A disk image, in computing, is a computer file containing the contents and structure of a disk volume or of an entire data storage device, such as a hard disk drive, tape drive, floppy disk, optical disc, or USB flash drive. A disk image is usually made by creating a sector-by-sector copy of the source medium, thereby perfectly replicating the structure and contents of a storage device independent of the file system. Depending on the disk image format, a disk image may span one or more computer files.
The file format may be an open standard, such as the ISO image format for optical disc images, or a disk image may be unique to a particular software application.
The size of a disk image can be large because it contains the contents of an entire disk. To reduce storage requirements, if an imaging utility is filesystem-aware it can omit copying unused space, and it can compress the used space.
History[edit]
Disk images were originally (in the late 1960s) used for backup and disk cloning of mainframe disk media. The early ones were as small as 5 megabytes and as large as 330 megabytes, and the copy medium was magnetic tape, which ran as large as 200 megabytes per reel.[1] Disk images became much more popular when floppy disk media became popular, where replication or storage of an exact structure was necessary and efficient, especially in the case of copy protected floppy disks.
Uses[edit]
Disk images are used heavily for duplication of optical media including DVDs, Blu-ray disks, etc. It is also used to make perfect clones of hard disks.
A virtual disk may emulate any type of physical drive, such as a hard disk drive, tape drive, key drive, floppy drive, CD/DVD/BD/HD DVD, or a network share among others; and of course, since it is not physical, requires a virtual reader device matched to it (see below). An emulated drive is typically created either in RAM for fast read/write access (known as a RAM disk), or on a hard drive. Typical uses of virtual drives include the mounting of disk images of CDs and DVDs, and the mounting of virtual hard disks for the purpose of on-the-fly disk encryption ('OTFE').
Some operating systems such as Linux[2] and macOS[3] have virtual drive functionality built-in (such as the loop device), while others such as older versions of Microsoft Windows require additional software. Starting from Windows 8, Windows includes native virtual drive functionality.[4][5]
Virtual drives are typically read-only, being used to mount existing disk images which are not modifiable by the drive. However some software provides virtual CD/DVD drives which can produce new disk images; this type of virtual drive goes by a variety of names, including 'virtual burner'.
Enhancement[edit]
Using disk images in a virtual drive allows users to shift data between technologies, for example from CD optical drive to hard disk drive. This may provide advantages such as speed and noise (hard disk drives are typically four or five times faster than optical drives,[6] are quieter, suffer from less wear and tear, and in the case of solid-state drives, are immune to some physical trauma). In addition it may reduce power consumption, since it may allow just one device (a hard disk) to be used instead of two (hard disk plus optical drive).
Virtual drives may also be used as part of emulation of an entire machine (a virtual machine).
Software distribution[edit]
Since the spread of broadband, CD and DVD images have become a common medium for Linux distributions.[2] Applications for macOS are often delivered online as an Apple Disk Image containing a file system that includes the application, documentation for the application, and so on. Online data and bootable recovery CD images are provided for customers of certain commercial software companies.
Disk images may also be used to distribute software across a company network, or for portability (many CD/DVD images can be stored on a hard disk drive). There are several types of software that allow software to be distributed to large numbers of networked machines with littleor no disruption to the user. Some can even be scheduled to update only at night so that machines are not disturbed during business hours. These technologies reduce end-user impact and greatly reduce the time and man-power needed to ensure a secure corporate environment.[7] Efficiency is also increased because there is much less opportunity for human error. Disk images may also be needed to transfer software to machines without a compatible physical disk drive.
For computers running macOS, disk images are the most common file type used for softwaredownloads, typically downloaded with a web browser. The images are typically compressed Apple Disk Image (.dmg suffix) files. They are usually opened by directly mounting them without using a real disk. The advantage compared with some other technologies, such as Zip and RAR archives, is they do not need redundant drive space for the unarchived data.
Software packages for Windows are also sometimes distributed as disk images including ISO images. While Windows versions prior to Windows 7 do not natively support mounting disk images to the files system, several software options are available to do this; see Comparison of disc image software.
Security[edit]
Virtual hard disks are often used in on-the-fly disk encryption ('OTFE') software such as FreeOTFE and TrueCrypt, where an encrypted 'image' of a disk is stored on the computer. When the disk's password is entered, the disk image is 'mounted', and made available as a new volume on the computer. Files written to this virtual drive are written to the encrypted image, and never stored in cleartext.
The process of making a computer disk available for use is called 'mounting', the process of removing it is called 'dismounting' or 'unmounting'; the same terms are used for making an encrypted disk available or unavailable.
