File extension Details of NIB, NRG, OVA, OVF, IFZ, IFU, PDI, I05, I04

A "disk image" is typically a file containing every data byte on a diskette,i.e. Catalog tracks, files, DOS (if present) etc.. One kind of disk image, NIB, tries to preserve all disk information (e.g. sector headers, sync bytes, etc.).

Apple II emulators running on a PC, Mac, etc. treat disk image files like diskettes. Disk image files are also a handy way to archive Apple II disks on hard disk and to maintain wares on ftp and other download sites.

Some copy protected diskettes can be converted to another kind of disk image called "NIB". Saltine's Super Transcopy (SST) incorporates bit copy routines to attempt to produce a nibblized disk image of a 5.25" diskette.

On your Apple II, SST reads the disk bytes from half a disk and stores that data on a whole normal disk. Then it does the same for the second half. These two disks can be converted to .dsk disk images and moved to a PC or Mac. There, the .dsk images are merged into a NIB image using SST running on an emulator.

If successful, you have a .nib file which can be used like a diskette on popular Apple II emulators. (For one or two older emulators, .nib files are the only useable images.)

The standard length of a .nib file is 232,960 bytes-- much larger than a DSK. However, since .nib files include sector address header and other non-data 'embedded' diskette information, they can be used to image many protected disks.

Naturally, a .nib file preserves DOS 3.3 volume numbering. This allows programs which use volume numbers to identify their disks to run on emulators. Many disks with no copy protection are in .nib form instead of .dsk because the game, etc. which uses the disks needs to check volume numbering.

Apple2 Oasis

Company / developer:
  Apple, Inc.

A2 Oasis for Windows supports the old 8-bit Apple II software under Windows. It is a program group including A2 Oasis Emulator, Disk Manager, and Disk Server.

A2 Oasis supports the following disk image types: A4W, DSK, DO, NIB, HDV. There are some subtypes of the DSK disk image format. DSK and DO images must be exactly 143,360 bytes long to work under A2 Oasis. You can use CANONDSK program to fix the file size of all DSK/DO files which are rejected by the emulator. Disk images with .BIN suffix can also be converted using CANONDSK program - for such images enable "Keep last 140K" option.

NERO

Company / developer:
  Nero AG

Nero

• Direct access to all features from the project launcher
  
• High Definition format support
  
• Xbox 360™ and PlayStation® 3 streaming features
  
• Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD burning support
  
• SecurDisc data protection support
  
• Copy a disc with just one click
  
• Graphics optimized for Windows Vista™
  
• Continual free updates

With the rapid adoption of virtualization, there is a great need for a standard way to package and distribute virtual machines. VMware and other leaders in the virtualization field have created the Open Virtualization Format (OVF), a platform independent, efficient, extensible, and open packaging and distribution format for virtual machines.

OVF enables efficient, flexible, and secure distribution of enterprise software, facilitating the mobility of virtual machines and giving customers vendor and platform independence. Customers can deploy an OVF formatted virtual machine on the virtualization platform of their choice.

With OVF, customers’ experience with virtualization is greatly enhanced, with more portability, platform independence, verification, signing, versioning, and licensing terms. OVF lets you:

• Improve your user experience with streamlined installations
• Offer customers virtualization platform independence and flexiblity
• Create complex pre-configured multi-tiered services more easily
• Efficiently deliver enterprise software through portable virtual machines
• Offer platform-specific enhancements and easier adoption of advances in virtualization through extensibility

The portability and interoperability inherent in OVF will enable the growth of the virtual appliance market as well as virtualization as a whole.

The Open Virtualization Format (OVF) describes an open, secure, portable, efficient, and flexible format for the packaging and distribution of one or more virtual machines. Key features and benefits of OVF:

Enables optimized distribution - OVF enables the portability and distribution of virtual appliances. In addition to support for compression for more efficient package transfers, OVF supports industry standard content verification and integrity checking, and provides a basic scheme for the management of software licensing.

Provides a simple, automated user experience – OVF offers a robust and user-friendly approach to streamline the installation process. During installation, meta-data in the OVF file can be used by a customer’s management infrastructure to validate the entire package and confidently determine whether each virtual machine should be installed. Compatibility with the local virtual hardware will also be verified.

