Disk images pack entire folders or disks into a single compressed file, either for transport across the Internet or simply for backup.
They are Apple’s preferred format for distributing Mac software and the only archive format whose contents you can directly access in the Mac Finder—no third-party software required.
DropDMG is a simple to use andseful application that enables you to quickly create .dmg archives on your Mac using drag and drop.
Here are some key features of "DropDMG":
Overview:
· Create and convert disk images and archives with a simple drag and drop. There are also many other convenient ways to invoke DropDMG.
· DropDMG supports all the major formats, including compressed .dmg files (smaller than Disk Utility???s), .sparsebundle files, .zip and .tar.gz archives, and hybrid disk images.
· Configurations let you reuse common collections of options, and temporary options let you easily make one-off changes.
· Quickly burn files, folders, or disk images to CD or DVD. Multi-session support lets you add files to an existing CD.
Delivering Software:
· Create .dmg disk image files, Apple???s recommended container format for deploying Mac OS X software.
· Design reusable layouts with background images and pixel-perfect icon positioning.
· Apply a license agreement that Mac OS X will display before the user can install your software. Licenses support rich text and multiple languages.
· Automatically renders a custom volume icon that badges your application???s icon onto the white disk image icon, with the proper 3D perspective.
· Make your disk images Internet-enabled so that Safari automatically expands them into a folder after download.
· Store your license agreements and layouts in open formats (RTF, XML) under version control.
Backups, Archival, and Cloning:
· Disk images preserve Mac-specific metadata: resource forks, Finder labels, creation dates, ownership, extended attributes, etc.
· Save disk space and network transfer time by compressing your files. Choose faster or more efficient compression.
· Split large files or folders into multiple segments to burn them to optical discs or easily transfer them over a network.
· Verify the integrity of your backups and archives to ensure that the media is still intact and that you???ll be able to restore them if needed.
· Create a device image that records the exact contents of a data CD or DVD. You can then burn bootable backup copies of the disc, or double-click the disk image to access its contents as though the disc were still in your optical drive.
· In one step, create a device image clone of an entire hard drive, optimized for restoring using Apple Software Restore or Disk Utility. This is useful for backups and for setting up multiple computers in a lab.
· Optionally enter your administrator password so that DropDMG can back up all your files, with proper permissions and ownership, while unattended.
Encryption:
· Encrypt files that you want to keep private. DropDMG???s encrypted, writable disk images are faster and safer than Apple???s FileVault, but just as secure and searchable via Spotlight. Compact them to reclaim unused space.
· Create encrypted, compressed disk images to securely transfer files via e-mail, iDisk, or FTP or to store backups safely off-site.
· Choose from 128-bit and 256-bit AES encryption, approved by the U.S. National Security Agency.
· Optionally store your passphrases in the Mac OS X keychain, so that you can quickly create and access encrypted disk images, without the hassle of double-typing or the risk of typos.
· Mount disk images at specific locations in the filesystem, so that your applications can keep their support files encrypted.
· Change the passphrase of existing encrypted disk images.
· Mount encrypted, segmented disk images without having to enter the passphrase separately for each segment.
Advanced:
· Runs multiple operations simultaneously, so you that you can keep working while DropDMG processes in the background.
· Takes advantage of multiple processor cores for faster compression and encryption.
· Keeps a detailed log of all the successful operations as well as any errors, including statistics such as the throughput and how much space was saved using compression. New log entries are also reported via Growl.
· Fast disk image mounting: turn off verification to quickly mount disk images, and mount encrypted disk images without having to re-type the passphrase for each segment.
· Get detailed information about your disk images: their formats, partitions, compression ratios, checksums, etc.
· Easily queue up bulk operations for creating, converting, mounting, verifying, getting info, burning, joining, etc. If multiple encrypted disk images share a passphrase, you only need to enter it once.
· Make your favorite destination folders stay in the list of recent folders.
· Process the names of the output files to add the current date or make the filename server-friendly.
· Automate via AppleScript, the dropdmg command-line tool, and Automator.
Limitations:
· 30 days or 6 launches
What`s New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]
· Fixed a bug where DropDMG would fail with a permissions error when creating a disk image with a custom icon of a root-owned file, e.g. a purchase from the Mac App Store.
· Fixed a bug where, in rare cases, DropDMG could not create a disk image if a file with its preferred temporary name already existed.
· Fixed a bug creating images in .cdr format with custom icons or layouts.
· Clarified the description of .cdr disk image format.
· Adjusted the help page titles to fit better in the menu and search results.