Virtualization[edit]
A hard disk image is interpreted by a Virtual Machine Monitor as a system administrator using terms of naming, a hard disk image for a certain Virtual Machine monitor has a specific file.
Hard drive imaging is used in several major application areas:
There are two schemes predominant across all Virtual Machine Monitor implementations:
There are two modes in which a disk can be mapped for a virtual machine:
System backup[edit]
Some backup programs only back up user files; boot information and files locked by the operating system, such as those in use at the time of the backup, may not be saved on some operating systems. A disk image contains all files, faithfully replicating all data. For this reason, it is also used for backing up CDs and DVDs.
Files that don't belong to installed programs can usually be backed up with file-based backup software, and this is preferred because file-based backup usually saves more time or space because they never copy unused space (as a bit-identical image does), they usually are capable of incremental backups, and generally have more flexibility. But for files of installed programs, file-based backup solutions may fail to reproduce all necessary characteristics, particularly with Windows systems. For example, in Windows certain registry keys use short filenames, which are sometimes not reproduced by file-based backup, some commercial software uses copy protection that will cause problems if a file is moved to a different disk sector, and file-based backups do not always reproduce metadata such as security attributes. Creating a bit-identical disk image is one way to ensure the system backup will be exactly as the original. Bit-identical images can be made in Linux with dd, available on nearly all live CDs.
Most commercial imaging software is 'user-friendly' and 'automatic' but may not create bit-identical images. These programs have most of the same advantages, except that they may allow restoring to partitions of a different size or file-allocation size, and thus may not put files on the same exact sector. Additionally, if they do not support Windows Vista, they may slightly move or realign partitions and thus make Vista unbootable (see Windows Vista startup process).
Rapid deployment of clone systems[edit]
Large enterprises often need to buy or replace new computer systems in large numbers. Installing operating system and programs into each of them one by one requires a lot of time and effort and has a significant possibility of human error. Therefore, system administrators use disk imaging to quickly clone the fully prepared software environment of a reference system. This method saves time and effort and allows administrators to focus on unique distinctions that each system must bear.
There are several types of disk imaging software available that use single instancing technology to reduce the time, bandwidth, and storage required to capture and archive disk images. This makes it possible to rebuild and transferinformation-rich disk images at lightning speeds, which is a significant improvement over the days when programmers spent hours configuring each machine within an organization.[8]
Legacy hardware emulation[edit]
Emulators frequently use disk images to simulate the floppy drive of the computer being emulated. This is usually simpler to program than accessing a real floppy drive (particularly if the disks are in a format not supported by the host operating system), and allows a large library of software to be managed.
Copy protection circumvention[edit]
A mini image is an optical disc image file in a format that fakes the disk's content to bypass CD/DVD copy protection.
Because they are the full size of the original disk, Mini Images are stored instead. Mini Images are small, on the order of kilobytes, and contain just the information necessary to bypass CD-checks. Therefore; the Mini Image is a form of a No-CD crack, for unlicensed games, and legally backed up games. Mini images do not contain the real data from an image file, just the code that is needed to satisfy the CD-check. They cannot provide CD or DVD backed data to the computer program such as on-disk image or video files.
Creation[edit]
Creating a disk image is achieved with a suitable program. Different disk imaging programs have varying capabilities, and may focus on hard drive imaging (including hard drivebackup, restore and rollout), or optical media imaging (CD/DVD images).
A virtual disk writer or virtual burner is a computer program that emulates an actual disc authoring device such as a CD writer or DVD writer. Instead of writing data to an actual disc, it creates a virtual disk image.[9][10] A virtual burner, by definition, appears as a disc drive in the system with writing capabilities (as opposed to conventional disc authoring programs that can create virtual disk images), thus allowing software that can burn discs to create virtual discs.[11]
File formats[edit]
In most cases, a file format is tied to a particular software package. The software defines and uses its own, often proprietary, image format, though some formats are widely supported by open standards. These formats are supported by nearly all optical disc software
Utilities[edit]
RawWrite and WinImage are examples of floppy disk image file writer/creator for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. They can be used to create raw image files from a floppy disk, and write such image files to a floppy.
In Unix or similar systems the dd program can be used to create disk images, or to write them to a particular disk. It is also possible to mount and access them at block level using a loop device.
Apple Disk Copy can be used on Classic Mac OS and macOS systems to create and write disk image files.
Authoring software for CDs/DVDs such as Nero Burning ROM can generate and load disk images for optical media.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disk_image&oldid=900182877'
There’s no argument — Adobe Photoshop remains the best photo-editing application on the market. But it’s a difficult program to master without formal training, and it’s not the cheapest option out there. That’s why we’re taking a look at the best free photo-editing software on the market, each of which provides much of the same functionality as Photoshop but without the associated fees and complexity.