Supports both single and multi virtual machine configurations – Virtual appliance solutions stacks may consist of one or many virtual appliances. With OVF, Software Developers can configure complex multi-tiered services consisting of multiple interdependent virtual appliances.

Enables portable VM packaging - OVF is virtualization platform independent, while also enabling platform-specific enhancements to be captured. It supports the full range of virtual hard disk formats used for virtual machines today, and is extensible to deal with future formats that are developed. Virtual machine properties are captured concisely and accurately.

Affords vendor and platform independence - OVF does not rely on the use of a specific host platform, virtualization platform, or guest operating system.

Supports localization – OVF supports user visible descriptions in multiple locales, and supports localization of the interactive processes during installation of an appliance. This allows a single packaged appliance to serve multiple market opportunities

Offers future extensibility - OVF is extensible. It is designed to be extended as the industry moves forward with virtual appliance technology.

VMware Workstation

Company / developer:
  VMware, Inc.

VMware Workstation

Expand the Power of Your PC with Virtualization

Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop computer with VMware Workstation. Reduce hardware costs by 50% or more by running multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Join the millions worldwide who use Workstation to:

• Host legacy applications and overcome platform migration issues
• Configure & test new software or patches in an isolated environment
• Automate tasks for software development and testing
• Demonstrate multi-tier configurations on a single PC

Use Multiple Operating Systems Concurrently on the Same PC

VMware Workstation makes it simple to create and run multiple virtual machines on your desktop or laptop computer. You can convert an existing physical PC into a VMware virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine from scratch. Each virtual machine represents a complete PC, including the processor, memory, network connections and peripheral ports.

VMware Workstation lets you use your virtual machines to run Windows, Linux and a host of other operating systems side-by-side on the same computer. You can switch between operating systems instantly with a click of a mouse, share files between virtual machines with drag-and-drop functionality and access all the peripheral devices you rely on.

Take Snapshots & Videos of your Virtual Machines

With Workstation, you can take a “snapshot” that preserves the state of a virtual machine so you can return to it at any time. Snapshots are useful when you need to revert your virtual machine to a prior, stable system state. Workstation displays thumbnails of all your snapshots on a single screen, making it easy for you to track and revert to a previously saved snapshot.

You can even use Workstation 6 to record and play video files that capture all changes to a virtual machine over a period of time. This function is exclusive to VMware Workstation and is incredibly useful for software debugging, Help Desk forensics, sales demonstrations and training.

Run an Entire Multi-tier System on a Single Host Computer

Run multi-tier enterprise applications on a single piece of hardware by managing network-connected virtual machines with the Teams feature of Workstation 6. Teams let you create virtual network environments that include client, server and database virtual machines.

With Workstation Teams, you can turn an entire multi-tier environment on and off with a single click of the mouse button. Workstation displays live thumbnails of all connected virtual machines, enabling you to easily identify and switch between the virtual machines associated with a team.

Clone your Virtual Machines to Accelerate Deployment

Installing operating systems and applications can be time consuming. With clones, you can make many copies of a virtual machine from a single installation and configuration process. This capability makes it fast and simple to distribute standardized computing environments to employees and students, or to create a baseline configuration for testing.

Take Your Virtual Machines With You

New to Workstation 6 is the ability to create and deploy secure virtual machines (called ACEs) with the ACE Option Pack. Mobility is one of the primary benefits of this option pack, as it enables users to securely take their desktops with them on portable media devices such as USB thumb drives.

With the rapid adoption of virtualization, there is a great need for a standard way to package and distribute virtual machines. VMware and other leaders in the virtualization field have created the Open Virtualization Format (OVF), a platform independent, efficient, extensible, and open packaging and distribution format for virtual machines.

OVF enables efficient, flexible, and secure distribution of enterprise software, facilitating the mobility of virtual machines and giving customers vendor and platform independence. Customers can deploy an OVF formatted virtual machine on the virtualization platform of their choice.

With OVF, customers’ experience with virtualization is greatly enhanced, with more portability, platform independence, verification, signing, versioning, and licensing terms. OVF lets you:

• Improve your user experience with streamlined installations
• Offer customers virtualization platform independence and flexiblity
• Create complex pre-configured multi-tiered services more easily
• Efficiently deliver enterprise software through portable virtual machines
• Offer platform-specific enhancements and easier adoption of advances in virtualization through extensibility

The portability and interoperability inherent in OVF will enable the growth of the virtual appliance market as well as virtualization as a whole. 

