Bin is an image format, that is commonly used on the Internet. It is usually accompanied by a cue file of the same name that has instructions on how to burn or mount the image properly. Most CD and DVD burning programs support Bin and Cue files, and one valid option is to burn the file to CD or DVD to access the files. It is on the other hand not a straightforward solution. A free burning software is ImgBurn that supports those files.

Another possibility is to mount the bin file on the system, which basically emulates the CD burning. Free tools that can mount bin files are OSFMount, Virtual Clone Drive or WinCD Emu

If you just want to extract the bin file on your PC, you can use a free archiving software that supports the extraction. One of the programs that is capable of that is IZArc, which I first reviewed in 2007 here on Ghacks Technology News.

IZArc supports a wide variety of archiving and CD/DVD imaging formats, including the Bin format. The program adds context menu entries to the Windows Explorer right-click menu by default, which you can use to extract the Bin files after installation.

Just right-click the bin file in question and select IZArc > Extract Here to extract the file and folder structure to the current directory. You can alternatively open the Bin file in IZArc which is probably the better option if you just need a file from the image and not all files.

The original bin file will be left untouched if you opt to extract it to the computer. The same is true if you open it in the program, but be aware that the changes that you make there might alter the file permanently (for instance if you decide to delete a file).

Is there another method to extract Bin files that I have forgotten to mention? Let me know in the comments.

This article exemplifies how to burn a DVD with the free DVD burning software ImgBurn, which can be used for all DVD burning tasks. In addition to the standard ISO format, ImgBurn supports a wide variety of alternative disc image formats including BIN, CUE, DI, DVD, GI, IMG, MDS, NRG and PDI.

Burning Disk Images

Burning a disk image is probably the easiest of all the DVD burning operations in ImgBurn. Users have two options to perform that operation. The first is to load the disk image directly in ImgBurn by right-clicking the disk image in Windows Explorer and selecting to open it with the DVD burning software. The second option is to open ImgBurn first and then click on the Write image file to disk option in the launch wizard. It is then necessary to select the disc image manually by browsing the file system.The user may now insert a blank DVD into the drive and click the DVD burning icon to initiate the burn process.

Burning Files And Folders

One of the options in the ImgBurn launch wizard is to write files and folders to disc. This opens a new window from where files and folders can be added to the DVD.

The left area with the source title is used to add the files and folders. Buttons on the right can be used to add metadata to the DVD. The calculator icon on the right side will display the size of all files and folders that have been added to the DVD. By default, ImgBurn assumes a single layer DVD for the calculating disc information, however it will automatically switch to a dual layer DVD if the total selected files’ and folders’ size exceeds the storage capacity of a single layer disc. Dual layer DVDs can store almost double the amount of data that single layer DVDs can. Most options in the configuration window can be left untouched. The destination menu can be used to select one of the DVD recorders if more than one device is connected to the computer system.

Inserting a blank disc into the active DVD burner will activate the “Burn DVD” icon to start the DVD burning process. ImgBurn will automatically display the default volume labels, which can be changed in that dialog.

The burning process can take some time depending on the type of DVD, the data that has been selected to be burned and the speed of the DVD burner. ImgBurn displays the elapsed time as well as the time remaining to complete the process in the progress window. Upon completion a confirmation dialog about the successful (or unsuccessful) job is displayed. It is recommended to write information about the contents of the DVD directly on the disc’s label surface so that it becomes easier to identify them. We recommend a special DVD pen for this to avoid scratching the label surface or damaging the sensitive plastic disc material.

Burning Videos

ImgBurn can be used to burn a Video_TS folder directly to DVD. Burning a Video_TS folder is slightly more complicated than burning a disc image. Start by selecting Mode > Build from the menu bar. Make sure that the Output parameter in the menu bar is set to Device. Now click the Browse For Folder icon and select the Video_TS folder on the hard drive of the computer system.

Click the calculator icon to make sure the data will fit on a blank DVD, and after inserting a blank DVD into the DVD writer initiate the DVD burning process by clicking on the Burn A DVD icon.

Imgburn in this regard is only handy if a Video_TS folder is available, for instance after ripping a DVD to the PC to create a backup copy of it. However, the software will not automatically convert video files such as avis or mpgs to DVD format for playback on a DVD player. Two tools for converting such files are are the Open Source software DVD Flick and Free DVD Creator. Both applications support tens of video file formats and include their own DVD burning modules.

This concludes the tutorial on how to burn a DVD with ImgBurn. Please leave a comment if you have questions about the process, additions to the article or want to tell us how you burn DVDs on your computer.

ImgBurn was recently updated by the developer. The new version is available at the developer’s websites. Regular users of ImgBurn will notice some changes besides the updates to the program itself.

There are two adware related entries that might get installed during the installation of the DVD burning software if the user is not carefully selecting the options.