Related content
The programs below can perform basic functions, such as letting you resize, crop, and correct exposure with ease, along with offering some semi-advanced tools as well. There are great options for both conventional desktop software and web-based solutions that don’t require installing any software.
The bestGIMP
Often heralded as the best free alternative to Photoshop, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open-source application that relies on a community of volunteer developers who maintain and improve the product. Available for MacOS, Windows, and Linux, you get a lot of professional-level editing and retouching tools — perfect for designers who can’t or won’t shell out hundreds of dollars to Adobe.
Once you launch the program, you’ll find a dedicated window that displays the image, and separate windows to organize the toolbox and layers. When using a large display, or two displays, you have a nice, big workspace to play with your images. Icons in the toolbox represent actions such as the crop, lasso, paint and brush tools, and you can apply various effects to your photos. It may seem like Photoshop, but GIMP has its own look and feel. Making the jump from one to the other will take a little time, but you’ll save yourself a monthly subscription fee if you do.
Three good alternativesPaint.NET
This is a case where the apprentice becomes the master. Paint.NET was created as a college undergraduate senior design project mentored by Microsoft and it continues to be maintained by alumni of the program. It was originally developed as a free replacement for Microsoft Paint, which comes as part of Windows. Paint.NET has surpassed Microsoft Paint in functionality and has some more advanced features as well.
Paint.NET features an intuitive user interface that supports layers, an “unlimited undo” to back out of any mistake no matter how disastrous, various special effects, and other tools. Where Microsoft Paint was able to do little more than resize images, Paint.NET is able to handle more advanced photo editing that you’d expect to be limited to Photoshop and other paid programs.
Photoshop Express
If the above options seem too derivative or you want more of that Adobe-experience without the associated price tag, Photoshop Express is another option worth considering. Although pared down compared to the standard Photoshop, the Express variant does have a number of great options for editing photos with a much more gradual learning curve.
With an interface that betrays its mobile roots, Photoshop Express offers quick and easy access to slide bar adjustments and one-touch fixes for photos of all types. Pre-packaged “Effects” make quick and dramatic changes to images to improve coloring and contrast; crop and transform tools let you tweak a photo’s orientation and focus, and “Details” give you control over sharpening and noise.
Its file type support is limited to raw camera files and JPG and PNG files, but Photoshop Express is a freely available app that you can use on your Windows PC, iOS, or Android device without hassle.
Pixlr.com
Pixlr.com has a tiered offering that is entirely free. The site separates its photo editing into Pixlr Editor (advanced) and Pixlr Express (efficient). The site also offers a mobile suite so you can edit photos on a smartphone or tablet — both iOS and Android versions are available.
The Pixlr Editor is more like Photoshop. It’s a straightforward photo-editing tool that lets you crop, size, and tweak the image. It has a red eye tool that eliminates those devil eyes that appear when the flash goes off. Express, on the other hand, lets you put creative overlays on your images — this is really for playing with your photos. You can put a stain on a picture to make it look like you rested a coffee mug on the photo, for example.
Pixlr straddles the line between web-based and desktop image editors: There are both mobile and desktop versions of the software that you can download. However, it’s usually easier to just pop open your favorite browser and load up the online version. Note: The download site does require Adobe Flash to run, so you will need to enable that before moving forward.
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Disc image software can make your life easy when switching your Hard disk to SSD. Disk imaging or Disc cloning software is copying the entire hard disks sector by sector, saving as an image file (ISO image) and make copies out of this image. This disc cloning software is using an enterprise level to clone hundreds of PCs with the same OS and prebuild applications.
These disc image tools are helpful even for personal use, especially, when you want to replace your laptop or desktop hard drive. Take this scenario, where your old hard disc has hundreds of software and applications that you purchased in past years, and you already lost the software keys to re-install. You can take and keep a disc image of this hard disc and clone this image to a new hard drive or SSD without knowing the serial key of that software.
Another possible use of this hard drive imaging software is to take a backup copy of the system. Even for a new or an old PC, after you install all the required applications and software, you can make a disc image of that hard drive and keep on an external drive. In future, you can use this disc image to retrieve your software in case you lost hard drive or card your hard disk.
Here are some of the best disc image software for Windows that can perform hard drive cloning of your Windows disk.
Macrium Reflect
Currently, Macrium Reflect known as the most polished free disk image software in the market. With a narrow and straight interface, the user can easily learn all about it with less effort. This cloning software allows you to image the entire system or a particular file as well as folder. During the image creation, you can set the compression level to make the process complete efficiently.