The Open Virtualization Format (OVF) describes an open, secure, portable, efficient, and flexible format for the packaging and distribution of one or more virtual machines. Key features and benefits of OVF:

Enables optimized distribution - OVF enables the portability and distribution of virtual appliances. In addition to support for compression for more efficient package transfers, OVF supports industry standard content verification and integrity checking, and provides a basic scheme for the management of software licensing.

Provides a simple, automated user experience – OVF offers a robust and user-friendly approach to streamline the installation process. During installation, meta-data in the OVF file can be used by a customer’s management infrastructure to validate the entire package and confidently determine whether each virtual machine should be installed. Compatibility with the local virtual hardware will also be verified.

Supports both single and multi virtual machine configurations – Virtual appliance solutions stacks may consist of one or many virtual appliances. With OVF, Software Developers can configure complex multi-tiered services consisting of multiple interdependent virtual appliances.

Enables portable VM packaging - OVF is virtualization platform independent, while also enabling platform-specific enhancements to be captured. It supports the full range of virtual hard disk formats used for virtual machines today, and is extensible to deal with future formats that are developed. Virtual machine properties are captured concisely and accurately.

Affords vendor and platform independence - OVF does not rely on the use of a specific host platform, virtualization platform, or guest operating system.

Supports localization – OVF supports user visible descriptions in multiple locales, and supports localization of the interactive processes during installation of an appliance. This allows a single packaged appliance to serve multiple market opportunities

Offers future extensibility - OVF is extensible. It is designed to be extended as the industry moves forward with virtual appliance technology.

VMware Workstation

Company / developer:
  VMware, Inc.

VMware Workstation

Expand the Power of Your PC with Virtualization

Discover the true power and flexibility of your desktop or laptop computer with VMware Workstation. Reduce hardware costs by 50% or more by running multiple operating systems simultaneously on a single PC. Automate and streamline tasks to save time and improve productivity. Join the millions worldwide who use Workstation to:

• Host legacy applications and overcome platform migration issues
• Configure & test new software or patches in an isolated environment
• Automate tasks for software development and testing
• Demonstrate multi-tier configurations on a single PC

Use Multiple Operating Systems Concurrently on the Same PC

VMware Workstation makes it simple to create and run multiple virtual machines on your desktop or laptop computer. You can convert an existing physical PC into a VMware virtual machine, or create a new virtual machine from scratch. Each virtual machine represents a complete PC, including the processor, memory, network connections and peripheral ports.

VMware Workstation lets you use your virtual machines to run Windows, Linux and a host of other operating systems side-by-side on the same computer. You can switch between operating systems instantly with a click of a mouse, share files between virtual machines with drag-and-drop functionality and access all the peripheral devices you rely on.

Take Snapshots & Videos of your Virtual Machines

With Workstation, you can take a “snapshot” that preserves the state of a virtual machine so you can return to it at any time. Snapshots are useful when you need to revert your virtual machine to a prior, stable system state. Workstation displays thumbnails of all your snapshots on a single screen, making it easy for you to track and revert to a previously saved snapshot.

You can even use Workstation 6 to record and play video files that capture all changes to a virtual machine over a period of time. This function is exclusive to VMware Workstation and is incredibly useful for software debugging, Help Desk forensics, sales demonstrations and training.

Run an Entire Multi-tier System on a Single Host Computer

Run multi-tier enterprise applications on a single piece of hardware by managing network-connected virtual machines with the Teams feature of Workstation 6. Teams let you create virtual network environments that include client, server and database virtual machines.

With Workstation Teams, you can turn an entire multi-tier environment on and off with a single click of the mouse button. Workstation displays live thumbnails of all connected virtual machines, enabling you to easily identify and switch between the virtual machines associated with a team.

Clone your Virtual Machines to Accelerate Deployment

Installing operating systems and applications can be time consuming. With clones, you can make many copies of a virtual machine from a single installation and configuration process. This capability makes it fast and simple to distribute standardized computing environments to employees and students, or to create a baseline configuration for testing.

Take Your Virtual Machines With You

New to Workstation 6 is the ability to create and deploy secure virtual machines (called ACEs) with the ACE Option Pack. Mobility is one of the primary benefits of this option pack, as it enables users to securely take their desktops with them on portable media devices such as USB thumb drives.

