DAEMON Tools Ultra is a Windows program for working with disc images and virtual storage. It mounts images as virtual drives, creates and edits images, writes bootable USB sticks, and adds RAM disks, virtual hard disks and encrypted containers. It is the all-in-one Windows edition of DAEMON Tools with extended functionality. It is a paid product, sold as a subscription or a lifetime license after a free trial.
Mounting images as virtual drives
A mounted image behaves like a disc in a real drive, so programs read it as if a CD or DVD were inserted. DAEMON Tools Ultra opens a long list of image types, including ISO, MDS/MDF, MDX, CCD and NRG images. It also opens VHD and VMDK virtual disks and ZIP, RAR and 7z archives.
The Quick Mount area at the bottom of the main window lists mounted devices. It mounts a new image with one click and a file choice. For more control, Advanced Mount lets you choose the virtual drive type (DT, SCSI or IDE) and assign a drive letter or folder.
SCSI and IDE drives need the SPTD driver. DAEMON Tools Ultra supports far more virtual drives than the free Lite edition, and IDE drives are not available in Lite.
Keeping track of image files
The Images catalog collects image files in one place. A scan of local disks adds every image it finds, and you can also drag files in. Each entry’s menu mounts, burns, converts or edits the image.
Grabbing discs into images
The Grab a Disc tool copies a physical CD, DVD or similar disc into an image file. You pick the output format (MDX, MDS/MDF, ISO or APE for audio), and can add a password, compress the file or split it into volumes.
A disc profile tells DAEMON Tools Ultra what it is reading, including data, audio, video and several copy-protection schemes. For scratched media, read retries and bad-block skipping let you create an image from a damaged disc.
Building, editing and converting images
You build a data image from files and folders on your PC, or from the contents of another image. You choose its size and file system. Marking a file as a boot image turns the result into a bootable disc. You build audio images from ordered tracks.
Existing images reopen in the same editor, and a converter switches an image to another format.
Bootable USB and protected USB sticks
DAEMON Tools Ultra writes images to USB devices for several purposes. It can create a Windows or Linux installation stick from a bootable image. It can also create a Windows To Go stick that carries a portable Windows workspace to other PCs. For Raspberry Pi, it can write an SD card in raw DD mode. For bootable sticks you choose GPT with UEFI or MBR with BIOS boot.
Protect a USB packs selected files into a password-protected image on a stick, alongside a small Extractor program. The Extractor unpacks them on another PC after you enter the password.
RAM disks and virtual hard disks
A RAM disk is a drive made from a block of system memory, suited to temporary files that change often. In DAEMON Tools Ultra you set its size, choose FAT32 or NTFS, and pick one of two types. A volatile RAM disk loses its contents on restart, while a persistent one is synchronized with a VHD file.
Virtual hard disks are VHD files that act as ordinary disks once mounted. A fixed VHD takes its full size on the physical drive at once, while a dynamic VHD grows as data is added but does not shrink afterward. VHDs made by other applications mount the same way.
Encrypted TrueCrypt containers
For sensitive files, DAEMON Tools Ultra creates TrueCrypt containers. These encrypted files open as a drive only after you enter the correct password. You can also mount existing TrueCrypt containers and VeraCrypt file containers made in other programs.
Scheduled file backups
Backup tasks copy chosen files to a folder, network storage, a VHD or a TrueCrypt container. A task can run daily, weekly, at fixed intervals or at Windows shutdown. With the Catch! app on an Android phone, tasks can also copy photos, downloads or internal storage from the phone to the PC over Wi-Fi.
Burning and the Virtual Burner
DAEMON Tools Ultra burns images, data discs and audio discs to physical media, and can copy or erase discs. It also adds a Writable Virtual Device: a virtual CD-RW or DVD-RW burner. This writes to an MDX or MDS/MDF image instead of a real disc. Other burning programs can use it too, so you can check a disc layout before writing anything to real media.
iSCSI targets and Catch! file sharing
The built-in iSCSI initiator connects to devices shared over a network. A remote image, virtual disk, USB drive or optical drive then works as if it were attached locally. It supports both the DAEMON Tools iSCSI Target server and third-party servers.
Catch! exchanges files between PCs running DAEMON Tools Ultra and Android or iOS devices with the Catch! app, all on the same local network.
