Making an ISO (Image) File from a CD/DVD on a Mac for Free

There are several ways to make an ISO (or an image) file from a CD/DVD but here is a FREE and pretty simple way to do so on your Mac. Yes it means using the command line “Terminal” on your Mac, sometimes a little “unknown” for some people, but I assure you it is quite simple.

And for you that are familiar with VMware ESX/vSphere, the utility is actually the same as what you can use on that product. In case you need, here’s a simple How-To link to create an ISO on VMware on my work blog here:
http://lewanps.wordpress.com/2009/07/11/how-to-make-isos-from-the-esxvsphere-service-console/

How-To: Making an ISO on a Mac

1) First, open up Terminal which is found under Applications, Utilities.

2) Next we’ll need to get the drive number for your CD/DVD drive. You can do this by using the following command:
drutil status

The will product output like the following. Make a note of the Disk# that it shows. This is the disk # for your CD/DVD device:

Vendor   Product           Rev

MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-857E   ZA0E


Type: DVD-ROM Name: /dev/disk2 <– Look for the disk # here

Sessions: 1                  Tracks: 1

Overwritable:   00:00:00         blocks:        0 /   0.00MB /   0.00MiB

Space Free:   00:00:00         blocks:        0 /   0.00MB /   0.00MiB

Space Used:  846:35:55         blocks:  3809680 /   7.80GB /   7.27GiB

Writability:

Book Type: DVD-ROM (v1)

3) Now you will need to umount the disk with the following command:
diskutil unmountDisk disk2 (replace the disk# with yours)

4) Now you can write the ISO file with the dd utility, which is a built-in utility for copying disks:
dd if=/dev/disk2 of=name-of-file.iso
(replace disk# with yours and change the name of the “of=” file, which is the “Output File” name)

5) When finished you can remount the disk so you can use it with this command:
diskutil mountDisk disk2

Or you can eject the disk with this command (no remount necessary):
diskutil eject disk2

Ve

ndor   Product           Rev

MATSHITA DVD-R   UJ-857E   ZA0E
Type: DVD-ROM              Name: /dev/disk2
Sessions: 1                  Tracks: 1
Overwritable:   00:00:00         blocks:        0 /   0.00MB /   0.00MiB
Space Free:   00:00:00         blocks:        0 /   0.00MB /   0.00MiB
Space Used:  846:35:55         blocks:  3809680 /   7.80GB /   7.27GiB
Writability:
Book Type: DVD-ROM (v1)

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