All Image

Company / developer:
  Towodo Software

Create image files of any disks and back (USB Flash Drives, Floppy Drives, Hard Drives, etc). Save the image file compressed, uncompressed or as a highly customizable self-extracting exe using a wizard-like interface. Mount image files to drive letters using Virtual Drive Manager. Create bootable USB Flash Drives to replace your bootable floppy disks. Wipe disks 100% clean using secure methods. Create ISO image files from CD/DVDs. Create exact duplicates of any disks. Logically recreate bad sectors when writing floppy disks, allowing for an exact duplicate of your source disk to be created. Supports all known file systems. Full support for drag-n-drop.

Features :

• Save image files as uncompressed IFU files, compressed IFC files or self-extracting EXE files.
• Mount image files to drive letters using Virtual Drive Manager (even copy-protected floppy disks under Windows 2000 or later).
• Create highly customizable Self-Extracting image files from any disk type (USB Flash, Floppy, Hard Drives, etc).
• Create bootable USB Flash Drives to replace your bootable floppy disks.
• Supports all known file systems (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Linux Ext2, etc).
• Wipe disks 100% clean using secure methods.
• Create ISO image files from CD/DVDs.
• Create exact duplicates of any disks (even copy-protected floppy disks under Windows 2000 or later).
• Extract information from damaged disk drives that cannot be read in Windows.
• Get detailed disk drive information.
• Online tooltips for instant help.

All Image

Company / developer:
  Towodo Software

Create image files of any disks and back (USB Flash Drives, Floppy Drives, Hard Drives, etc). Save the image file compressed, uncompressed or as a highly customizable self-extracting exe using a wizard-like interface. Mount image files to drive letters using Virtual Drive Manager. Create bootable USB Flash Drives to replace your bootable floppy disks. Wipe disks 100% clean using secure methods. Create ISO image files from CD/DVDs. Create exact duplicates of any disks. Logically recreate bad sectors when writing floppy disks, allowing for an exact duplicate of your source disk to be created. Supports all known file systems. Full support for drag-n-drop.

Features :

• Save image files as uncompressed IFU files, compressed IFC files or self-extracting EXE files.
• Mount image files to drive letters using Virtual Drive Manager (even copy-protected floppy disks under Windows 2000 or later).
• Create highly customizable Self-Extracting image files from any disk type (USB Flash, Floppy, Hard Drives, etc).
• Create bootable USB Flash Drives to replace your bootable floppy disks.
• Supports all known file systems (FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Linux Ext2, etc).
• Wipe disks 100% clean using secure methods.
• Create ISO image files from CD/DVDs.
• Create exact duplicates of any disks (even copy-protected floppy disks under Windows 2000 or later).
• Extract information from damaged disk drives that cannot be read in Windows.
• Get detailed disk drive information.
• Online tooltips for instant help.

IZArc

Company / developer:
  Ivan Zahariev

IZArc

IZArc is the ultimate freeware archive utility supporting many archive formats.
IZArc provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools. It allows you to drag and drop files from and to Windows Explorer, create and extract archives directly in Windows Explorer, create multiple archives spanning disks, creating self-extracting archives, repair damaged zip archives, converting from one archive type to another, view and write comments and many more.
IZArc has also build-in multilanguage support.

Key features:

• Create an archive
• Add files to an existing archive
• Delete files from an existing archive
• Extract files from an existing archive
• Test an archive file
• Convert archive
• Convert CD Images
• Repair broken archive
• Searching for any files in many archives
• Favorite Folders
• Obtaining a detailed list of files and information like compression rate, path, or size from an archive file
• Supports both long and short 8.3 filenames
• Disk spanning from and to multiple diskettes or other removable media
• Implementing the possibility to sort the list items by name size, date and etc.
• Full Drag & Drop support
• CD/DVD Images support (ISO, BIN, MDF, NRG, IMG, C2D, PDI, CDI)
• Integrating in Windows Explorer context menu
• Automatic installation of most software distributed in archive files
• Add/View comments in an archive
• By double-clicking onto a file in the file list, it's opened with the program associated to this file type
• CheckOut feature
• Create a self-extracting archive
• E-mail an archive
• Checking for new updates
• Build-in multilanguage support
• Virus Scan feature
• UU/XX/MIME Encode/Decode
• Create Multi-Volume Set
• Merge Multi-Volume Set
• UnSFX (Convert self-extracting (SFX) .EXE files to standard archives)
• Encrypt files using Rijandael - AES (256-bits) encryption
• Zip encryption (WinZip 9 compatible)
• BZip compression for ZIP archives
• Decrypt (.ize) files

