co je disk image ???


What is a Disk Image?

A disk image file (or simply a disk image) is an exact binary copy of an entire disk or drive. Disk image files contain ALL the data stored on the source drive including not only its files and folders but also its boot sectors, file allocation tables, volume attributes and any other system-specific data. Actually, a disk image is not a collection of files or folders but is an exact duplicate of the raw data of the original disk, sector by sector.

Since disk images contain the raw disk data, it is possible to create an image of a disk written in an unknown format or even under an unknown operating system.

File formats of disk images usually depend on the type of the source drive. For example, ISO files are CD images; IMG (or IMA) files usually are images of hard, floppy and/or removable disks; and XDF files are always floppy disk images.

Disk images are widely used by CD recording software for transferring and storing complete CD contents. A lot of CD recording programs use their own formats for disk images. Some of these formats are plain ISO image files renamed with another extension.

Disk images are also an integral part of the Linux operating system. With Linux, you can 'mount' a disk image file and use it as a virtual drive.