Creating ISO files and hybrid ISO

An ISO image is an archive format that stores the exact image of an optical disk such as CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and so on. ISO files are commonly used to store content to be burned to optical media.

This section will describe how to extract data from an optical disk into an ISO file that can be mounted as a loopback device, and then explain ways to generate your own ISO file systems that can be burned to an optical media.

We need to distinguish between bootable and non-bootable optical disks. Bootable disks are capable of booting from themselves and also running an operating system or another product. Bootable DVDs include installation kits and Live systems such as Knoppix and Puppy.

Non-bootable ISOs cannot do that. Upgrade kits, source code DVDs, and so on are non-bootable.

Note that copying files from a bootable CD-ROM to another CD-ROM is not sufficient to make the new one bootable. To preserve the bootable nature of a CD-ROM, it must be copied as a disk image using an ISO file.

Many people use flash drives as a replacement for optical disks. When we write a bootable ISO to a flash drive, it will not be bootable unless we use a special hybrid ISO image designed specifically for the purpose.

These recipes will give you an insight into ISO images and manipulations.

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