Schijfimages

Schijfimages, also known as disk images, are digital replicas of the entire content of a storage medium, such as a hard drive, CD-ROM, or floppy disk. They capture not only the files and folders but also the file system structure, boot sectors, and any other data present on the original media. This allows for an exact duplication of the original disk's state.

The primary purpose of a schijfimage is to create a backup of a storage device. If the original media is damaged or corrupted, the schijfimage can be used to restore the data. They are also invaluable for software distribution, allowing for the easy installation of operating systems or applications. Furthermore, schijfimages are frequently used in digital forensics to preserve the integrity of evidence from a suspect drive.

Common file formats for schijfimages include ISO (.iso) for optical media, IMG (.img) for raw disk images, and VHD (.vhd) or VMDK (.vmdk) for virtual machine disks. Specialized software is required to create, mount, and extract data from these images. Mounting an image allows it to be accessed as if it were a physical drive connected to the computer. Schijfimages can be stored as single files or as a set of smaller files. Their use is widespread in both consumer and professional computing environments for data management, disaster recovery, and system deployment.