no interface as such.

Alcohol 52% - one of the most famous disk drive emulators, the program creates a virtual CD / DVD drive in the system. Subsequently, you can insert either the created disk image, or an existing previously created one, into the virtual disk drive. The use of virtual devices has a number of significant advantages over physical devices. The main such advantages include reading speed and reliability. When used at home, the user can fully appreciate the benefits of a virtual drive.

WinCDEmu - a free emulator of a CD, DVD or BD drive, the program is distributed freely, without restrictions, moreover, it has an open source code. With this small tool, the user will be able to mount into a virtual CD ROM a CD image of such popular formats as ISO, CUE, NRG, MDS / MDF, CCD, IMG. This is one of the easiest ways to quickly and easily mount a disk image into a virtual drive.

Virtual clonedrive - creates a virtual CD / DVD drive, which behaves in the system in the same way as a physical CD / DVD drive, up to 8 virtual CD-ROMs are supported, but it exists only virtually. Image files generated from CloneDVD and CloneCD can be mounted to a virtual drive from a hard drive or from a network drive and are used in the same order as if you would insert them into a normal CD / DVD drive.

DVDFab Virtual Drive - free virtual disk, is a virtual DVD / Blu-Ray drive emulator. The program can emulate up to 18 discs to work with DVD / Blu-Ray images created by DVDFab and other programs. For example, to play a Blu-ray backup on a computer with PowerDVD 8 and above, you need to use DVDFab to back up the Blu-ray ISO image file, and use DVDFab Virtual Drive by mounting the image to the drive created by the program, and then PowerDVD will play yours, for example a movie. DVDFab Virtual Drive is free and does not require any costs.

Disk2vhd - a small program that will make it very easy to make a virtual disk in VHD format from a real one. You can use this virtual disk in Hyper-V or Virtual PC. The utility was created by experts in the field of system tools, Mark Rusinovich and Bryce Cogswell, programmers at NirSoft. This little tool can be very useful for administering Windows systems. What is this utility for? If you are the administrator of the aforementioned operating systems, you probably have more than once encountered problems that led to contacting support ...

A lot of users of personal computers on the Windows platform often ask questions - what are virtual disks and how to create virtual disk... To increase the awareness of our readers in these matters, in this article we will try to fully disclose the topic with specific examples.

Also in our article we will consider what is virtual hard disks and where they are used. After reviewing the material, our readers will be able to easily create virtual hard disks and image disk in ISO format, as well as easily mount them on a virtual device and burn them to DVD.

Virtual optical drive and its applications

The main purpose of a virtual disk drive is mounting images optical discs. To understand in detail why it is needed, we will consider an example where an ISO disk image will be mounted on a virtual DVD-ROM. For this example, we will be using the Windows 10 operating system.

A nice moment for owners of computers with the Windows 10 operating system will be the fact that a virtual DVD-ROM is already installed in it. Therefore, Windows 10 owners will not have to use third-party software to mount images.

To mount an optical disc image to a virtual DVD-ROM, we need the image itself. For example, we will use image with Linux operating system Ubuntu... You can download an image of this operating system on its official website http://www.ubuntu.com. In our example, we will use the image 64 bit Ubuntu version 15.10 which is 1.1 GB in size.

Having loaded the image, you can proceed to its direct mounting. To do this, right-click on the image file to open the context menu.

The mounted "virtual disk" can be opened and all of its contents copied.

As you can see from the example, we have mounted the Ubuntu OS image on a virtual DVD drive. In fact, we were able to do practically what we do with a regular and optical disc, when we insert it into the DVD drive and open it, only in our version all the components are virtual.

Laser disc imaging

In the previous example, we looked at how to open an image disk in a virtual DVD drive. Now let's deal with the situation when you need to create an image of an optical disk. To create an image, we need the DAEMON Tools Lite program, which must be downloaded and installed. It is also worth noting that in addition to creating various image formats, DAEMON Tools Lite can also mount a wide variety of formats to its own virtual DVD drive. After installing the program DAEMON Tools Lite in Explorer you can see a new drive named ""

This "" is precisely the drive of the program in question. DAEMON Tools Lite... In this example, we will create an image of the original Windows 10 installation DVD. To make an image from the 10 installation DVD, insert it into the DVD drive. Now let's run the utility and go to the section " New image».

In the utility window we find the button " Create image from disk"And press it. These actions will take us to the image creation window.

In this window, you can select the DVD drive from which the ISO image will be created, as well as select the location to save it.

We will also select the image ISO format and confirm the creation by clicking the Start button, which will start creating a DVD image with Windows 10.

