Great for when you don't have a CD/DVD drive. And if you're using Windows 8.1 or Windows 10, you can even mount ( open as a virtual drive) an ISO file and install directly from it. You can use a program like Rufus if you want to burn an ISO file to a USB drive. This feature is built-in to Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10. Now, what can you do with an ISO file? Sure, you can make a new CD / DVD using an ISO file. I've taken several small ISO files and burned them on to DVDs for off-site storage. External drives ( flash, portable, or desktop) are great for storing ISO files. Archiving your ISO files is the first thing you probably want to consider. Once you have created your ISO files, you can do some cool things with them. Here's a list of a few free programs that create ISO files.ĬDBurnerXP: Free CD and DVD burning software All you need is a computer with a CD/DVD drive, your original disc(s), a program that creates ISO files, and plenty of free space on your hard drive. They contain an exact sector-by-sector, non-compressed copy of a disc. iso) files are an archive file format for optical disks, like CDs and DVDs. So what is the solution? ISO ( International Organization for Standardization) files. Not having an optical disc drive can make installing older software on a newer computer a bit of a problem. Second, not all devices have nowadays have CD / DVD drives ( tablets, netbooks, and ultra-thin laptops).

Geek Tip: To destroy the data on a CD / DVD before throwing it away, scratch off all of the top layers of the disk with a sharp object, like a nail. But if scratch the top of a disc, you can damage the layer that stores data. You can use a unique tool to buff it out if you scratch the bottom of a disc. I have some CDs that are around 20 years old, and I can still read them with my Windows 10 computer. Now I realize that properly stored CDs/DVDs can last quite a long time. The AOL disks were always quite colorful and made a great wall collage or mobile. I'm old enough to remember the AOL disks used to come in the newspaper ( 1 gazillion free hours!). Software that you paid for is a Keeper software that comes in the mail/paper is usually a Tosser. Now in my book, there are two kinds of disks Keepers and Tossers. You never know when you might need them again. One of my biggest problems is that I'm not particularly eager to throw away software disks. So what do you do with all of the media you are no longer using? How about creating ISO files from them? Here's how to create ISO files from your software CDs / DVDs.Īfter working with computers for over twenty years, I've managed to amass quite the collection of software disks.

So over the years, you've been purchasing software on CD's / DVD's and now have quite the collection.

How to create an iso free