Mac Tips

How to Create a Disk Image file on a Mac

by Jenefey Aaron   Updated on 2021-09-14 / Update for  Data Recovery

Apple disk image file is immensely helpful in creating a clone or backup of a Mac drive or volume. The image file is easy to store and quick to share through the Internet. Further, the image file can be encrypted for added security. So, Mac software products are distributed over the Internet in the .DMG file format. Besides, the Disk image file can help recover data if the source drive is corrupt, damaged, or dead.

Part 1: How to Create a Disk Image (.dmg File)?

  • 1. In the Utilities folder in Launchpad, double click to open Disk Utility. (Sometimes, Disk Utility is saved in the Other folder in Launchpad.)

    You can also just press Command+Space to open Spotlight search, type Disk Utility, and press Return to open it.
  • disk utility
  • 2. Then Mac will list all the disks and drives. Move your mouse to the disk you are about to recover data from. The disk named WININSTALL is what we need here.
  • disk name
  • 3. Choose File > New > Disk Image from "WININSTALL".
  • file image new
  • 4. Type a name for the disk image, and select where to save it.

    Choose option from the Image Format pop-up menu as "read-only". By choosing "read-only", you can create disk image that's quicker to create and open.

    Choose option from the Encrytion pop-up menu as "none".

    save options
    Note: Make sure do not choose "compressed" but choose "read-only" for the disk image.
  • 5. When all the above are done, click on "Save" to move on. At this point, you will get a poop-up window informing you to type your Mac's administrator name and password to allow this change. allow

Bonus: How to Recover Deleted Data from Mac?

If you ever lost or deleted files on Mac, in this part, we'll show you detailed steps on how to recover files on Mac with professional data recovery tool - Tenorshare 4DDiG.

  • After you download and install Tenorshare 4DDiG on your Mac, launch the program, select a location where you lost files and then click Scan to proceed.
  • choose file  location
  • 4DDiG will do an all-round scanning on the selected drive to find your lost files on Mac. After the scanning, you can select files to preview before data recovery.
  • preview deleted files
  • Finally, you can select target files and then click Recover to save them to a safe location.
  • recover files

Summary

Above guide, we've shown detailed steps on how to create a disk image with Mac Disk Utility. Besides, you'll learned how to recover lost data from Mac with Tenorshare 4DDiG Recovery Tool.