A free program for creating virtual disks and working with them. DAEMON Tools Lite also supports image files created by other programs (Alcohol 120%, Nero, etc.).
It is good that in our modern life there is a place for such a useful invention as CDs. They are inexpensive, easy to transport and relatively durable. However, this durability is possible only under certain conditions. We often neglect them and, as a result, we get a non-working disk, which then can only be used to decorate the room :-)
It also happens that we cannot play our favorite game or use the desired program without a disc. No matter how hard we try to save it, over time it will become unusable. To get rid of this problem once and for all, you need to use special drive emulator software.
One of the most common and, most importantly, free emulator is the program Daemon Tools. It exists in three versions, but only free is Daemon Tools Lite. She will be discussed.
Installing the Daemon Tools Lite Virtual Disk
So, you have downloaded the installation distribution of the program. Run installation. You will be offered choose language programs (choose Russian ;-)). Then the standard will run. "Setup Wizard". Here you will read and accept the license agreement and you will be prompted integrate panel Daemon Tools into the browser, and make the Daemon Tools home page. I would recommend that you refuse all these additional settings (it's unpleasant to turn off the Daemon Tools page every time you want to get into the Internet - it bothers you!).
Installed! On the desktop and in the tray will appear label programs.
Launch Daemon Tools Lite
You will control the program from the tray, so the shortcut from the desktop, if desired, can be removed.
In the "My Computer" folder, you will have another DVD drive.
This is why we installed the program. With Daemon Tools Lite, you can create up to 4 pieces. The program supports many image file formats: *.b5t, *.b6t, *.bwt, *.ccd, *.cdi, *.cue, *.nrg, *.pdi, *.isz, and can also create them itself in the following formats: *.mdf/mds(native format of the program) and *.iso(standard image file). This means that with Daemon Tools you will be able to open images created earlier with programs such as Alcohol 120, Blind Write, Nero, etc.
You can control the program by clicking on the tray icon with the right mouse button. The following will open menu:
The program has Daemon Tools panel, which simplifies access to many features. But about her a little later.
Let's see the tab Virtual CD/DVD-ROM. Here you can set the number of drives (from 1 to 4), as well as mount the image on a virtual disk. To do this, go to the first option ( Drive 0: No data) and press "Mount Image". A Windows Explorer window will open, in which you will select the desired image file, and then click "Open". All!!! The virtual disk is ready to go. Now you can open it, copy it or run applications installed on it. You can do the same with three more possible drives: add support for another drive and mount the image on it.
Daemon Tools Lite Settings
Now let's take a look at the tab. "Settings".
AT "General" You can configure those parameters that relate to the launch of the program. "Autostart" allows you to load Daemon Tools with the system. "Auto connect"- this is something like autoloading a disk image for the convenience of the user. If you have the option to check for updates enabled, the program itself will signal you about the availability of a new version. The disk image can be blocked by one of the blocking systems. In this case, it will not start. This can be checked in advance by checking the box "Image Lock Check". Now if the image is locked, the program should display a message indicating the encryption algorithm. Knowing it, you can bypass protection. You can also set up here language programs.
AT "Panel Options" You can:
- enable or disable the Daemon Tools panel;
- put it on top;
- show the panel on top of all windows;
- configure its integration with the desktop;
- configure the display of the panel after double-clicking on the program shortcut in the tray.
AT "Settings" tab "Hotkeys" You can customize buttons to quickly access the Daemon Tools panel and mount/unmount virtual drives. On the tab "Integration" you can check off those disk image formats that will be automatically opened using Daemon Tools. On the tab "Compound" you can set up an Internet connection to access the manufacturer's website through a proxy server. And finally the most fun in the tab "Additional". Here you can configure the encryption algorithms that Daemon Tools will bypass when creating images of protected disks. The list is small, but the fact that it exists at all is already pleasing !!!
Now back to what I promised to talk about earlier. it Daemon Tools panel.
Having it can make life much easier for any user. As they say, from right to left :-). The first thing we see is the search bar Daemon Search. With it, you can search the Internet using it as a search engine.
