The free backup utility, mkisofs, has been updated by HELIOS to support hundreds of thousands of files and folders into disk images without any size limitation.
"HELIOS Software GmbH has released for free download the ultimate cross-platform ?mkisofs? disk image utility that enables flexible disk image creation for file archives and backups of critical files that goes far beyond simple DVD image creation. HELIOS ?mkisofs? can be used for system snapshots, cross-platform archives, legal preservation, platform independent file transfer, and as a simple and affordable backup utility," the announcement said.
"HELIOS created a general purpose version of ?mkisofs? capable of creating disk image archives that preserve Mac, Windows, and UNIX attributes, and that can be easily mounted by Mac or Windows users," said Helmut Tschemernjak, CEO and president of HELIOS.
Many backup programs for Mac OS X write to archives that are only readable by Macs. In some cases, depending on the utility, some meta data, file attributes can be lost such as Finder comments, creation date, and resource forks. The mkisofs backup utility solves both of those problems.
While mkisofs is a command line tool, UGSoft has added a Mac OS X GUI.
mkisofs has been tested and certified to handle more than 150,000 folders, more than 300,000 files, and individual files greater than 30 GB. The resulting UDF disk image can be larger than 500 GB.
The HELIOS mkisofs backup utility is free and supported on multiple platforms.