TechPedia

The following article details how to create or burn a CD/DVD disc image from within Windows, Mac OS or Linux, using free software.

We’ll start with both tasks on the Mac, then Windows, then finally on to Linux. If you have a suggestion or question about this article, please feel free to post a comment!

Ok, let’s get started!

Let’s begin with the Mac, shall we? The following tutorial assumes the following:

• You have a Mac with a CD/DVD burner installed.
• You are running OS X. In this example, we’re using 10.4.6.
• You have a basic understanding of technology terms.

We’re going to start by creating a disc image. While in most cases, you’re going to want to make an image of a CD or DVD, on a Mac, you can also create an image of a folder or a file. But for todays tutorial we’ll focus on burning a disc, not a disk.

Step 1: Open Disk Utility. This is a built-in function of the Mac OS. It is located in ‘Applications>Utilities’.
Step 2: In Disk Utility, you should see the CD/DVD listed on the left hand pane, below your hard drives. You’ll notice that in most cases it will show as ‘Device Name>Session>Disc Title’. This is because some discs are burned ‘multisession’ and can have multiple data types on them.

Step 3: After highlighting the session you wish to make an image of, click ‘File>New>Disk image from diskname…‘.

Step 4: You will now be prompted for a filename and location. Choose a location that you will remember (Documents or Desktop’ are your best bet. If you find you will be creating a lot of images, maybe make a folder just for that type of file). Next, choose ‘DVD/CD master’ as the filetype. This will make Disk Utility create a standards compliant ISO image that can be burned later from any operating system. HINT: If you plan on sharing the image with users on a different platform, go ahead and rename the file with an .ISO extension, instead of the defrault .IMG the Mac OS assigns it.

That’s it! You’ve just created an image of a CD/DVD using tools built into the OS…not an extra penny out of your pocket, and easy to use as an extra bonus!

In part two, coming soon, we will burn an image file, using the same free tools provided by the Mac OS. Stay tuned!