There are two buttons on the next section of the panel: "Mount" n "Drive" and "Creating an Image". The first allows you to quickly mount the image to a virtual drive. You just need to click it and in the window that opens, click on the icon "To add a file". After the image is added to the list, you can quickly download it with a double click. "Creating an Image" allows you to make an image of any of your disks yourself. To do this, press the button and select the drive in which you have the disk. After that, select the disk reading speed and the final save path on the computer (by default: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\DAEMON Tools Images\NewImage.mds). You can also set up name and format disk image (*.mds or *.iso). To do this, click the button located near the line with the saving path and at the bottom, under the Explorer window, enter a name in the first window, and select the file type in the second.
The next section of the panel allows you to enter settings about which we have already spoken.
The last window displays Availability in virtual drives disks. If you click on this window with the left mouse button, an explorer window will open, where you can select the desired image file. Also on this panel is up arrow button. By clicking on this button, you will see a small window in which there will be an option unmount all drives. After clicking this button, all virtual disks will be automatically unmounted. This is useful, for example, if you need to quickly increase the performance of your system, since each virtual disk requires the allocation of RAM.
Here is such a good program we have. Of course, this is not such a “monster” as, for example, Alcohol, which is preferred by many users, but for everyday work you don’t need much. This is a great option for owners of systems that do not have disk drives (old computers, netbooks, etc.), as well as those who save every megabyte of RAM and physical memory on their computer!
P.S. This article is intended for free distribution. It is welcome to copy it with the preservation of authorship Ruslan Tertyshny and all P.S. and P.P.S.
About how to create and work with disk images, as well as with what programs, read our today's article.
Disk image. Applications
A disk image is a file that contains a complete copy of the content and data structure of a drive.
A disk in this case means any hard disk (HDD), floppy disk (FDD) or optical disk (CD/DVD) or Flash drive.
Advice! The main advantage of a virtual image is the fact that the disk image contains absolutely all the information to duplicate the structure, content and data location of the storage medium, repeating its set of sectors and ignoring the file system.
Virtual disks are used to:
- Reserve copy.
Unlike conventional backup programs, which only copy files to which they have access, if an image is created, in addition to the data itself, the bootloader and files that may have been blocked by the OS will also be copied. - Software Distributions. For distribution (including via the Internet) of operating systems (OS) and software (SW) that are large in size (for example, distributions of OS BSD, Linux).
- Create virtual hard disks in virtual machines. Before you start working with a virtual machine, you need to create a virtual hard disk, on which the operating system will be installed later.
- Replication of the same type systems.
If it is necessary to install the operating system and software on computers that have the same hardware configuration.
A more rational step would be to install and configure the OS and software on one computer, after which an image is created along with all system settings and installed on other computers.
The .ISO format is the most popular disk image format, but has the disadvantage of not supporting multi-session data.
Other popular formats are the .DMG and .IMG formats, as well as the proprietary .MDS/.MDF (Alcohol, Daemon Tools), NRG (Nero Burning ROM), .VCD (VirtualCD), and others.
Overview of programs for creating a disk image
Alcohol 52%
Program settings allow:
check the accuracy of reading data from physical devices;
improve the quality of scanning bad sectors;
simultaneous work with 6 virtual drives;
work with formats: BIN, BWA, BWI, BWS, BWT, CCD, CDI, CUE, ISO, ISZ, NRG, MDS;
DAEMON Tools
As you can see from the table, for the tasks of an average user, the functionality of the free version is enough, which allows you to create and mount all existing types of images and emulate up to 4 drives.
The program has a clear Russified menu.
Ultra ISO
Ultra ISO- this program allows you to create, edit, convert images to various formats (b5i, b5t, b6i, b6t, bin, bwi, bwt, ccd, cdi, cue, daa, dao, dmg, icf, iso, ima, img, isz, lcd, mdf, mds, nrg, pxi, sub, tao, uif, vc4).
In addition to creating images from CDs, it is also possible to create images from hard drives and
Hello.
In this article, I would like to touch on two things at once: a virtual disk and a disk drive. In fact, they are interconnected, a little lower we will immediately make a short footnote to make it clearer what will be discussed in the article ...
Virtual Disk(the name “disc image” is popular on the net) - a file whose size is usually equal to or slightly larger than the real CD / DVD disc from which this image was obtained. Often images are made not only from CDs, but also from hard drives or flash drives.
Virtual drive(CD-Rom, disk drive emulator) - roughly speaking, this is a program that can open an image and present you with information on it, as if it were a real disk. There are many such programs.