Macrium Reflect comes with a feature through which select to close down the system after the imaging/cloning is done. The Rapid Delta clone feature accelerates the processes to save the time and resources during imaging or cloning.
Windows OS Support: Windows 10, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Home Server 2003/2008/2011, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2011, Windows Server 2012, Windows Small Business Server 2003, Windows Small Business Server 2008, Windows Small Business Server 2011
Supported Functions: Migrate OS to SSD/HDD | Hard Disk Cloning | Partition Support | Reorder & Resize Partitions | Supports SSD | Support CD, DVD or Blu-Ray | Differential Images | Website Link
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 Professional
For people Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 Professional is an all-rounder for file imaging, data backing, and recovery. The great customizable settings of this disc cloning software make it easy to copy the existing hard drive onto another drive. This disc imaging software is one of the best addressing application your current imaging needs well.
Paragon drive image software has the capability of solving your issues for years to come to use it for the time. This HDD cloning tool bundles powerful features to manage data on big hard disk and sophisticated OS. One can take advantage of this tool to migrate the operating system to SSD and onto a dissimilar hardware effortlessly.
Partition Support: Create, format, delete, undelete, hide or unhide partition; set partition active/inactive; set, change or remove drive letter; change hard disk partition label (Volume Label); check file system integrity
Windows Versions Support: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home
Supported Functions: Migrate OS to SSD/HDD | Hard Disk Cloning | Partition Support | Supports SSD | Support Virtual Machines | Virtualization | Website Link
Acronis Disk Director
If you are a beginner, then Acronis Cloning Software is the perfect option for your disk cloning software. The interface of the software is quite easy to use and comes with simple icons. The features present in this computer imaging software are powerful allowing the users to customize the cloning process, as they want it. There is no reliance on the internet by the tool to work efficiently.
This windows imaging software supports versioning, giving people the easy roll back option through several updates. The person can get back to their favorite version with the option and the data is protected through family data protection.
Windows Versions Support: Windows 7 SP1 (all editions), Windows 8 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows Home Server 2011, and Windows 10 (including Anniversary Update)
Supported Functions: Hard Disk Cloning | Copy | Partition | Data Backup | Supports the latest SSD hardware | Backup Mobile and Mac to Cloud | Website Link
EaseUS Partition Master
EaseUS Partition Master is considered as one of the powerful and simple to use disk cloning tools of all time. With this cloning software, one can clone entire hard disk to another drive without doing any sort of reinstallation on Windows. The tool inherits the support of hard disk having a storage capacity of 2 GB to 4 TB.
This hard drive imaging software can easily resize the partition and merge it all on the same disk smoothly. Even there is a partition-hiding feature that makes the partition hidden in Windows. The partition is kept under the wraps with other connected drives. Rebuild the entire MBR of any drive on your system.
Partition Support: Resize, move, merge and split partitions without data loss to make better use of hard drive capacity.
Windows Versions Support: Supports Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1/10
Supported Functions: Migrate OS to SSD/HDD | Hard Disk Cloning | Partition Support | Recover Partition | Supports SSD | Website Link
Symantec Ghost Solution Suite
Enterprise users are taking advantage of this Ghost Solution Suite to build thousands of desktop and laptop system from a basic disc image. Symantec Ghost Solution Suite is an excellent accelerated disk imaging software for desktops, laptops, and servers. Ghost allows the user to clone their entire data present on the hard drive to another. The cloning process is done without restarting or slowing the system down.
Coming with intelligent drive-to-device mapping, the tool clones each file to the drive quickly. The hard disk cloning software accelerates and simplifies the imaging process when needed.
Windows Versions Support: It runs on every Windows OS that has a modern, dedicated server with a 1 GHz or faster processor with 1 GB or more of RAM.
Supported Functions: Hard Disk Cloning | Supports SSD | Quick Imaging | Website Link
Clonezilla
Whether it is a single machine or 40 machines, this free cloning software, Clonezilla can do system imaging efficiently and quickly. This disk imaging software makes the process easy as well as flexible in many ways. Through the help of the tool, a technician can at the same time do cloning of a single machine as well as of forty systems.
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Backed by an open source community, the tool is there to assist, in case of any trouble. The cloning speed of Clonezilla is fast, running at a rate of 8GB/min to the users. The image created by the tool could be encrypted if the user wants it to be.
