Howto Create empty or blank iso file

a1danel · 11-23-2010, 03:01 PM

I having been searching for a way to create an empty or blank iso file, so that I can mount it, and have a backup application think it's a blank CD. I am tired of wasting CD's by having the application write a recovery CD, just for me to turn around and export it to an iso image to be stored in a online archive, and then throw away the physical CD.

Any suggestions here?

linus72 · 11-23-2010, 03:18 PM

make a skeleton cd image in a empty folder

basically, depending on the iso setup (boot/isolinux or isolinux/) you can copy isolinux.bin from
/usr/lib/syslinux or /usr/share/syslinux

example on Desktop

Code:

mkdir -p iso/isolinux
cp -r /usr/lib/syslinux/isolinux.bin iso/isolinux/
genisoimage -r -V "iso label" -cache-inodes -J -l \
-b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot \
-boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o isoname.iso iso/

substitute "mkisofs" for genisoimage if you only have mkisofs

samin · 11-29-2010, 03:50 AM

"mkisofs -o /tmp/cd.iso /tmp/directory/" ===> will create an empty ISO in your HDD.

TobiSGD · 11-29-2010, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by a1danel

I having been searching for a way to create an empty or blank iso file, so that I can mount it, and have a backup application think it's a blank CD. I am tired of wasting CD's by having the application write a recovery CD, just for me to turn around and export it to an iso image to be stored in a online archive, and then throw away the physical CD.

Any suggestions here?

I don't think that it works the way you think. You wouldn't only need a blank image (on which the application burns the ISO-filesystem, there is no ISO-filesystem before burning the disk), but also an emulation for the burning device. I would recommend to change your backup system instead.

michaelk · 11-29-2010, 07:06 AM

As TobiSGD posted it does not work that way... You can mount an ISO9660 image using a loop device but file system is read only. What backup application are you using?

Paul G. · 01-04-2011, 02:20 AM

I agree that this is not really the way to go.

Why not just create a compressed file of the backup data?

This is simple to do and avoids the need for an ISO and a CD altogether. The compressed file can be put anywhere or in several places and individual files may be extracted.

The simplest way is to use the dd command, along with a compression tool, such as gzip.

Documentation of Backup using dd, gzip and split

Another, probably better solution, would be to use something like rsnapshot : --

Quote:

local and remote filesystem snapshot utility

rsnapshot is an rsync-based filesystem snapshot utility. It can take
incremental backups of local and remote filesystems for any number of
machines. rsnapshot makes extensive use of hard links, so disk space is
only used when absolutely necessary.

Homepage: http://www.rsnapshot.org/

Paul