The best programs for working with virtual disks and drives
1.DaemonTools
Link to the lite version: http://www.daemon-tools.cc/rus/products/dtLite#features
One of the best programs for creating and emulating images. Supported emulation formats: *.mdx, *.mds/*.mdf, *.iso, *.b5t, *.b6t, *.bwt, *.ccd, *.cdi, *.bin/*.cue, * .ape/*.cue, *.flac/*.cue, *.nrg, *.isz.
You can create only three image formats: *.mdx, *.iso, *.mds. You can use the light version of the program for free at home (for non-commercial purposes). The link is above.
After installing the program, another CD-Rom (virtual) appears in your system, which can open any images(see above) which you can only find on the Internet.
To mount the image: run the program, then right-click on the CD-Rom, and select the "mount" command from the menu.
To create an image just run the program and select the "create a disk image" function.
After that, a window will pop up in which you need to select three things:
The disk whose image will be obtained;
Image format (iso, mdf or mds);
The location where the virtual disk (i.e. image) will be saved.
Conclusions:
One of the best programs for working with virtual disks and drives. Its capabilities will be enough, probably, for the absolute majority of users. The program works very quickly, does not load the system, supports all the most popular versions of Windows: XP, 7, 8.
2. Alcohol 120%/52%
Link: http://trial.alcohol-soft.com/en/downloadtrial.php
(to download Alcohol 52%, when you follow the link above, look for the download link at the very bottom of the page)
A direct competitor to Daemon tools, and many rate Alcohol even higher. In general, Alcohol is not inferior to Daemon Tools in terms of functionality: the program can also create virtual disks, emulate them, and burn them.
Why 52% and 120%? It's about the number of options. If in 120% it is possible to create 31 virtual drives, then in 52% - only 6 (although for me - 1-2 is more than enough), plus 52% cannot burn images to CD / DVD discs. Well, of course, 52% is free, and 120% is the paid version of the program. But, by the way, at the time of writing, the 120% version is given for 15 days for trial use.
Personally, I have the 52% version installed on my computer. A screenshot of the window is shown below. The main functions are all there, you can quickly make any image and use it. There is also an audio converter, but I have never used it ...
3. Ashampoo Burning Studio Free
Link: https://www.ashampoo.com/en/usd/pin/7110/burning-software/Ashampoo-Burning-Studio-FREE
This is one of the best programs for home use (and free). What can she do?
Work with audio discs, video, create and burn images, create images from files, burn to any (CD / DVD-R and RW) discs, etc.
For example, when working with an audio format, you can:
Create Audio CD;
Create an MP3 disc (https://website/kak-zapisat-mp3-disk/);
Copy music files to disk;
Transfer files from an audio disc to a hard drive in a compressed format.
With video discs, too, more than worthy: Video DVD, Video CD, Super Video CD.
Conclusions:
An excellent harvester, which may well replace a whole range of utilities of this kind. What is called - once installed - and always use. Of the main drawbacks, there is only one: you cannot open images in a virtual drive (it simply does not exist).
4. Nero
Website: http://www.nero.com/rus/products/nero-burning-rom/free-trial-download.php
I could not ignore such a legendary package for burning discs, working with images, and in general, everything related to audio-video files.
With this package, you can do everything: create, burn, erase, edit, convert video-audio (almost any format), even print covers for recordable discs.
Minuses:
A huge package, in which everything you need and do not need, many even 10 parts do not use the program's capabilities;
Paid program (free test is possible for the first two weeks of use);
Heavy load on the computer.
Conclusions:
Personally, I have not used this package for a long time (which has already turned into a big “harvester”). But in general - the program is very worthy, suitable for both beginners and experienced users.
5. ImgBurn
Website: http://imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
The program pleases from the very beginning of acquaintance: the site contains 5-6 links so that any user can easily download it (from whatever country he is). Plus, add to this a dozen or three different languages supported by the program, among which there is Russian.
In principle, even without knowing English, it will not be difficult for even novice users to understand this program. After starting, you will see a window with all the features and functions that the program has. See screenshot below.
Allows you to create images of three types: iso, bin, img.
Conclusions:
Good free software. If you use it in a compartment, for example, with Daemon Tools, then there will be enough opportunities “for the eyes” ...
