Los ISO files They are a type of format that contains the structure and contents of a complete optical discor what is the same, an exact digital copy of a physical CD, DVD or Blu-Ray disc. This ISO format gets its name from the organization that standardized it and is the most used of the group of formats known as disk images, although you can find others such as IMG, UDF, BIN or NRG that are handled in the same way and with the same applications that we are going to talk to you about in this tutorial.
These types of formats were used massively when CDs and DVDs dominated the external storage market. Although sales of optical disc players and their media have plummeted, these disc images They are still used since they can actually store content from other media such as hard drives or SSDs, and in general include any type of files.
A clear example of use are images to install operating systems such as Windows or GNU/Linux distributions. There are other examples, including everything that involves software, music or game piracy, especially those that use ISO files of any size, from a few ‘megabytes’ to dozens of Gbytes, since, as we said, their size is not limited to the size of an optical disk.
Manage ISO files in Windows (or other formats)
From Windows
Operating systems have internal tools to handle some of the most commonly used disk image formats. Windows 10 and Windows 11 have this capability and can ‘mount’ ISO files from the same file explorer. Its operation is simple, as follows:
- Select the ISO file and right-click on it, then select the “Mount” option. You can also mount it directly by double clicking on it.
- Once the image has finished mounting, we will see that Windows 10 has created a virtual disk drive, through which we can access and use the content of said ISO image. We just have to double click on that unit.
- When we have finished using the image file that we have mounted and want to unmount it, we just have to right-click on that virtual drive and select “Eject”. If for any reason we need to use that ISO again, we just have to repeat the process, as long as we have not deleted the file.
Users using the Windows console (Terminal, command prompt or Powershell) can also mount/unmount these types of images using commands. The process with Powershell:
- Enter the command “Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath C:\FILE.ISO” without quotes and where FILE is the name of the ISO file. Remember that you can change the “C:\” if you want to use another destination drive.
- To unmount the image, use the opposite command “Dismount-DiskImage -ImagePath C:\FILE.ISO”.
Third party applications
Windows arrived very late to support this type of disk images and, furthermore, its tools are not as complete as third-party applications specialized in this type of tasks. We leave you five of the free onesSome of them have been with us for more than twenty years when they were truly essential for managing disk images.
WinCDEmu. It is the one we like the most for Windows because of its effectiveness and simplicity. An application that, in addition to being free, is free under the GNU license. Very light with a size of less than 1 Mbyte, it also has a portable option without the need for installation. It doesn’t have many features but it does its job, mounting a good number of images with a single click. Simpler, impossible.
Virtual CloneDrive. A reference that stands out for its capacity and ease of use. It allows you to mount up to eight different disk image files at the same time, maintaining a history of recent images for easy access. It supports the most used formats and is completely free and free of adware.
Daemon Tools Lite. More complex than the previous one although just as simple and popular. Allows you to mount four disk image files at a time. It supports a large number of formats and can also be used to create an image of a CD, Blu-Ray DVD or burn it to a physical disc. It is free but includes adware. Carefully review each installation screen to avoid installing additional junk software.
Magic Disc. Another tool that has been with us for more than a decade although it has not been updated for a long time. Its operation is different from the previous ones because it does not have a main window to use, functioning through contextual menus. Its spartan design supplies it with power: it is capable of mounting up to 15 images.
ISODisk. As its name indicates, it is dedicated to ISO files, surely the most popular among all today. It does not support others such as IMG, BIN or UDF but it can mount up to 20 images with simplicity as its flag.
Source: www.muycomputer.com
