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.

WinArchiver Virtual Drive is a free software for Windows that supports a wide variety of archive and image formats. Among the most popular formats are rar, zip, 7z, iso, bin, mdf, img, nrg, tar, gz and dozens of other archiving and disk image formats.

The software can install multiple virtual drives (up to 23!) in Windows which can then be used to mount the disk images or archives.

Each drive is listed with its own drive letter in Windows Explorer. Archives and disk images are mounted with a click on the application’s system tray icon and selecting the Mount Image to drive letter option.

This opens a file browser to select the archive or disk image format from the hard drive. Virtual drives are unmounted the very same way. WinArchiver Virtual Drive can autostart with Windows, and automount archives as well which is handy for mounting images or archives that are needed regularly.

The program is on most regards very similar to the popular alternative Daemon Tools Lite, but there are a few exceptions. Virtual Drive supports more formats than Daemon Tools, and it can create more than four virtual drives.

WinArchiver Virtual Drive is available for download at the developer website. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

First Steps

The first thing you need to do is to plug in your iPod and mount the device. Before you actually plug in the device there are a few tasks to take care of. The first of these tasks is to create a directory where the iPod will be mounted. As the root user issue the command mkdir /media/mp3. You can name this directory whatever you want. Once you have the directory created you can plug in your iPod. Now issue the command dmesg so we can find out where your iPod was detected. When dmesg has completed you will see output like:

sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 58605120 512-byte hardware sectors (30006 MB)
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 68 00 00 08
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] 58605120 512-byte hardware sectors (30006 MB)
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 68 00 00 08
sd 2:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
sdb: sdb1 sdb2

As you can see my iPod was listed at /dev/sdb. So now we know what entry to add to /etc/fstab. As the root user again open up /etc/fstab and append the following line:

/dev/sdb2 /media/mp3 auto ro,noauto,user 0 0

NOTE: The above line will vary depending upon where your iPod was detected and what directory you created for mounting purposes.

With your fstab entry in place exit out of the root user and issue the command mount /media/mp3 (Where mp3 is the directory you created for mounting purposes).

If you issue the command ls /media/mp3 you should now see the contents of your iPod. And with the iPod mounted gtkpod should automatically detecte the iPod.

Fire it up!

Now it’s time to open up gtkpod. This will most likely be in your Audio/Video or Multimedia menu subdirectory of the Main Menu. If you do not find it you will have to install it. Most distributions do not include gtkpod by default. If yo open up the Add/Remove Applications utility you can find it doing a search for “gtkpod”.

Once gtkpod is open, so long as your iPod is mounted, it should detect the device and load it.

gtkpod main window

As you can see gtkpod is pretty much a no-frills means to sync your iPod in Linux. Using gtkpod is pretty straightforward: Click to add files or directories, click Save Changes (sync), click to Load your iPod. There is only one issue that you must know about. When you are done with your iPod you need to close gtkpod and then UNMOUNT your iPod! To unmount your iPod go back to the command line and issue the command umount /media/mp3 Where mp3 is the actual directory where you have mounted your device. If you do not unmount your device you risk losing your data.

Final Thoughts

Gtkpod is one of the most reliable iPod managing tools in Linux. Sure there are far better multi-media players (such as Banshee or Amarok), but their iPod support can be flakey at best. Give gtkpod a try. If you’re looking for a reliable way to sync your iPod in Linux, this might be it.

Pismo File Mount Audit Package can mount zip files but also iso, compact iso, compact file set and private folder files as virtual folders on the system. That’s an excellent way to access and execute the contents of a zip file without having to unpack it first.

The software supports a wide range of Windows operating systems including Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista both in 32-bit and 64-bit editions.

It integrates itself nicely in the Windows Explorer right-click menu and becomes available only on supported file extensions. Files can be mounted from all available locations including network devices and removable media.

This procedure is really helpful if you are using cd or dvd media often but are to lazy to get them and put them into your drives. You create a image of it and place it on your hard disk. When you need to access data from the cd or dvd you don´t need to go and get it, its already setup.
Daemon tools itself is not creating images, you need additional software like Nero for this.

The servers are really loaded at the moment, could be that you will have to wait until your download starts.

DAEMON Tools – Original Discs to Virtual Discs

DAEMON Tools is freeware that allows you to backup physical discs to a virtual format on your PC. There is a paid version that extends this capability, but with the basic version (DAEMON Tools Lite) you can emulate up to 4 CD/DVD virtual drives on your PC. This tool is useful have if you are interested in creating ISO and MDS images from original discs.

The virtual drives created with this software contain all of the data from the original source. These will appear on you operating system as though they were real. The point of virtualization is to take real data and utilize disc images to create drives that are “virtual” but they work like the real thing. This is practical for using virtual machines and the same methods can be used to convert discs of hard data into usable virtual data.

You start by selecting a virtual drive and then use any disc image that you wish to mount. DAEMON Tools will create the mounted disc image in My Computer and you can start working from there. You will quickly notice that the virtual disc works just like the original. Now you can start considering the possibilities. If you have experience with virtualization, this is an exciting piece of software for you to try. Once you see what it can do, it is likely that you will want the Pro version so that you can take the capabilities even further and integrate disc images for operating systems into viable virtual machines. You know what to do, if that is the case.

You can take CDs, DVDs and even HDs or Blu-Ray from solid discs and make them virtual, while also having the ability to us ISO images that you have created at earlier times. All of this fits into the Daemon Tools kit. You simply use this software to create .iso and .mds images from solid media. Formats that are supported include .b5t, .b62, .bwt, .ccd, .cdi, .cue, .nrg, .pdi and .isz.

The GUI can guide you through all of this “mess” and allow you to create easily accessed virtual drives. If, however, you want to use a command line, there is an excellent command line interface that can give you more control. For advanced users, this is like being a kid in a candy store, except you are a techno-kid dealing with file formats.

Can these virtual drives be converted to your own disc media? Yes, they can. That takes a little more tweaking and you need to remember that copying certain hard disc data and disc media does have legal implications. It is best to keep this as a way to organize disc data into virtual formats for ready access, strictly for personal use. For advanced users, there is much that can be done with this software. You can automate from the command line interface and perform basic actions from the DAEMON Tools gadget on the Windows Desktop, but where you take it from there is up to you.