Can i mount a disk image created with dd , ddrescue , or dd_rescue on Windows ?

The lowdown: Yes you can, try the free OSFMount.

How i found out about it ? a friend sent me his laptop to un-dlete files for him, i didn’t have time to see how i can un-delete under windows, so (with his permission) i mounted his laptop hard drive on my computer (Linux), then DDd the whole drive to a 250GB image file, put the hard drive back where it was (in the laptop), and sent it back to him so that he can continue using it, once i found the time, i simply copied the image to a Windows computer, mounted it with OSFMount, then un-deleted everything with Recuva (the best un-delete software in my opinion), put his files on an external hard drive and sent it his way.

Images created with dd , ddrescue , or dd_rescue are not formatted, they are the direct copy of a whole disk, including boot records, partition tables, and file system, so mounting such images should not be hard at all, and indeed, turns out there is a program that can mount them under windows (i would not be surprised if it turns out there are hundreds that do that), but for now, this seems to be a champ, and it seems to be free.

Yet, this program seems to be more than a mounting tool for direct disk images, it also mounts CD images (i guess the one i currently use (virtual clone drive) is obsolete, creation of RAM disks, and can open a big bunch of other image formats (nrg, SDI, AFF, AFM, AFD, VMDK, E01, S01).

So there you are, all you need for your disk mounting needs in 1 program 😀

Cheers

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