Questions about Disk Images

I have begun ripping my game collection into images, so I can load them on my computer without having to fetch the games every time and listen to the spinning optical drive while playing.

But I have a few questions:

1) Why are there so <edit> many fileformats?! What's the difference between say: BIN/CUE, ISO, MDF/MDS, CCD/IMG/SUB and NRG...?

2) Which is better?

3) Why do some of the formats require multiple files instead of wrapping it into one single image file? What's the benefit of that?

 

HI! Welcome to Major Geeks First, please watch the language. Yeah, I know, *oddam* isn't really swearing, but some folks think it is, and we're a family-friendly site here. OK. Now with that out of the way, I 'll try to answer some of your questions.
1) I would think the main reason there's so many formats is because each software creator wanted to get people 'locked in' to using their software and their software only. Programs like UltraISO, PowerISO, MagicISO, etc have their own formats (.DAA, .UIF, etc) as does the Alcohol set (.MDF/.MDF). Nero has NRG, CloneCD/Slysoft uses the CCD extension. The .BIN/.CUE was developed primarily for the burning of audio CDs if I'm not mistaken, and was created back when CD burners were fairly new to the PC world, and at the time, it was a great thing. The .CUE file is commonly called a "cue sheet" and it's just a text file that tells the CD burner how to burn the .BIN file. .IMG images were originally floppy disk images that have since evolved to be any type of image. .ISO images are the original CD image and one of the first to be standardized so when you encounter an ISO file, you more-or-less know what to expect.
2) Which is better? This is a matter of opinion. It's like asking "which is better? Apples or oranges?". Some people will say apples, some will say oranges, some will say kiwis, and some people will say "get lost, you fruit-eating-tree-hugging hippie!". Anyway, IMHO, I think the ISO is 'best' just because it is the standard and is recognized by all burning programs and all PCs. There's no mystery to it; you don't see the extension and say "what the heck is this?" and then you're off Googling the extension. ISO images are also supported by all the other image applications (like Alcohol, DaemonTools, MagicISO, etc). A few virtual CD/DVD programs will only mount ISO images, but most can wrangle MDF/MDS files, NRG files, and IMG files, in addition to ISO images.
3) A good example of this is the .BIN/.CUE format which I briefly described earlier. The .CUE file tells the CD drive what is in the .BIN file and how to burn it. If the .BIN was for an audio CD, the .CUE file would have a list of the tracks and maybe the song titles and lengths, along with a bit of technical info for the drive to use.

I think that about covers it. I hope this cleared things up a little bit....

[dlb]
:major

 

1) Well, cuz they can, they have to.

2) None. I prefer ISO for most everything and CSO (compressed ISO) for some things. You'll need a disk image mounting program like Daemon Tools.

3) It's by design. I think some of the separate files contain checksum info for making sure the image is in good shape.

 

Hi people.

Thank you for the response, I'll try to keep my language clean.

It clarifies some things. Do you know if ISO has any limitations? If yes, what limitations? If no, why isn't ISO used universally?

What software do you recommend to create ISO files from CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs?

 

None that I'm aware of. I have some ISO files created from dual-layer DVDs that are almost 7gb, so size isn't an issue. Basically, if it can be stored on any type of media, you can create an ISO from. Theoretically, you could create an ISO of your entire hard drive, then burn it for back up purposes. I believe this is more-or-less what apps like Acronis do.

Well, ISO is used universally, and then again, it isn't. I pretty much explained this above.

There's many apps available for ISO creation. The paid ones (like MagicISO, UltraISO, PowerISO) can generally handle many different formats (I explained this above). Most CD/DVD burning programs can create ISO images. Nero uses it's own NRG image format. Some folks think you can simply drop the .NRG extension and replace it with an .ISO extension; NOT TRUE! It doesn't work. AFAIK, just about all the free CD burning tools available here at Major Geeks will create ISO files in addition to burning them. Check the Back Up section here at Major Geeks (link below). There's a handy little app called ISO Recorder that integrates into the WinXP right-click menu. It allows you to create ISO files from just about anything. You can right click on a file/folder/directory/drive and select 'Create ISO' and it will do it. It can burn ISO files also using the built-in XP burning software. Another similar tool is called Folder2ISO which does kind of the same thing as ISORecorder, but it doesn't burn, and it doesn't use the right-click menu. Just launch the .exe file; it's a stand-alone program and doesn't require installation. Here's some links:
ISO Recorder http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm
Folder2ISO http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_tools/folder2iso.cfm
As for CD burning tools that will create and burn ISO images:
CD Burner XP http://www.majorgeeks.com/CDBurnerXP_d4242.html
EasyISO http://www.majorgeeks.com/EasyISO_d2499.html (click on ISO Menu)
ImgBurn http://www.majorgeeks.com/ImgBurn_d4870.html
All of the programs I have mentioned nd linked to are 100% free to download and use, and are totally free of malware.
Many other CD burning apps are available in the Back Up section here at Major Geeks: http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads3.html Most will build and burn ISO images. StarBurn and AShampoo Burning Studio 6 are two more that come to mind....

ENJOY!!!

[dlb]
:major

 

Thank you, I am going to examine these.