The program tries to place a Uniblue shortcut on the desktop and to install the Ask Toolbar. Both of which can be unselected so that they are not installed.

More problematic than those choices are three new entries in the Tools menu of the burning software that also lead to the Uniblue website.

These options do however not reduce the value of ImgBurn itself. The developer has fixed more than a dozen bugs in the new version and added or changed dozens of other features as well. Most of these new features and updates are under the hood and will likely not be recognized by most users.

The latest version of the DVD burning software ImgBurn can be downloaded from the developer’s website.

The makers of Nero are now offering a stripped down version of Nero 9 for free on their website. Well, not totally free but if you give up an email address you can download and use the Nero 9 free edition. Nero 9 Free is only offering data disk burning and disk copying functionality. It still has a size of more than 55 Megabytes.

Nero 9 Free can be downloaded from the Nero website, or if that is preferred, from third party download portals like Softpedia where the download is also hosted. The benefit of downloading Nero 9 Free from these download portals is that no email address needs to be supplied before downloading the DVD burning software.

Nero 9 Free turns out to be Nero 9 Essentials which is a version of Nero that gets only distributed with hardware purchases. It should also be noted that the program will suggest to install the Ask Toolbar during installation. Make sure to uncheck the box if you do not want to install it.

Users who prefer lightweight might want to try out alternatives such as ImgBurn, Ashampoo Burning Studio Free or the recommendations in our best free burning software thread. Thanks Dante for the tip.

One great way of finding out how to perform a special operation in ImgBurn is to take a look at the guides that have been created by the developers. These guides explain how to burn a certain type of disk. They include guides on how to burn bootable Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating system disks, audio CDs, DVD video, image files such as ISO or IMG and double-layer or Bu-Ray disks.

Even users with past experience with other DVD burning software might need to take a look at the guides to ensure they are performing the right steps to burn the disk the right way. All ImgBurn guides can be found on the ImgBurn website.

ImgBurn was recently updated to version 2.5 and the developer has published a huge list of changes, fixes and additions to that version. The program stays the same at its core which means it is still the lightweight DVD burning software that can be installed or used as a (unofficial) portable version instead.

Below are some of the more important changes introduced in this version of ImgBurn:

• An ‘Advanced’ input mode to build mode where you have total control over the layout of the disc and can add new folders, change names etc. (i.e. you’re no longer limited to burning an existing folder structure on your hard disc as-is)
• ImgBurn now adds itself to the context menu’s ‘Open With’ submenu for files it’s associated with.
• Support for burning CCD files.
• Support for building images using the ‘MODE2/FORM1/2352′ data type. (previously it only supported ‘MODE1/2048′)
• A check to ensure all the DVD Video files in a sequence are present. (i.e. it’ll prompt if VTS_XX_1.VOB and VTS_XX_3.VOB are present but VTS_XX_2.VOB isn’t)
• Detection of attempts to build Vista style OS installation discs (via the ‘sources\install.wim’ file) and the relevant prompting for conflicting settings, failing to make it bootable etc (same as an ‘I386′ install disc).

The new version of the DVD burning software can be downloaded directly from the developer’s website. It has a size of only 2 Megabytes, comes with many language translation files (e.g. German, Chinese, Russian, French and Spanish) and is compatible with all Microsoft operating systems from Windows 95 to Windows 7.

ImgBurn via Download Squad

To burn a disk image a software is needed that is capable of doing so. One of the best free disk burning applications is ImgBurn. ImgBurn is fast, lightweight and supports many of the more popular disk image formats including ISO, BIN and IMG among others. It is also compatible with all 32-bit and 64-bit editions of all Windows operating systems since the release of (and including) Windows 95.

It furthermore is capable of burning disk images to CD, DVD, Blu-Ray and HD DVD. In other words: ImgBurn should cover the needs of 99.9% of all users.

One of the useful features of ImgBurn is its context menu integration. A option to burn the disk image will automatically appear if a user right-clicks a supported disk image file.

The selected disk image will be loaded directly into the disk burning software program with the option to burn it immediately if a blank disk has been inserted into the disk writing drive.

All that is left to do is to click on the icon in the lower left of the window that is opening automatically. This will start the disk burning process. Users can optionally change the write speed settings and amount of copies in the left side or activate test mode or verification. That’s all there is to it to burn a disk image.

We had an ask the readers article just a short while ago about the best free burning software that might be of interest as well.

ImgBurn supports, among others, the image formats iso, bin, nrg, mds and img which should be enough to burn most images that are out there. More exotic formats are also supported as well as all operating systems from Microsoft from Windows 95 to Windows Vista.

I personally like ImgBurn because of it’s small size (only 1.5 megabytes), the ease of use and the support for all of the mentioned formats. Advanced users will appreciate all the options such as booktypes and bitsettings that ImgBurn offers.

It also offers the ability to queue images which is a feature that is missing in many popular CD and DVD burning programs such as Nero.