Howto Create .ISO images from CD or DVD in Linux

Screenshot: Howto make ISO image from CD 0r DVD in Debian

In Linux system, we have a simple tool to create CD or DVD .ISO file. This is very helpfull to backup your CD and DVD into ISO images:

To make an ISO from your CD/DVD, place the media in your drive but do not mount it. If it automounts, unmount it.


For example, sudo umount /dev/cdrom dd if=/dev/cdrom of=file.iso bs=1024


for dvd:

$ dd if=/dev/dvd of=linuxdvd.iso


for cdrom:

$ dd if=/dev/cdrom of=linuxcd.iso


for scsi cdrom:

$ dd if=/dev/scd0 of=linuxcd.iso


And if you wanna make an ISO from files on your hard drive, create a directory which holds the files you want. Then use the mkisofs command.

mkisofs -r -o file.iso /location_of_folder/

This results in a file called cd.iso in folder /tmp which contains all the files and directories in /tmp/directory/.

Don’t forget to make a checksum:

md5sum file.iso > file.iso.md5


For more info, see the man pages for mkisofs, losetup, and dd, or see the CD-Writing-HOWTO at http://www.tldp.org.

Enjoy Linux!!