PC Buyer Beware! - Computer information website - Don't get ripped off - Forewarned is forearmed

Forewarned is forearmed...

Custom Search

This website has lost 75% of its visitors due to Google's search-algorithm update called Panda, which now favours Google's own ads and products, business sites and Wikipedia on the first page of search results, making finding information sites like this one difficult, so if you value it as a source of computer information please bookmark it.

Why won't the CDs and DVDs that I burn from ISO files boot? - Why aren't the ISO files I burn bootable?

CLICK HERE! TO RETURN TO THE CD/DVD/BLU-RAY DRIVE PROBLEMS PAGES

CD/DVD/Blu-ray problem: ISO files burned to CDs and DVDs won't boot

I have burned two ISO CDs - SpinRite 6.0 (hard-disk-drive diagnostic utility) and BartPE (Windows XP boot disc) - but neither of them boots, even though the WinISO utility tells me that the CD is bootable. The one CD has the file SpinRite6.iso file on it and the other has BartPE.iso. I searched Google, but but found no information that would put me on the right road.

Answer

ISO stands for International Standards Organization.

The ISO defined a standard CD format called ISO 9660. Any CD burned using the ISO 9660 format can be read by any operating system that supports the ISO 9660 format. For example, if you burn an ISO 9660 data CD on a Windows PC, the CD will be readable on Macs and Linux PCs, etc., and vice versa. Read about it here: ISO image - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image.

An ISO file is a kind of disc image or clone of an ISO-standard CD. It contains the data that's on the CD plus information about how the data is formatted. Therefore, you can't just copy an ISO file to a blank CD. The ISO file has to be processed by software that separates the stored data from the formatting information. The software uses the formatting data in the ISO file to burn an exact duplicate or clone of the original CD's contents. For example, if you download an ISO file of a whole distribution of Linux (free open-source operating system), you can't just copy the .iso file to a partition on your computer's hard drive and then expect to be able to run that distribution of Linux, you have to use special software that turns the .iso file into the full Linux installation CD that allows you to install that distribution of Linux.

Most third-party CD/DVD-burning software can do this. For example, in Cyberlink's Power2Go, you are provided with these options down the left hand side of the program's window: Data Disc, Music Disc, Video/photo Disc, Copy Disc, Mixed Disc and Disc Utilities. Clicking on each option provides the options for that option on the right hand side of the window - e.g., Disc Type: CD or DVD. Under Disc Utilities, you have Burn Disc Image (the one you want to use to burn an ISO image), Save Disc Image, Erase Disc (for rewritable CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM discs), Rip Audio and Audio Converter.

In Nero Express, you use the the Disk Image or Saved Project option. However, note that some CD/DVD- burning software can't handle ISO files.

Alternatively, you may just want to extract one or more files from an ISO file, and therefore you don't want to burn a whole CD/DVD just to obtain them. A utility such as WinISO allows you to do just that - extract a file or files from an .iso file without having to burn the whole CD/DVD.

Note that some software requires the companion files on the .iso file in order to be able to function, so you can't extract individual files. For example, the ISO files containing the setup programs for Linux distributions, or the BartPE ISO, require that the whole .iso file is translated and burned to a blank CD.

There are many utilities, free or paid for, that allow a user to burn a CD/DVD from an ISO file, or extract selected files from an ISO image. The following search queries, as is, can be used in a search engine to find burning utilities and information on ISO images: burn + iso + to + cd and iso + file.

It is also possible to create ISO files from CDs and DVDs, store them on a computer's hard disk drive and then use the ISO files as virtual CD/DVDs.

Lug Around Less by Creating and Mounting ISO Images of Your DVDs/CDs -

"If your job requires you to lug around a bunch of CD/DVDs just in case you need them, you might want to consider lightening your load by mounting your CD/DVD disks as ISO images on your hard drive. In this article, I'll first show you how to create ISO (International Organization for Standardization) images from your DVD and CD disks using Nero Burning ROM. From there, I'll teach you how to mount your ISO images as if you were inserting the original source CD/DVD into your drive. Why would you want to do this? Imagine the freedom of not having to lug around your CD/DVDs wherever you go but instead being able to copy your CD/DVDs as ISO images to your hard drive and subsequently use them whenever needed as "virtual" CD/DVDs." -

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=406936