Disk image
Computer file containing the contents and structure of a disk volume / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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A disk image is a snapshot of a storage device's structure and data typically stored in one or more computer files on another storage device.[1][2]
Traditionally, disk images were bit-by-bit copies of every sector on a hard disk often created for digital forensic purposes, but it is now common to only copy allocated data to reduce storage space.[3][4] Compression and deduplication are commonly used to reduce the size of the image file set.[3][5]
Disk imaging is done for a variety of purposes including digital forensics,[6][2] cloud computing,[7] system administration,[8] as part of a backup strategy,[1] and legacy emulation as part of a digital preservation strategy.[9] Disk images can be made in a variety of formats depending on the purpose. Virtual disk images (such as VHD and VMDK) are intended to be used for cloud computing,[10][11] ISO images are intended to emulate optical media[12] and raw disk images are used for forensic purposes.[2] Proprietary formats are typically used by disk imaging software.
Despite the benefits of disk imaging the storage costs can be high,[3] management can be difficult[6] and they can be time consuming to create.[13][9]