The following archive configurations have been tested (completely verified)īackup of very large single files (> 30 GB)īackup of modified / missing files after backup started (using the -ignore-changed-files option) UNIX or re-published as AFP or SMB/CIFS via EtherShare / PCShare file serverĭisk image can be mounted by Mac and Windows (directly or from a HELIOS volume) The following data volumes are recommended (tested) Rock Ridge does not support input files larger than 4 GB (a future version of “mkisofs” should support Rock Ridge files larger than 4 GB) Mac specific information like resource file and type / creator information gets lost
Rock Ridge images can be mounted on a Mac but:
Rock Ridge images cannot be mounted on Windows The Rock Ridge format can be mounted on a UNIX server and re-published via AFP using HELIOS EtherShare, CIFS using HELIOS PCShare, and WebShare to remote Mac, Windows and Web users. The Rock Ridge format can handle all UNIX file attributes including long file names and their attached file permissions.
UDF generated images have been tested on Windows XP-SP2, Windows Vista, Mac OS X 10.3 or newer (PPC & Intel). The file creation date is not supported, instead the last modification date is used. Current Windows XP / Vista versions will not handle UDF Windows file streams, therefore additional file stream data is not available on Windows. Symbolic links are turned off by default because Windows will issue error messages when copying / accessing symbolic link files.
UDF is the perfect format because it preserves all important Mac and Windows file attributes and can easily be mounted on a Mac or Windows Vista by clicking on the image file, or on Windows XP by using the free (unsupported) Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel, which maps the disk image to a new drive letter. Rock Ridge is the perfect format because it handles all special UNIX attributes.įor mounting backup disk images from Mac or Windows Only the UDF format can handle disk images cross-platform on a Mac and Windows system. “mkisofs” supports the creation of ISO-9660, Rock Ridge extensions, Mac HFS, Windows Joliet and UDF disk images whereas only the Rock Ridge and UDF formats will, with the new HELIOS enhancements, support large amounts of files/folders. Screenshot of the “mkisofs Tool” frontend The “mkisofs Tool” is free of charge and can be downloaded from the UGSoft website. This comes in handy for those who are not too familiar with CLI programs. UGSoft developed a useful utility to operate HELIOS “mkisofs” from a GUI. * Meta data such as Mac resources, Finder info or Windows attributes get lost This illustrates important differences between creating a UDF ( Universal Disk Format) disk image and simply copying or cloning to a backup drive or a Mac “Disk Utility” disk image.ĭata is accessible on the following platforms The table below lists some backup utilities and shows whether the resulting backup can be read (mounted) on other platforms, and whether it can be created as a read-only archive. When to use which utility for what purpose?įor backups it may be vitally important to store the data read-only because this will prevent the data from being (unintentionally) manipulated. We turned “mkisofs” into a general purpose solution which allows archiving Mac, Windows, and UNIX specific files with their attributes into UDF disk images which can easily be mounted by Mac and Windows users.”.
Helmut Tschemernjak, president and founder of HELIOS Software notes: “Today's growing disk capacities and inexpensive external disk systems allow storing read-only archives quickly on disk instead of burning media or using proprietary tape formats. HELIOS added support to archive hundreds of thousands of files/folders into disk images without any size limitations. The free public domain disk image utility “mkisofs” received major enhancements by HELIOS Software engineers, to enable flexible disk image creation for archiving and backup tasks going way beyond DVD image creation. HELIOS “mkisofs” – the ultimate UDF disk image backup utility