After creation, we will receive an ISO image file named "J_CCSA_X86FRE_RU-RU_DV5.iso", which can be mounted or burned onto a regular disc and installed with a new Windows using it.

The example shows how easy it is to burn an image for a virtual DVD-ROM using DAEMON Tools Lite... In the same way, you can burn images for all licensed Windows disks, be it XP or Vista. In addition, you can record images of games or software that cannot be started without a disc. Besides the program DAEMON Tools Lite I would like to advise other popular utilities that can create and allow you to open an image of optical disks:

• Alcohol 120%;
• Gizmo Drive;
• WinCDEmu.

It is especially important to use these utilities on an OS that does not have built-in virtual DVD drives, for example, in OS Windows XP. Besides XP support, each of these programs including DAEMON Tools Lite, will be able to burn ISO images to DVD disk. In addition to supporting the ISO format, these utilities can mount other formats, including their own, they can be burned to regular discs.

Virtual hard disk

A virtual hard disk is quite often used by IT specialists, as it allows you to solve many problems with backup, virtual machines and testing various OS. Virtual hard disk is a container file that mimics the file structure of a hard disk.

Since such a disk is a file, so it is usually stored on a physical HDD or SSD. Starting with Windows 7, users have the ability to create and mount a hard disk directly in the operating system.

Let's consider an example of creating a virtual hard disk using Windows 10. First, let's go to the utility “ Execute"Using the Win + R key combination and type the following command in it: diskmgmt.msc

This command will transfer us to the Disk Control Panel.

To create a new virtual HDD, you need to go to the menu " Action / Create virtual hard disk"Which will open a window to create such a disk.

Starting with Windows 10, it became possible to create a disk from the " VHDX". Unlike the "VHD" format, the " VHDX"Can create containers up to 64 terabytes... Let's make our 100 GB virtual hard disk in a new format " VHDX", And also set the switch to dynamic creation mode, in which our disk will grow as it fills.

After setting the parameters of our hard drive, we press the OK button, which will allow us to write it to the specified folder on the screw. Once created in the output, we get a virtual hard disk named "virtual disk.vhdx". From the image below, you can see that our disk was automatically mounted, but it is still not visible on the system.

For the system to see our VHDX disk, it must be initialized. This can be done by right-clicking on the VHDX disk and selecting “ Initialize disk».

In the window that appears, do not change anything and click the OK button.

Now the simplest thing is left, to choose a file system and a letter for our disk. To do this, go to it and select the item " Create simple volume».

After that, a wizard will start, in which you need to assign a drive letter and select a file system. After completing the wizard, the virtual hard disk will appear in Explorer.

The example shows that creating a virtual HDD using OS tools is very simple, so we hope that you will no longer have a question - how to create a virtual hard disk. I would also like to note that with the created VHDX disk, you can do such operations as:

• Encrypt it with BitLocker;
• Install an additional OS on it;
• Move and open it on another computer;
• Connect it to a virtual machine.

Computers based on the Windows XP operating system, which is still quite popular, do not support VHD disks. But do not be upset, because in the utility we reviewed earlier DAEMON Tools Lite there is support for VHD disks and it fully compatible with Windows XP.

Using a VHD disk in a virtual machine

Let's create a virtual machine based on the Windows XP operating system using the VirtualBox program. At the stage of creating a virtual machine for XP, you will be prompted to create or attach a virtual hard disk that will be used to install Windows XP on it.

At this point, we can attach the VHD disk, which we will create using Windows 10. So we will try to attach our 30 GB VHD container, which we made in the top ten. After creating a virtual machine, you can view the attached VHD disk in its settings.

If there is not enough space in the virtual machine on XP, then you can always attach new VHD virtual hard disk... Besides, you can connect containers with different file data to the virtual machine for XP... In the same way, you can use a virtual machine from other software products. For example, VHD containers can be installed on VMware Workstation products.

Outcome

From the material reviewed, it can be seen that the use of virtual drives and hard disks helps to solve many problems much better, especially since even a novice PC user will understand their creation. We hope that our material will help our readers better understand the question - how to create a virtual disk and how to use it for work.

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Users who met the early "zero" probably remember the days when films, computer games, programs and music were delivered to our computers only with the help of CD / DVD disks that were widespread at that time. Nobody knew about free downloading of data on the Internet, torrents and youtube. The situation was rescued by optical drives, with the help of which information was transferred to the hard disk of the computer.

The rapid development of Internet technologies has called into question the need to have such a component as a "floppy drive". In today's stationary systems and laptops, you rarely see a drive. All because of virtual disks, which supplanted the "blank" and became widespread. However, not everyone has made a comfortable transition to the new technology. In this article we will try to correct this situation and explain in detail the essence of the creation process, the nuances of use and other questions that have repeatedly arisen from everyone who does not know how to use a virtual CD ROM.