Windows Versions Support: Windows 7 SP1 (all editions), Windows 8 (all editions), Windows 8.1 (all editions), Windows Home Server 2011, and Windows 10 (including Anniversary Update)
Supported Functions: Hard Disk Cloning | Supports SSD | Open Source | Website Link
MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is a highly competent hard disk cloning software available for Windows. The interface of the tool focuses on its approach and making it easy to use for users. It supports all the latest partition technologies to give the users the best during the cloning process.
The disk cloning software also allows you to convert the disk partition table without any data loss. Also, shrink and extend the partitions made quickly with MiniTool Partition Wizard. Align your partitions easily with the tool to optimize the performance of the drive.
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Windows Version Support: Windows XP, 2000 Professional, Vista SP2, Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8 and Windows 10(all editions, 32 bit, and 64 bit)
Supported Functions: Migrate OS to SSD | Hard Disk Cloning | Supports SSD | Copy Disk Partition | Convert File System | Website Link
It is a good thing to create an image of your hard disk. With the image, you can use the image to get back the necessary data when you need it the most. These disc images software is best in their work and protects your data by making a copy of it. The tools can simplify your work and speed up the process in no time.
There’s no argument — Adobe Photoshop remains the best photo-editing application on the market. But it’s a difficult program to master without formal training, and it’s not the cheapest option out there. That’s why we’re taking a look at the best free photo-editing software on the market, each of which provides much of the same functionality as Photoshop but without the associated fees and complexity.
Related content
The programs below can perform basic functions, such as letting you resize, crop, and correct exposure with ease, along with offering some semi-advanced tools as well. There are great options for both conventional desktop software and web-based solutions that don’t require installing any software.
Software Company Banner Images HdThe bestGIMP
Often heralded as the best free alternative to Photoshop, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is an open-source application that relies on a community of volunteer developers who maintain and improve the product. Available for MacOS, Windows, and Linux, you get a lot of professional-level editing and retouching tools — perfect for designers who can’t or won’t shell out hundreds of dollars to Adobe.
Software Company Images Hd Wallpaper
Once you launch the program, you’ll find a dedicated window that displays the image, and separate windows to organize the toolbox and layers. When using a large display, or two displays, you have a nice, big workspace to play with your images. Icons in the toolbox represent actions such as the crop, lasso, paint and brush tools, and you can apply various effects to your photos. It may seem like Photoshop, but GIMP has its own look and feel. Making the jump from one to the other will take a little time, but you’ll save yourself a monthly subscription fee if you do.
Three good alternativesPaint.NETSoftware Company Images Hd Background
This is a case where the apprentice becomes the master. Paint.NET was created as a college undergraduate senior design project mentored by Microsoft and it continues to be maintained by alumni of the program. It was originally developed as a free replacement for Microsoft Paint, which comes as part of Windows. Paint.NET has surpassed Microsoft Paint in functionality and has some more advanced features as well.
Paint.NET features an intuitive user interface that supports layers, an “unlimited undo” to back out of any mistake no matter how disastrous, various special effects, and other tools. Where Microsoft Paint was able to do little more than resize images, Paint.NET is able to handle more advanced photo editing that you’d expect to be limited to Photoshop and other paid programs.
Photoshop Express
If the above options seem too derivative or you want more of that Adobe-experience without the associated price tag, Photoshop Express is another option worth considering. Although pared down compared to the standard Photoshop, the Express variant does have a number of great options for editing photos with a much more gradual learning curve.
With an interface that betrays its mobile roots, Photoshop Express offers quick and easy access to slide bar adjustments and one-touch fixes for photos of all types. Pre-packaged “Effects” make quick and dramatic changes to images to improve coloring and contrast; crop and transform tools let you tweak a photo’s orientation and focus, and “Details” give you control over sharpening and noise.
Its file type support is limited to raw camera files and JPG and PNG files, but Photoshop Express is a freely available app that you can use on your Windows PC, iOS, or Android device without hassle.
Pixlr.com
Pixlr.com has a tiered offering that is entirely free. The site separates its photo editing into Pixlr Editor (advanced) and Pixlr Express (efficient). The site also offers a mobile suite so you can edit photos on a smartphone or tablet — both iOS and Android versions are available.
The Pixlr Editor is more like Photoshop. It’s a straightforward photo-editing tool that lets you crop, size, and tweak the image. It has a red eye tool that eliminates those devil eyes that appear when the flash goes off. Express, on the other hand, lets you put creative overlays on your images — this is really for playing with your photos. You can put a stain on a picture to make it look like you rested a coffee mug on the photo, for example.
Pixlr straddles the line between web-based and desktop image editors: There are both mobile and desktop versions of the software that you can download. However, it’s usually easier to just pop open your favorite browser and load up the online version. Note: The download site does require Adobe Flash to run, so you will need to enable that before moving forward.
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