Create ISO Image Using dd in Linux

Posted by: Andrew Smith
Poster contact info: andrew-smith at mail ru
Author: same as 'Posted by'
Software: Linux All

Making an ISO image of a CD is one of the easiest things in linux. The only thing that might confuse you is the device file to use so here's an explanation:

Your IDE CD drive, burner or DVD is one of the following:
- primary master = /dev/hda
- primary slave = /dev/hdb
- secondary master = /dev/hdc
- secondary slave = /dev/hdd

If you don't know what I'm talking about you can guess. /dev/hda is most certainly your harddrive. Your best bet for the CD drive is /dev/hdc, but could be any of the other two.

Here's the command to create your image:
dd if=/dev/hdc of='mycd.iso'

Remember to change the device file. The single quotes are not strictly necessary but unless you want to escape all the special characters you might use in the filename just put them in.

Cheers