When you may need it

Many may doubt the idea of ​​using the innovation that has taken root by some and simply continue to use the optical drive, rewriting images and information with it on physical media. However, the archaic version loses in some cases, the most common of which are:

• Missing or defective drive. Any part does not have an eternal life. Sooner or later, a problem may arise, and it’s good if it does not happen at the most necessary moment (which, according to the “law of meanness”, happens often). In addition, the "sistemnik" who receives a disc with information from you may simply not have an optical drive. But a virtual CD-ROM is available on any modern PC (if you devote some time to its creation).
• Multichannel. I rarely came across computers in which there were several drives at once. Users who often write and read discs had to constantly rearrange CD / DVD. There are no such problems with virtual disks, which means you can work with several at the same time.
• Convenience of data transfer. To exchange information recorded on a "blank", you need to personally transfer the media to the receiving party. In the case of virtually recorded images, the transfer is carried out online, over the Internet.

Creating a virtual CD-ROM

To read virtual images (iso files; mdf, bwi, mds and others), you need to create a virtual CD-ROM that, like an optical drive, reproduces (emulates) data from the drive. You can make a virtual disk using special software, such as Daemon Tools, Virtual Drive, Their principle of operation is identical, and the functionality is largely similar. As an example, we took the last of the listed ones, since its capabilities and tools are very easy to cope with even for a user who is far from such processes.

1. First, download the installer for the Alcohol 120% program using the link from the Yandex disk, or on the developer's official website. Install it on your computer.
2. We launch the program. First of all, we need to create a virtual CD drive. To do this, in the "Settings" section, select the option "Virtual disk".

1. In the menu that opens, manually select the number of virtual disks to be created. We confirm the result by clicking on the OK button.

The drive has been successfully created, which we can observe in the "Device" panel or in the "My Computer" folder.

1. Now let's open the finished image. To do this, select the "File" tab, and in the menu that opens, click on "Open ..." (or simply use the key combination Ctrl + O).

1. Find the image file we need, select it with LMB and click on the "Open" button.

The image has been added to the library for processing.

1. Now you need to read the file added earlier. To do this, select the RMB image, and in the drop-down menu, select the option "Mount to device".

Work is done. The result can be observed in the "Computer" folder, where among the readers there will be an installer located in the virtual drive.

After the performed operations with the image, it is necessary to extract it from the virtual drive. To do this, using the Alcohol 120% program, in the menu of available drives, select our BD-ROM with the right mouse button and select the function in the list "Dismantle image"... The disk will be empty again.

If you want to remove the virtual drive altogether, you must repeat the same steps as when creating it:

1. In the available devices, click on the DVD / CD drive of the PKM. In the list that appears, click "Properties".

1. Put the value "0" back in the section for selecting the number of virtual disks and click "OK".

Adding a virtual hard disk

The above features have been available to many for a decade. The popularity of the virtual reader has led to a similar phenomenon called the virtual hard disk. This technology allows you to create a file (with the .vhd extension), which is displayed in the explorer as a standard partition on the hard disk. Everyone decides the rationality of using a virtual drive: some thus reorganize free space on volumes, others even install the OS. Do not forget about the possibility to create a secure file container, thus limiting information from the encroachments of other users.

We will create a virtual hard disk using standard Windows tools (this function is available in Windows 7, 8.1, 10 systems). However, a similar result can be achieved with the help of special software. Daemon Tools Ultra, as well as Disk2vhd, handle this task most effectively. These programs have separate sections devoted to creating virtual disks (both drives and drives like HDDs).

1. Open the "Run" service by simultaneously pressing the Win + R keys. In an empty line, enter the command diskmgmt.msc and click "OK".

1. The service will open "Disk Management"... In the control menu, activate the "Action" tab, and in it select "Create virtual hard disk".

1. In the window that appears, you need to specify the location of the file to be created, select the format (VHD / VHDX), and also determine the file extension option.

1. The file has been created, but the disk has not yet been initialized. By clicking on the RMB dial, select the option "Initialize Disk".

1. In the next window, you must specify the style of the section (we recommend the GUID if you intend to limit yourself to the standard capabilities of working with the allocated space).

Connecting the disk after restarting the PC

Unfortunately, working with a VHD requires reconnecting the VHD / VHDX file after each session ends. Fortunately, we don't have to create a new disk, initialize a partition, and create a volume. To return a virtual disk to work (emulate data), you need to do the following:

We hope that with the help of our article you have learned how to create a virtual disk, and also determined the benefits of using it.

And also watch the video