6. Clone CD/Virtual Clone Drive
Website: http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html
A lot of users of personal computers on the Windows platform often ask themselves questions - what are virtual disks and how to create virtual disk. To increase our readers' awareness of these issues, in this article we will try to fully cover the topic with specific examples.
Also in our article we will consider what is virtual hard drives and where they are used. After reading the material, our readers will be able to easily create virtual hard disks and image disk in ISO format, as well as mount them on a virtual device and burn them to DVD without any problems.
Virtual optical drive and its applications
The main purpose of a virtual drive is mounting images optical discs. To understand in detail why it is needed, we will look at an example where an image disk in ISO format will be mounted on a virtual DVD-ROM. For this example, we will use the Windows 10 operating system.
A pleasant moment for owners of computers with the Windows 10 operating system will be that a virtual DVD-ROM is already installed in it. Therefore, owners of Windows 10 will not have to use third-party programs to mount images.
To mount an optical disc image into 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 has a size of 1.1 GB.
After loading the image, you can proceed to its direct mounting. To do this, right-click on the image file to open the context menu.
Mounted "virtual disk" can be opened and copied all its contents.
As you can see from the example, we mounted the Ubuntu OS image on a virtual DVD drive. In fact, we were able to do almost what we do with a regular and optical disc, when we insert it into a DVD drive and open it, only in our version all the components are virtual.
Creating a LaserDisc Image
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 disc. 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 it can also mount a huge number of formats into its own virtual DVD drive. After installing the program DAEMON Tools Lite in Explorer you can see a new drive named ""
This "" is just the drive of the program in question DAEMON Tools Lite. In this example, we will create an image of the original installation DVD with the Windows 10 operating system. To make an image from the installation DVD with ten, insert it into the DVD drive. Now run the utility and go to the section " New look».
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 the Windows 10 DVD image.
After creation, we will receive an ISO image file called "J_CCSA_X86FRE_RU-RU_DV5.iso", which can be mounted or burned to a regular disc and installed with it a new Windows.
The example shows how easy it is to burn an image to a virtual DVD-ROM using DAEMON Tools Lite. In the same way, you can burn images for all licensed Windows discs, be it XP or Vista. In addition, you can burn images of games or software that do not start without a disc. Apart from the program DAEMON Tools Lite I would like to advise other popular utilities that can create and allow you to open images of optical discs:
- Alcohol 120%;
- GizmoDrive;
- WinCDEmu.
It is especially important to use these utilities on an OS where there are no built-in virtual DVD drives, for example, in OS Windows XP. In addition to supporting XP, 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 written 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 operating systems. Virtual hard disk is a container file that mimics the file structure of a hard drive.
Since such a disk is a file, therefore 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.
Consider an example of creating a virtual hard disk using Windows 10. First, let's go to the utility " Run"Using the key combination Win + R and type in it the following command: diskmgmt.msc
This command will take 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 with the format " VHDX". Unlike the "VHD" format, the " VHDX» can create containers up to 64 terabytes. Let's make our virtual hard disk 100 GB in the new format " VHDX”, and also put the switch in dynamic creation mode, in which our disk will increase as it fills up.
After setting the parameters of our hard disk, press the OK button, which will allow you to write it to the specified folder on the screw. After creating the output, we will get a virtual hard disk named "virtual disk.vhdx". The image below shows that our disk is automatically mounted, but it is still not visible in the system.
In order for the system to see our VHDX disk, it must be initialized. You can do this by right-clicking on the VHDX disk and selecting " Initialize disk».
In the window that appears, do not change anything and press the OK button.
Now the simplest thing left is to choose a file system and a letter for our disk. To do this, go to it and select the item " Create a simple volume».
After that, a wizard will start in which you need to assign a drive letter and select a file system. After the wizard completes, the virtual hard disk will appear in Explorer.
The example shows that creating a virtual HDD using the OS 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 the following operations:
- 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 step 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 that we will create using Windows 10. So we will try to attach our 30 GB VHD container that we made in 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 various file data to a virtual machine for XP. In the same way, you can use the virtual machine from other software products. For example, VHD containers can be installed on VMware Workstation products.
Outcome
From the material considered, it can be seen that the use of virtual drives and hard drives helps to solve many problems much better, especially since even a novice PC user will figure out how to create them. We hope that our material will help our readers to better understand the question - how to create a virtual disk and how to use it for work.
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