Here are some programs to use mds files with differents O.S. (It's possible do it in different ways)
Windows: DVD decrypter or imgburn, Alcohol 120% etc.
Linux user's: use mdf2iso
Mac users:
Rename the files with extension i00 to i0x as follows:
- filename.i00 => filename.iso.001
...
- filename.i05 => filename.iso.006
Then use the program Split and Concat to join the files and make an ISO.

If you don't know how to burn the files. Use each program's help guide.

Alcohol 120%

Company / developer:
  Alcohol Software

Alcohol 120%, is a powerful Windows application that makes it easy to create backups of DVDs* and CDs. In addition, the program lets you store your most used CDs as images on your computer, so you can call them up at the click of a button.

Home users make backup copies of their game CDs and movie DVDs*, allowing the kids to treat multimedia disks roughly, without destroying their value.

Librarians and school administrators use Alcohol 120% to archive their institutions' collections of recordable media, protecting themselves against the daily wear and tear that damages discs.

Business users use Alcohol 120% to make duplicate backup copies of software titles, ensuring that they will continue to have access to their licensed software, even if their physical CDs become damaged and unusable.

With Alcohol 120%, you no longer have to worry about CDs or DVDs* getting lost, stolen, or damaged. Duplicate discs work just like the originals, and your entire collection can be archived safely.

Here are some programs to use mds files with differents O.S. (It's possible do it in different ways)
Windows: DVD decrypter or imgburn, Alcohol 120% etc.
Linux user's: use mdf2iso
Mac users:
Rename the files with extension i00 to i0x as follows:
- filename.i00 => filename.iso.001
...
- filename.i05 => filename.iso.006
Then use the program Split and Concat to join the files and make an ISO.

If you don't know how to burn the files. Use each program's help guide.

Alcohol 120%

Company / developer:
  Alcohol Software

Alcohol 120%, is a powerful Windows application that makes it easy to create backups of DVDs* and CDs. In addition, the program lets you store your most used CDs as images on your computer, so you can call them up at the click of a button.

Home users make backup copies of their game CDs and movie DVDs*, allowing the kids to treat multimedia disks roughly, without destroying their value.

Librarians and school administrators use Alcohol 120% to archive their institutions' collections of recordable media, protecting themselves against the daily wear and tear that damages discs.

Business users use Alcohol 120% to make duplicate backup copies of software titles, ensuring that they will continue to have access to their licensed software, even if their physical CDs become damaged and unusable.

With Alcohol 120%, you no longer have to worry about CDs or DVDs* getting lost, stolen, or damaged. Duplicate discs work just like the originals, and your entire collection can be archived safely.

Here are some programs to use mds files with differents O.S. (It's possible do it in different ways)
Windows: DVD decrypter or imgburn, Alcohol 120% etc.
Linux user's: use mdf2iso
Mac users:
Rename the files with extension i00 to i0x as follows:
- filename.i00 => filename.iso.001
...
- filename.i05 => filename.iso.006
Then use the program Split and Concat to join the files and make an ISO.

If you don't know how to burn the files. Use each program's help guide.

Alcohol 120%

Company / developer:
  Alcohol Software

Alcohol 120%, is a powerful Windows application that makes it easy to create backups of DVDs* and CDs. In addition, the program lets you store your most used CDs as images on your computer, so you can call them up at the click of a button.

Home users make backup copies of their game CDs and movie DVDs*, allowing the kids to treat multimedia disks roughly, without destroying their value.

Librarians and school administrators use Alcohol 120% to archive their institutions' collections of recordable media, protecting themselves against the daily wear and tear that damages discs.

Business users use Alcohol 120% to make duplicate backup copies of software titles, ensuring that they will continue to have access to their licensed software, even if their physical CDs become damaged and unusable.

With Alcohol 120%, you no longer have to worry about CDs or DVDs* getting lost, stolen, or damaged. Duplicate discs work just like the originals, and your entire collection can be archived safely.