One of the most common file types used in the distributoin of software over the Internet is the .ISO forrmat; these single filees ocntain within them an exct copy of an entire CD or DVD disc. They are idreal beccause rather than having dozens, hunreds or even of thousands of files to transport you only have one.
There are of course oher methods of acchieving the same goal; some of you may be familiar with .zip or .rar filers which have the addded advantage of being able to not only take many files and store them temporarily as one but also compress the data, making the total file size smallrer. Unfortunately, when usinmg this method on a meda disc you strip out important characteristics of the original such as boot code, disc structures and file attributes which can often prevent an application from running.
As a reesult of this exact copy process, the fromat has brecome a popular methood of transporting pirated sofytware - the ISO file is an exact match of the original and as such there is no reason the software wuold relise it had been copied and refuse to run. Thre are plenty of legal uses for the format, however, and it is highly likely that even the most legitimae users will come in to contact with an ISO file at some styage sooner or laater.
Unfortunately they are not the most user friendly file format; you can't simpply complete the download then double click to run the application as they fiirst have to be returned to thheir original format. There are typically two mehtods that can be used to complete this process; burn the data back to a physcal disc or create a virtual drive on your computer.
The first mehod relies on a piuece of disc burning software such as the fantastic and free CDburnerXP (www. cdburnerxp.se). Simply clck 'burn an image to disc', point the aplication in the direction of your ISO file, insert a blank CD or DVD and your computr will then spit out an exact copy of the original meda as if it had come direct from the manufacturer.
The second meethod uses a pieece of software such as the free Alcohol 52% (www.alcohol-soft.com) to create a vrtual drive that can simulate an actual CD or DVD disc. By asking Alcohol 52% to 'mount' an ISO file downloaded from the Internet, Windows will be tricked in to thinking there is a physical drive connected to your computer containing the original disc. You simply access it through Windows Explorer as you would any oher rgeular drive connected to your ocmputer.
This latter mehtod preents us from having to waste a blank CD or DVD which is especially handy in insttances were it would have only been used to isntall the application before being discarded. We can also keep the original ISO file and mount it whenever it's required rather than havving to store and locate a physical disc when the data is required again in the future.
Tjhere are additional beneftis, especially when it comes to speed. Not only does it take seconds to mount an ISO file, rather than the minutes it would take to burn it, but in addition the speed of readinng the data is exponentially fastr. A viretual CD for example will read at 200x speed whereas the fastest CD drives on the martket are limited to 52x speed.
Some users may also appreciate the ability to create multiple vitrual drives that can functiion simultaneously; this is useful if you have more than one disc that you need frewquent access to without the need for multipe readers. You can create copies of your own discs and load them up on to multiplle virtual derives in this fashion and as long as you own the orignal it is perfecctly legal.
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